For the past few seasons in Portland, we have seen a lot of the same things from our beloved Timbers. Two seasons ago, it was a recipe that led us, by seasons end, to the top of the Western Conference rankings. However, last season it left us one spot out of the playoffs.
It’s actually a brand of soccer that I love to see. It’s a rough and tumble, gritty, hard-working style that saw the Timbers to more draws in 2013 than wins, but still to the top of the ladder. Plain and simple, these boys never give up.
When you contrast that with last season, though, you get a similar outlook but with different results. We drew more than we won and won more than we lost. Unfortunately for the Timbers, five loss seasons like the one we saw in 2013 are hard to come by and unless you can do that every season drawing more than you win isn’t going to bring home any hardware. It’s a tough and frustrating slump to find yourself in.
To top off a disappointing campaign the end of last season dealt the team some serious blows. First, team captain Will Johnson broke his leg in a September match against Toronto FC followed by designated player and All Star playmaker Diego Valeri tearing his ACL in the final game of the season.
Fortunately for the Timbers, things are beginning to look up. The sky is clearing over Portland if you will. During the offseason, Portland acquired Real Salt Lake defender Nat Borchers who, along with designated player Liam Ridgewell who the Timbers picked up in the middle of last season, is making a huge difference on the back line for the team.
The addition of these quality defenders is already making the back line look immeasurably tighter which, if they can continue to execute, will help the Timbers turn some of their low scoring draws into W’s.
These players aren’t the only things to be happy about for Timber fans right now. The last two games have marked the reintegration of Diego Valeri which has already paid off for the squad. In his first game back, Valeri scored the winning goal in a 2-1 victory against the Montreal Impact and garnered a goal of the week nod from MLS fans.
Even in the loss last week to the Houston Dynamo, Valeri showed how valuable of a player he is with his lovely assist to Fanendo Adi to pull the Timbers even before Houston took over for the 3-1 victory. He simply brings a new element to the game and a finesse that Portland has been missing.
Once Will Johnson returns with his solid distribution ability in midfield we will see the squad that Portland coaches have been trying to field for a while now, in its fullness. Additionally, the development of Fanendo Adi is coming along nicely and we are beginning to see Darlington Nagbe come alive in the attack which is pretty exciting, although not necessary for him to show his worth.
These pieces coming together should translate into a tighter squad all the way around. I know it sounds stupid simple, but if we can keep quality attacking teams from putting balls in the back of the net and we can finish up front we will start winning games. As far as I can tell the team is taking quality steps in that direction.
All things considered, Portland fans potentially have a lot to look forward to. There is obviously no guarantee that all these pieces will mesh just right or that individual skill will translate into a solid team effort or that the squad will even stay healthy, but if all goes well we could be seeing great results on the pitch come this summer.
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