March, 2012

“Real” Salt Lake

Posted on: March 31st, 2012 by theaxepdx@gmail.com 3 Comments

 

Before getting on to talking about the Timbers’ upcoming match with Real Salt Lake today, there are a couple of other things I’d like to mention. First, it was announced yesterday that Aston Vil-la captain Stiliyan Petrov had been diagnosed with acute leukemia in the wake of their match with Arsenal last weekend. I’m sure I speak for everyone involved in The Axe when I wish him the best of luck and a quick recovery. Petrov is a solid pro and has been an excellent servant for both Villa and Celtic. I’ve known people who have survived leukemia, and I’ve know people who have died from it. He’s got a fight ahead of him.

The second matter is the three game suspension doled out to Dynamo midfielder Colin Clark for directing a homophobic slur toward a ball boy who failed to give him a throw in ball with sufficient alacrity in Seattle last weekend. It right and just that he should have received this suspension. What a moron. Even if stupid things like this are in your head, all but the very stupid can figure out that that was a particularly inappropriate place to give voice to it. People may say that the things that come out in the heat of battle might not be representative of what a person really thinks. My feeling (and my experience) is that when one in agitated, one will often try to think of the most hurtful thing to say to someone who has caused annoyance. I think that this is pretty sad commentary on what was going on in the withered stump that is Colin Clark’s brain.

Now on to matters closer to home. At the risk of sounding snarky (ok, I don’t care that much about sounding snarky), I think Real Salt Lake is a stupid name. I understand that there is some value in trying to come up with names that, to some degree, mimic names from European teams. It helps the domestic fans to feel some connection with the larger world of the game (thus for instance DC United and Sporting KC). I like regional names (the Timbers, the Sounders, etc). I’m less cool with the common tendency in American sports nomenclature of just picking an ex-citing sounding noun and making that your team name (the Impact). Actually, one of my favorite team names is Houston Dynamo, as that (I think probably accidentally) mimics sort of industrial team names found in the old world of European communism ( such as Dynamo Dresden, Lokomotiv Moscow, and my personal favorite Turbine Erfurt) (Note: This should not be taken to suggest that I think communism was a good idea, but that I liked the team names that it generated). But “Real”? Real Madrid’s club name (and that of all the other teams that share this moniker in Spain such as Betis and Sociedad) relates to some notional connection to royalty (which is suppose in Madrid’s cases is better than an association their great patron, the murderous dictator Franco). Sorry, we don’t have royalty in this country, and the whole national ideology of the nation is a rejection of royalty. I really think that the Salt Lake City’s franchise name shows a distinct lack of imagination.

As far as last week’s match in Foxboro, it was deeply unimpressive. It seemed to represent a re-version to last year’s road woes, with the whole team (with a couple of notable exceptions) seemed to be suffering from some kind of malaise. Roger Anthony from Timbers Army got it pretty much right in the Guardian when he noted that, “CB Andrew Jean-Baptiste came off the bench to replace the injured Hanyer Mosquera and looked out of place only because he played pretty well.” Given that the Revs were starting a pretty makeshift defense, this would have been a good opportunity to try and get some road mojo going on, but giving up a goal in the first mi-nute seemed really to deflate the Timbers. Although Songo’o looked good, the rest of the team were collectively pretty mediocre.

This week we’re back in the friendly confines of Jeld-Wen, which is all for the best because Real Salt Lake are certainly the toughest opponents that the Timbers have faced all year. RSL were predicted by many in preseason to win the division and possibly the league. They started out by staging a smash and grab away to the Galaxy, then won comfortably at home against a New York Red Bull side that was still trying to find its feet. The quality of their play in the first two games of the season made their home loss to Chivas USA last weekend all the more shocking. Chivas is enduring yet another season of rebuilding (which you could also read is just perpetually being crap) and they had failed to score in two home matches against Vancouver and Houston. In truth, they really didn’t look all that good in this match either. I kept waiting for RSL to drop the hammer and put Chivas out of their misery, but in never happened. Instead. Casey Townsend managed to induce Nick Rimando to mishandle a high ball into the box in the 73rd minute and ended up poking the resulting sitter into an open net. Chivas then proceeded to park the bus in front of goal for the rest of the match and came out with a hard fought road win (and their first goal of the season).

This will be a tough match for Portland, but it is definitely winnable. The side looked a lot better when Songo’o came on, and if he is fit to start and Nagbe starts in attack I suspect that they will give RSL’s defenders a lot to think about. The key, and I’m going to write this in all caps since it really seems to be an issue, is DO NOT CONCEDE THE FIRST GOAL. The Timbers have managed to give up the first one in all three matches so far and the Timbers are simply not a side with the kind of quality to make that good match after match. 1-1-1 is a pretty good line given this fact, but it’s unlikely to continue without better defending, starting with the midfielders. The Revs had far too much space to work in midfield and, to tell the truth, it was a little surprising to me that the Timbers didn’t concede a second given all the space that the Revs’ attackers were allowed. Mosquera will be out with the broken orbital (and apparently a concussion) suffered in his collision with Tierney. Alhassan (groin) and Marcelin (hammy) are also doubts among the players that have featured so far. Things should be better for the Timbers at home, but given the opponents I’m trying not to get my hopes up.

oh, captain, my captain…why the wooden leg?

Posted on: March 30th, 2012 by theaxepdx@gmail.com 3 Comments

 

i just arrived home from the blazer game. having performed the duties of the loving husband that i am, i snuck out early and now it is time to write the post. some people get home, eat, maybe go to the gym. me? i pull up the replays and evaluate and scrutinize the games. as things happen, i had the house to myself, which meant no interruptions until late. i pulled up the timbers v. revs match and again suffered through some of the worst football i have ever seen. i think i would have enjoyed a u-7 city rec-league game over this last weekend's loss. and i managed to watch it twice this week, including in slo-mo option so cooly provided by mls. if dante alighieri were to write in a bit part for sunshine in his inferno, it would be a close toss up between being forced to either experience a perpetual ride on the "it's a small world" ride at disneyland or to watch last weekend's match while strapped to a chair in a never-ending, mock clockwork orange aversion therapy session.

thank god that saturday's match day is nearly upon us so i can wash those images from my retina. hopefully the timbers learned from their mistakes they made the last time out. plenty of blame for that pile of poo can be spread throughout the side. they were aimless, communicated as well as a group of helen keller clones, and looked as if they suffered from more jet lag than i did this last week.

i have to say it: something needs to be sorted with the midfield. countless times i observed chara and captain jack tripping over each other, with no idea where they wanted to be, where they needed to be, or how they needed to get there. that, my friends, is a communication issue. no, i am not saying that the language barriers need to be broken down; they have played together long enough to have an understanding of each other's game. what i am saying is that on the field communication is not occuring. one would expect that their respective positions have been established within training; the gaffer is no slouch and he certianly is the type to define what he expects from each player. yet on saturday the midfield, captain jack especially, seemed mystified that play was going on around them.

jack is not a captain noted for his vocal leadership. he is a captain who leads by example. unfortunately, his recent play has been wayward, innatentive, bordering on lethargic, exemplifying more an outtake from the pineapple express and less an effective footballer. i doubt i have ever seen him play as poorly as he did this last saturday in foxboro. he was dire and it pains me to say so. i love jack; i love his hustle and composure, but recently i have not seen him display either. this needs to change and change fast.

to be fair, we are three games into a very long season. these types of issues will occur and can be quickly dealt with. however, i cannot help but think the auspices of an undefeated pre-season likely created in many people a false hope for an extraordinary year. frankly, i would not doubt the players approached the last game as if it was theirs before the first whistle--the revs had not scored in their prior games and were without a number of key players and looked like easy prey for a first road win. i expected us to win, i am certain the timbers expected to win. arrogance has a chilling effect on motivation. in an interview yesterday following training, captain jack was not one to hold punches when discussing the team's mentality going into foxboro.

we cannot approach any team, home or away, that way and expect to win. we have to have the right mentality from minute 1 to minute 90...we are all surprised, embarrassed by the way we approached the game. [the complete interview can be viewed here]

whether it was indifference or arrogance, the team was dead and did not perform to its pre-season standards and the midfield was distinctly to blame for the inactivity. i said earlier that a communication breakdown may have occurred and the roles of chara and captain jack became confused. a team is a machine that only works when each player knows his role and sticks to that role. what i would like to see going forward is our midfield returning to their natural positions: jack in the defensive mid position with chara playing the link up role. while he is not a creative midfielder, chara has the ability to weave through players and he can spread the ball to the wings cleanly. jack is more comfortable sitting behind the play, he breaks up attacks (unless it is a gigantic frenchman with an awful mohawk), protecting the back four. in foxboro, these roles were not as defined as they are when the timbers are expressive and successful. these are minor issues that can be dealt with in about 3 seconds; hopefully they have been ironed out during training this week.

up next is a real salt lake side looking to overcome a defeat to chivas this last weekend. real is a good team and it will be a hard match against them. the timbers are going to have to get back to their blue collar roots, lose the arrogance and play the role of the underdog, fight for each other and graft this game for a win. we did it last season in april, winning 1-0, and i fail to see how it is impossible this season. the only concern is if the trend to start slow continues. if anything was learned from the last couple games is that the timbers need to inject some urgency into their play.

with that, have a great day

sunshine

Foxboro Blues

Posted on: March 29th, 2012 by theaxepdx@gmail.com No Comments

 

This post is going to be slightly incoherent. My allergies were really killing me, so I took something for them and I’ve spent the last few hours feeling like the guy who took the brown acid at Woodstock. Seriously, who can actually take allergy meds and function? Clearly the answer is: not me. So if I end up rambling on (more than usual) I hope you’ll bear with me.

As readers of my match report might recall, I missed the opening minute of the match and thus did not see the only goal as it happened. I have since watched the goal and the play leading up to it like 25 or 30 times as a sort of penance. Since that was the decisive moment of the match it will receive a lot of discussion in what follows. Those who are squeamish, or whose sensibilities are discomfited by discussion of piss poor defending would be well advised to limit their consumption of this post.

1. Troy Perkins: Couldn’t really be blamed for the goal, now could he? If you’re defenders are going to give a free header to the opposition’s lead striker from about six yards away, the results are likely to be suboptimal. And so they were. Perkins was solid for the rest of the match, and was helped by the fact that, aside from the first thirty seconds or so, the Revs were pretty weak in the final third. 6

22. Rodney Wallace: I think that Wallace’s performance is best analogized thusly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY66uF6uDmQ. Enough said. 5

5. Eric Brunner: When I wrote the match report (having only seen a couple of replays of the goal) I was convinced that it had been Brunner’s fault for failing to get into proper position to prevent Sène getting an open header. Well, apologies to Herr Brunner, because I got it wrong. If you watch goal you see Brunner flying into frame in a vain attempt to defend Sène’s header. In fact, Brunner was covering Brettschneider, as he should have done, since the latter was the lead attacker in the box. Someone else (someone named Jewsbury, but we’ll get to that later) should have been marking the second runner, especially when said second runner is a gigantic lumbering Frenchman looking to get on the end of a cross. 5

30. Lovel Palmer: Arguably the highlight of Palmer’s day was when he absolutely crushed Lee Nguyen as they both went for a high ball in the Revs’ end. I’ve seen people sent off for a lot less than that, so I was surprised, gratified even, that he was allowed to remain on the pitch thereafter. 5

33. Hanyer Mosquera: One of the few Timbers defenders who was pretty much blameless in terms of the opening goal. He had shifted toward the ball side to cover the run of Kelyn Rowe into the box. The space that he left ought to be been covered by some combination of Brunner and Jewbury. Sadly, it was not. Mosquera played well for the next 23 minutes before an unfortunate collision with Tierney left him writhing on the turf. Stretchered from the field, he apparently suffered a fractured orbital so we probably will be without his services for a few weeks. 6

17. Eric Alexander: Spent his time galumphing up and down the wing, mostly to no great effect. His departure in favor of Songo’o in the 60th minute heralded the Timbers’ best stretch of play, which kind of tells you something. 5

13. Jack Jewsbury: Captain Jack’s day started inauspiciously as he let Saer Sène amble past him into the penalty area to take what amounted to a free header for the opening goal. This was clearly a brain fart on Jewsbury’s part because he must have been able to see (since he was looking right at the situation) that both Mosquera and Brunner were marking other people. As for the rest of his day, he did his best to get stuck in, but his distribution from midfield was not that great. 4

21. Diego Chará: Was Chará actually in this match? For the life of me I can’t remember now. The fact that Portland’s attackers spent another afternoon starved for ball from midfield would seem to argue that he wasn’t, but I distinctly remember seeing him on the park at kick off. Huh. 5

11. Khalif Alhassan: Alhassan was the first point in the systemic failure that led to the Revs’ goal. He failed to close down Chris Tierney with sufficient alacrity, thus allowing Tiernay ample time to find Sène with a cross. Other than that, Alhassan played pretty well. He battled all day and put in a few decent balls from the wing. 6

9. Kris Boyd: Boyd was out there doing basically what he gets paid to do, at least in some respects. He put himself around in the box and generally hassled the Revs defenders. Although he won several headers in the box, he didn’t really manage to put them on frame. In the middle part of the match I saw him dropping deeper into midfield to pick up the, which is a bad sign for Boyd. At his best, he’s deadly in front of goal, but the chances that good things will happens decrease dramatically with each touch that he takes. He’s the kind of guy that needs to be on the end of attacks, not driving them forward. 6

6. Darlinton Nagbe: Started in attack in preference to Perlaza, and for my money he looked like a better option. Did he light up the scoreboard? Admittedly he did not. On the other hand, he really put himself about and did his best to spark the sputtering Timbers offense into life in long stretches of the first half when they didn’t have much else going on. 6

35. Andrew Jean Baptiste: Came in as a substitute in the 24th minute after Mosquera got nutted by Tierney. He’s not as quick as Mosquera or as good on the ball, but he’s a tough guy who makes a nuisance of himself and he showed those qualities here. Kept Tierney and Nguyen reasonably quiet and generally pushed play forward when he could. 6

8. Frank Songo’o: This was my first real look at Songo’o outside of highlight footage. On the strength of what he put forward in Foxboro on Saturday, he should be in the lineup whenever he is fit and for however long he can hack it. The difference between the 60 minutes prior to his insertion and the 30 or so afterward was startling in. He chased everything in sight and never let New England’s defenders get comfortable. He probably the shot of the match from Portland’s perspective: a fizzing drive from about thirty yards that would have really tested Reis if it had not been straight at him. And of course he gave Kevin Alston a boot right in the grille. Was it intentional? Clearly not. Did I enjoy watching the replay about 15 times? I’d be lying if I said no. 7

15. Jorge Perlaza: Perlaza came on as an attacking replacement in the later stages of the match, and for once seemed to really warm to his task. 7

Magadh

breaking news: villains to raid stumptown

Posted on: March 28th, 2012 by theaxepdx@gmail.com No Comments

 

debriefing complete and the effects of jet lag and exhaustion having worn off about 5 pm, yesterday evening, i can safely say that i am regaining my usual vim and vigor. you should expect more searing commentary regarding the world of football and life as a timbers supporter to follow. while most of what i was performing this last week shall remain classified, if only to protect the innocent, i can say that unlike many of my excursions into the world this one included curry every single night. let me repeat: vindaloo, madras, tikka masala, buhna, every night. the things i do for the greater good.

well, as magadh suggested, this last week i was on the loose working for my alternative and nefarious employers. the football gods sent me to london to look for potential teams to come to portland, and, i must say i did a damn good job of picking too. it looks as if i get to watch aston villa live twice this season. between working through the political ramifications associated with having one lovable scot line his side up against another scot, though that scot is annoying and unbearable and has been described as a shriveled testicle, we should see a great exhibition of football. an exhibition more balanced than the one i saw at the emirates.

much can be said about the connection between the timbers and the villains, but i will leave the majority of that to fc media and their very good two part series on the connections between the two clubs. what i will discuss is the efforts the owner of our club is taking to put the timbers name on the forefront of major league soccer, and maybe a few other things to spice up the day.

sure, they have not sorted out the issues in the back (frankly, that is something that will have to be dealt with on its own), but the club has endeavored to create a visibility for the team, the sport and the community that supports the two. when an owner is making the effort to introduce our brand of football to global regions notable for their love and passion of the sport, that introduction begins to make portland a viable option for players. admittedly, the mls is not going to be pulling top players in their prime, and, with some exceptions, most players who come here cannot let go of the game and are looking for a pension in a league that is less competitive. here you go, football world, portland has what you want in a community and a club and is everything that you will be leaving.

the owner gets that. the club gets that. in a recent interview printed in the new york times, merritt paulson commented on the growth of the league and his intention on continuing to make the league relevant.

Where we were and where we are — the league is growing and will become increasing relevant in a country of soccer fans. For fans, this is turning into a league that’s their home league. I’m not going to fall into the trap of saying we’re going to overtake X or Y sport. It’s not about that. There’s plenty of room at the table. But there’s a lot more growth ahead of Major League Soccer than most of the mature leagues. We’re relevant now and we’re going to get more [relevant].

continuing to bring in quality, established teams with a lengthy history in the sport such as aston villa and previously announced valencia does a number of things to assist that growth. those games allow the every day spectator to measure the quality of play between other leagues and other teams. last season west brom albion and ajax were here, and the timbers showed themselves to be up for the challenge. while there still is a gap in quality of play, the gap is closing and the mls and the timbers are able to compete with teams from european leagues.

the owner is right in saying that mls will not overtake sports like nfl or nba, but when you place a quality product on the pitch day in and day out it does bring into question the monopoly those leagues have on attracting spectator's dollars. spectators want to be entertained and they want their money to go to alternatives in entertainment that are genuinely good. while a teenage girl might say i cannot wait to waste $20 on the new twilight movie even though nothing happens in any of them, i doubt you are going to find the same response from a sports spectator who is being asked to drop large cash on season tickets.

portland has that action missing in breaking dawn and the media has certainly picked up on that fact, which makes portland special in comparison to other markets. portland has a great base of supporters to build from. this will increase as the quality of product increases, and playing against the world's best can only assist that effort. as gavin suggested:

Playing clubs the caliber of Aston Villa is extremely beneficial in terms of increasing the exposure for the Timbers and the incredible atmosphere generated by the Timbers Army and our fans at JELD-WEN Field. Playing top clubs from around the world only makes this team stronger and, with a deep squad, provides opportunities for players to gain valuable experience.

as i mentioned earlier, exhibition games create an attraction for players in other leagues. they also have the potential to do more. attracting quality players from other leagues attracts the people who follow those leagues. many of my colleagues friends in other countries follow players all the way through to retirement, regardless of whether or not the player still plays for the club they support. they love their heros and they love to know what those players are doing. they want to know what raul is doing post schalke, or how robert pires is doing while playing in india, or they have thierry henry watch. when you bring established european players into the league, you bring their fans. hopefully, those supporters will then see the product being offered by the timber and the mls and begin to give the league a look. that increases revenue and insures that the league prevails. this is a win win situation.

so, we have aston villa here on july 24 and i am truly pleased about this. not because we can now have reason to celebrate the birthdate of the state of utah, 2.3 beer and private membership bars, but because they are a side with real talent. the great thing about this game is that even though this is a summer where the european championships and the olympics will take many of the sport's stars, aston villa will likely have a complete side. with the exception of maybe marc albrighton and barry  bannan, who may be involved in team gb, and stephen ireland, no other player will be off on international duty. gabby agbonlahor and emil heskey have not shown their stuff for england in the recent past, and darren bent, who has been excluded due to injury and some sort of preference for a human death stick over an out and out striker, may all feature. we can also expect carlos cuellar and stephen warnock, who is probably more notable when sat next to his dad than when playing (seems to be the case with many england second gens, jamie redknapp comes to mind). one note of concern: villa does have its share of twats, and there is none bigger than ex-spud, alan hutton. i will not go too deep into my hatred of hutton, but for this post i will say that he is, was, and always will be a spud. cheater. hack. diver. and wind up merchant. aside from that, this is a great opportunity for the timbers and the timber faithful, as well as for those aging legs on the villa bench who might be seeking post-premier employment.

with that, have a great day.

sunshine.

holes in the wooden fence

Posted on: March 27th, 2012 by theaxepdx@gmail.com 1 Comment

 

having spent an entire day involved in transit, either on an airplane, in an airport, passing customs, taking my shoes off, putting my shoes on, listing the amount of purchases i made or did not make, i was able to sit down finally and watch the match. i am going to disclose that i have had about 5 hours of sleep in 48, and i am still a bit jittery, which may be either due to coffee, exhaustion, or a combination of both, but that should not affect the post too much.

first, and foremost, i must express my gratitude to magadh and that benny youngman/shecky green character for keeping the daily posts going as i was without computer and the desire to attempt posting from a droid. both of these fellas have some serious commitments in their lives and they came through for me while i was off playing. merci beaucoup.

while playing, i received a number of messages regarding the game. most were of despair. some thought of ropes, bridges, taking on marc bolan's love for driving with his eyes closed, ham sandwiches and too much booze, even holding their breath because they could not believe that the timbers did it again. guess what, despite what the gaffer says, the timbers still have not learned their lessons on the road.

in response to those messages and saturday's loss, i had every intention of describing how good the timbers were on the road once they added chabala and palmer to the side in july. i had this thought because i believed i had sussed out the issues long ago, and because spencer had said so. however, after doing some further review, the facts still remain that the timbers stunk. i know what the gaffer has said regarding the team's improvement on the road towards the end of the season but i have to disagree with him. losing to columbus, losing to houston, losing to sporting, drawing with the union, losing to red bulls, drawing with united and drawing with real salt lake does not indicate any sort of improvement.

there is evidence and then there is propensity evidence. propensity evidence is evidence that suggests a track record, suggests that because it has happened before it most certainly happened this time and will likely happen again. it is a pattern. look at the record. the only win that came on the road between july 16, 2011 and the end of the season was at vancouver. to be honest, that was a game the timbers should have won and really does not suggest they turned the page on a woefully poor road display. and, to bee honest, the timbers should have won on saturday.

so, when i thought i could lay the blame of this latest road loss at the feet of certain players, i was wrong. chabala and palmer joined the side on july 6, 2011. chabala then displaced wallace as the preferred starting left back. during his tenure these are the results. and wallace was not in any way responsible for the goal scored in boston. football is a team sport and if a player breaks down the team breaks down. it is not rocket science and it is not finite mathematics; you do not need the smart kids from mit to break down the schematics of play or to create algorithms to know when and where goals come from. so, i might be going out on a limb, unlikely, but i will suggest the road woes are more systemic than just one player. football is a team sport and you live as a team you die as a team. currently, the timbers are dying as a team.

an interesting stat was placed up on twatter yesterday by @TheMikeDonovan. he twatted that the timbers rank 3rd in both shots, with 42, and shots on goal, with 14. still, with that amount of offensive power, the timbers can neither finish a team off or prevent them from scoring. i am not as concerned about the wasted moments as i am about the inability of the side to prevent goals. as a defensive great once said, it is simple: if you don't concede a goal, you aren't going to lose the game. and the gaffer agrees with that sentiment. in his post mach press conference, spencer stated:

I keep saying that you’ve got to deny service into the box. And if you don’t deny service, goals can happen and that’s what happened. We got punished for not stopping a cross. We’ve got to get to the ball quicker.

i have rarely seen any public statement by spencer against any one of his players. he does not call them out publicly. but that statement right there is as good as you are going to get when stating that the road issues lie with the defense. a cross is a simple way of placing any team in an uncomfortable position of defending the unpredictable. what can be predicted are some simple things: first, someone must cross the ball; next, the ball is often lofted into the box; and, finally, an opposing player must get his head of feet on that ball. when that happens, you know where the ball is going to travel. so, the defense must prepare for these simple elements. the most direct service into the box is from the wings, and the players most responsible for dealing crosses are the wingbacks. it goes without saying that crosses get by the backs and are lofted into the box. it is at this point the central defenders need to be aware of the ball and any players making movement towards goal. if they do not close down the ball, goals happen.

with that in mind, i did a little breakdown of the goal the revs scored on saturday. tiernney took the ball on the lefthand side, palmer pulled back to the box and alhassan covered tierrney. alhassan put in a lazy challenge as tierrney squared the ball and lofted a perfect cross into the middle of the box. the first thing i noticed is that kalif should have closed down tierrney. rather than attacking the opposing player, kalif lifted his leg in the air without much concern for what might result; he was lazy and failed to prevent the cross. ok, fine. that happens.

the ball is in the air and captain jack is covering sene. or should have been. prior to tiernney's cross, jack challenged sene on ball and then forgot about him. the ball was moved to tierrney on the left. sene kept running to towards the box and captain jack looks over his shoulder at sene, and, what appeared to me, disregarded sene as a threat, giving sene the position behind him. at this point, jack slows up and sene moves uncontested into the box. here is where the goal was given away. jack allowed sene to ghost him; he did not place his body between sene and the box. sene was uncontested. brunner who observed the uncontested sene had to switch his mark to contest sene. this was too no avail. by the time brunner had challenged sene the damage was done and the timbers were down 1 nil on the road.

as much as i take certain wingbacks to task, the rev's goal was not on the wingbacks. it came from a let up by our captain. had jack placed a body on sene, or between sene and goal, rather than allowing the big frenchman to wander uncontested into the box, we may not be having this continued discussion of why the timbers lose on the road and why their past performances are predictive of their future performances. captain jack had this to say about the performace:

it’s disappointing. We’ve harped on that this week. After the Dallas game, we were disappointed with the start. And obviously 28 seconds into the game, getting scored on, I don’t know what it is. We’re going to have to change that, for sure. It’s something that isn’t good enough, so it is what it is.

it is what it is? hmmm. jack is right, it is not good enough and it is disappointing to get scored on in the first 28 seconds. i am comforted by the fact he can realize that little bit, but that should not happen if each member of the team is covering his position properly. why not take some responsibility? that is what a captain does, and he did not do it on the pitch.

with that, have a great day.

sunshine

The Washington Post

Posted on: March 26th, 2012 by theaxepdx@gmail.com 3 Comments

 

I'm so let down after Saturdays match that I don't want to write about it specifically, save to reiterate my comment to yesterdays post - when John Strong announced that "Boyd has Soares all over him" I was repulsed.

I bet Emirates Stadium was a fun place to have been dressed like Waldo on Saturday as Arsenal beat Aston Villa 3 nil to hold a solid third place ahead of rivals Hotspurs in the EPL. Yeh buddy.

I did not watch the match. I have not invested in the Fox Soccer channel, as I hardly have time to enjoy the Timbers matches, and I don't need to continue to compromise my computers with overseas bootleg websites. Sunshine will no doubt fill in the details on that front.

The other issue with Fox Soccer is that when I watch good play on tv I can feel a little sick watching MLS. During the Timbers off-season, when I still had a little spare time in my days, I would watch whatever EPL games were on ESPN or Root sports. I got to watch such great teams as Man U, Chelsea, Man U, whoever was playing Man U, and sometimes Chelsea play. Then I tried to watch preseason Timbers and I noticed the sick feeling. Saturday late afternoon 30 seconds into the Timbers match I felt that same sick feeling (I taped the match and watched it after the often absent sun became a little weaker). Maybe next off season I will contain my soccer viewing to 8-year-old AYSO matches . Anyone with a complete schedule for the teams that play in the penalty box during halftime, kindly send that information to theaxepdx headquarters, care of Shecky Green.

Visions of a largish support crew arriving unexpected to cheer one specific team of 8-year-olds...

I did watch the Seattle-Houston match Friday night. That was a fun match to watch. Some good football was played. Crisp passes, great team play. Seattle was fun to watch, save those horrid uniforms.I'm just gonna say it: If Seattle goes farther than Portland for the cup I'm rooting for them. I want the cup to live in the Pacific Northwest. This intercity animosity is just ridiculous to me. Timbers fans should be flattered by the attention we are paid by Sounders fans. They have 6 years in the league now and the Cascadia Cup. Their hatred shows me just how happy they are to have us in the league. Well, right back at you Seattle. I also think the Timbers and their supporters are due credit for the decision to open the Seahawks stadium to capacity for this years derby. As an aside, it is awfully nice of the Seahawks to let you Sounders play in their yard. RCTID

Speaking of the Cascadia Cup, I hate the unbalanced schedule this year. If we win the Cascadia Cup this year, which we should given the home field advantage against both Vancouver and Seattle (2 games at home and 1 away to both), the prize will always be tainted by talk of the imbalance. I don't like to win that way, and I will be amongst the first to asterisk that statistic.

I'm gonna go finish building the IKEA shelves laying in my living room.

Happy spring break...woo,

Shecky

A Blast from the Past

Posted on: March 25th, 2012 by theaxepdx@gmail.com 1 Comment

 

Normally, it would be sunshine’s role to provide the first wrap up following a match. But he is currently incommunicado, although I have it on good authority that he is currently prowling the western regions of the Indian Ocean in an inflatable boat with a French Legion hostage rescue team. Thus, it falls to me to be the bearer of bad news.

Yesterday’s match was a blast from the past. Not the good kind, like when you discover your long lost copy of Hendrix’s Nine to the Universe in a box in your attic. No, this was the kind in which you relive something unpleasant, something that you hoped you’d put behind you. Last season, the Timbers were 0-13-4 when conceding the first goal. It probably didn’t auger well that the team had proceeded to allow its opponents to score first in both of their first two matches, although, fair play to them, they did manage to take points in both cases. This time around, Portland returned to their old ways.

On paper, this looked like a good opportunity for the Timbers to pick up some points on the road. The Revs had not played particularly well and they had some key absences. Fehlhaber picked up a leg injury of some kind, and Shalrie Joseph, who usually anchors New England’s midfield, had to slot in at center half to fill the gap left by the mandatory suspension of Stephen McCarthy after his sending of last week in KC.

The match started inauspiciously both for the Timbers and for me. I just made it back to the house in time for kick off, but instead of firing up the match directly, I paused to arm myself with a pint. By the time I got the match on, in minute two, the Timbers had already conceded. Portland seemed like they hadn’t really realized that warm-ups were over. No one closed down Tierney, who had lots of time to put in a dangerous cross from the left wing. Then Brunner failed to pick up Sène, who put a glancing header past Perkins, and the Revs had their first goal of the season. When I saw the replay of the goal I was not totally surprised by how it went down. Defending balls into the box has not, historically, been a real strong point for the Timbers, and having watched New England’s previous matches I was expecting that Sène would provide problems. He’s a big guy, and although (as further evidence would show) he’s not the most physical guy around (i.e. he’s ready to go to ground at the slightest touch) he spent enough time in Ligue 1 to know where the goal is.

The early goal seemed to galvanize New England. The next half hour or so was the best spell of play that I have seen from them all season. They had clearly been briefed that the Timbers were going to try to advance the ball up the flanks and then put balls into the middle. Portland preferred Nagbe to Perlaza in attack, and he brought a dynamism to the forward play that had been lacking in previous weeks. But, although he seemed dangerous when he got the opportunity, the Revs midfielders did an excellent job of closing down Alexander and Alhassan and, as things progressed in the first half, Portland had increasing difficulty in getting the ball into the proper attacking zones. Chará missed a sitter from about eight yards out from a good cutback from Alexander, and Boyd headed one wide that probably would have been hard to score (since it didn’t have much pace on it) but which he nonetheless would have expected to put on frame.

Mosquera had the misfortune of colliding with Brettschneider around midfield and came off very much second best. He was stretchered off with what early reports suggested was a broken nose (it was later mentioned that he had been taken to hospital) and was replaced by Jean Baptiste. The Timbers got into the match a little better as the match went on, but also seemed to be getting a bit frustrated. Strangely, the best thing that New England seemed to have going for much of the day was Lee Nguyen, a journeyman who had really made most of his impact in the Vietnamese domestic league. Although not blessed with great speed or, it must be said, great foot skills, Nguyen showed a lot of grit and graft and made himself a nuisance up the left hand side for much of the match. This fact was clearly recognized by the Timbers, and Lovel Palmer seemed to be trying to tamp things down when he absolutely mashed Nguyen as they both went for a header in the Revs’ defensive zone. Palmer got a booking for his efforts, and for a minute it seemed as if things were going to kick off between the two teams. Boyd let someone (I couldn’t see who) on the Revs know that calling for an opposing player to be booked is weak shit.

The second half proceeded much as the first had, with the Revs closing down the wings effectively and neither Jewsbury nor (more irritatingly) Chará really making any hay in midfield. Thing improved dramatically when Songo’o came on for Alexander in the 60th minute. The pace of Songo’o really seemed to discomfit New England and things immediately started to improve in the offensive end. Boyd got more service, but couldn’t seem to get much on frame. Songo’o tried a scissor kick in the box which didn’t hit the ball, but did catch Kevin Allston flush in the chops. This resulted in a booking for Songo’o and much wailing and gnashing of teeth from the Revs’ commentary people but Allston turned out to be alright.

Perlaza came on in the 75th minute and the pressure from the Timbers increased. They looked a lot more dynamic and it looked to me as if a goal was coming. In the 85th minute, Jewsbury put in a dangerous ball from a corner that Joseph headed clear. The ball fell to Songo’o about thirty yards out. He took a touch toward goal and then unleashed blistering drive which very easily could have leveled the match if it had not been directly at Reis, who parried it clear.

Sadly for the Portland, this and succeeding chances were not converted. Although they seemed to improve as the match went on, the similarities with many performances on the road from last year were pretty obvious. They spent long stretches of the match unable to get any leverage and didn’t seem to have an alternate plan when the Revs showed themselves determined to shut things down on the wing. For me, Songo’o was the man of the match. He really changed the equation when he came on, and although this was a disappointing loss, his play continued to illustrate the promise that he showed in preseason.