In many ways, it felt like the 2014 Portland Timbers’ home season was ending just how it started all the way back on March 8th against the Philadelphia Union.
There was a terrific tifo display from the Timbers Army pregame, a light, but deceivingly persistent rain, and the home team in their throwback green and gold kits, struggling to find a goal.
Against Philadelphia, the Timbers did end up scoring. Gaston Fernandez nodded home a quickly-taken corner in stoppage time, a fluke goal to cap off a dissatisfying night that would set the tone for the first eight games which ended up killing the Timbers’ season.
Against Salt Lake – remarkably, amazingly, inexplicably – the Timbers could not score.
And yet this Timbers team has come such a long way.
Nothing says goals are soccer’s ultimate fool’s gold like the Timbers scoring against the Union and not scoring against RSL.
But this was billed as win or bust, right? Well the Timbers busted. The playoff hopes of the reigning regular season Western Conference champions hang by the thinnest of threads.
Obviously, how we got to this point with the Timbers this year has very little to do with what happened against Real Salt Lake, and a whole lot more with what happened after that draw against Philadelphia in the early and middle parts of the season.
Perhaps that’s why, despite again failing to win at home and ending the season with a most measly five home wins from seventeen games, and all but ending their playoff hopes, the Timbers walk off heads held high.
This team deserves a hearty clap on the shoulder after this game. Not because of their effort, or their attitudes, or their spirit – we should expect nothing less than what they gave tonight – but because this team has gone about reclaiming their dignity over the last few months.
The Timbers played with purpose and clarity. They did their jobs effectively and professionally. They looked organized and driven, and they set themselves up for success.
So often this year, that wasn’t the case.
No, the Timbers didn’t get the goal tonight. So be it. It was a crazy entertaining game, with so much jaw-dropping action packed into the second half that the only thing that could have made it better would have been Alvas Powell turning into a flying squirrel.
There’s no opponent like RSL for the Timbers. Never has been. Nick Rimando – whose true brilliance is summed up best by the fact that we expect and are still shocked by it – is the Timbers’ toughest opposing matchup in the league.
He hasn’t conceded a goal at Providence Park for over 275 minutes. Rimando’s most incredible save was on Darlington Nagbe, who couldn’t get much more beleaguered if he stood on a deserted street corner in a rainstorm trying to sell the Oregonian.
Nagbe’s point blank volley that Rimando saved required athleticism and acrobatics so astounding that it was impossible to believe in real time what had just happened.
When watching Rimando on a night like that, it’s hard to believe he’s not the best goalkeeper in the world, let alone this country.
But it wasn’t just Rimando in this game.
It was Norberto Paparatto smashing a header into Luis Gil’s unengaged stomach on the goal-line. It was the bunches of chances, the scrambles, the crowd noise, the incredible tempo, and the fact that the first half was a tight, organized, mostly uneventful and forgettable, that gave the game its surreal feel.
Even with Nagbe retreating further into his own trouble, and the rest of the Timbers’ attacking players struggling at various times to find their grooves on the wet surface, Portland threw the kitchen sink at RSL.
It was the kind of fire the Timbers threw at the very beginning of the Porter era – not the contrived, faux-brave comeback style attacks we saw all too much this year.
Part of the reason the Timbers’ attack had so much weight was that their defense was terrific. Across the back-four, every player had a solid game.
Diego Chara, though, deserves his fair share of the credit – fifteen recoveries in the first half give you an idea how immense he was. Chara is just a soccer gem. The Timbers would be lost without him.
This was a game to point to when rhetorically asking if 0-0 draws can’t be interesting and if MLS lacks quality. It was all there in this game.
Portland certainly gave a good account of themselves. They exit this game without two necessary points, but they played their part in a classic.
What more can you ask?
That was certainly the central theme of Caleb Porter’s post-game remarks. Porter too, once the sorest of losers, has come a long way this year too.
He said he was proud of his guys. It was just one of those nights.
Contrary to what his personnel decisions may have indicated earlier in the year, Porter loves continuity. He admires teams like RSL and LA who have kept the same group intact over a number of years.
That’s why you can expect the eleven who take the field the next time the Portland Timbers play a competitive home game may be the same, or almost the same, as the eleven that suited up against RSL.
That’s good. These eleven can play. Don’t expect the Timbers to shake things up drastically at all this winter.
One thought, though, rankles as we head into the offseason after next week. This game should have been that opening day game against Philadelphia.
The 2014 Timbers consistently and predictably sold themselves short far too often this year.
Much of the season was devoted to getting back to ground zero – getting back to the place where Portland was headed into the season.
I think with what might prove to be their last gasp of 2014, the Timbers finally did make it back. They didn’t win, but the Timbers did do themselves justice. The future is bright after all.
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