by Matt Hoffman
Sometimes having the right person in the right position changes everything.
In 1991 a band named The Cranberries Saw Us released an EP called “Uncertain.” The band’s sound was much like the titled EP: pensive, timid, pointless and bland.
Mixed reviews and internal strife threatened to envelop the band before they even began. In 1992 the band shortened their name to the Cranberries returned to Dublin and brought in longtime Blur collaborator Stephen Street. The resulting album, “Everyone Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We?”
The Cranberries eventually caught on in the United States as a “Buzz Clip” despite their sound being more atmospheric and dreamy, not the feedback heavy, power chord, grunge tunes that were on heavy rotation in the early 90’s.
But the Cranberries were a success with the right person building a sound around the pieces he had, not the sound that was popular at time.
Caleb Porter has built a squad that is on the verge of the club’s first major trophy. Porter built a soccer powerhouse at Akron based on his “Death with 1,000 passes” and his initial brand of soccer in the Rose City was dubbed “Porterball”.
The style was appealing but ultimately unsustainable in MLS. Over time Porter zagged while other zigged such as immediately dispatching with Kris Boyd and bringing in Fanendo Adi a physical, bruising target forward who had limited success overseas.
Accustomed to atmospheric ballads like “Dreams” and “Linger”, no one quite expected the Cranberries first single of their second album, “No Need To Argue” to be the buzzing, rage-induced “Zombie”. Likewise, despite talks of “pragmatism”, the Timbers came out and played a frenetic paced match bringing the game to Dallas last week.
Porter’s steady hand was on full display in last week’s game, quite possibly the biggest in the team’s history as moxie (and three well-placed goals) put the Timbers in the driver’s seat.
Now the Timbers hope to press that advantage heading into the back leg of the two game series against Dallas (2 PM, PST, ESPN). It’s a fool’s errand, however, to believe that the Timbers are home free. Goal advantage or no, trips to Frisco have seldom ended well for the Timbers.
For starters, Dallas has seldom had such a poor defensive effort as the one exhibited last Sunday. All three of the Timbers goals were the result of poor clearances by the FC Dallas defense.
Porter mentioned in his post-match remarks that his coaching staff found tendencies during Dallas’s approach to set-pieces. Indeed, FCD’s impulse to attack from the back was undone as the Timbers mounted pressure led to turnovers in key areas.
If Portland can find a goal tomorrow, that would erase Dallas’s one advantage: the dreaded road goal.
The Timbers welcome Diego Valeri and Rodney Wallace back and aren’t missing any key players in this high-stakes match. Liam Ridgewell left the Sunday’s match what was told as a precautionary measure (calf). It may be more than that, as reports have surfaced that Ridgewell will not be in the lineup.
Regardless, Porter used his bully pulpit to reiterate, seeming for the gazillionth time, the team’s confidence in Noberto Papparatto to play at center-back should either Ridgewell or Borchers be unable to perform.
Ridgewell (should he play),George Fochive. Lucas Melano, Diego Chara, Jorge Villafana all sit on yellow cards but the suspension would not carry over to the single-elimination MLS Cup should they draw another caution.
Another note on squad selection: the last time the Timbers were in Dallas, the team was walloped 4-1. That one goal was set up by Melano on his Timbers debut.
Across the field, Dallas may be a wounded animal but they are always capable of putting up goals. Villafana and Alvas Powell both put in outstanding shifts last week keeping the Dallas wingers in play and marked and they both appeared to be on the same page with Melano and Dairon Asprilla meaning the re-insertion of Wallace on the wing is not automatic – especially in light of Porter’s repeated preference of player continuity.
Oscar Pareja was the runner up for Coach of the Year so it’s reasonable to expect him to have some new wrinkles. Besides that, it’s not as if Dallas didn’t just experience this same exact situation in its previous series against Seattle.
“This is like something similar that happened with Seattle in the last game. This is a final … We made a few mistakes but we can correct them and make them better on the weekend,” FC Dallas forward David Texeira
Dallas was down on goal differential in Seattle but managed to get that away goal and managed to get past Seattle in penalties.
It’s reasonable to expect Portland to play with a defensive touch, to do whatever is necessary to prevent Dallas from getting a goal and closer to overcoming the Timbers advantage.
But given the Timbers recent play–let alone the fireworks display witnessed last Sunday–it’s worth wondering if that’s what the Timbers will in fact do. The Timbers are now unbeaten in their last seven matches (including the regular season). It’s hard to see them laying their foot anywhere but other than on Dallas’s throat.
