Preview: Orlando City at Portland
By Matt Hoffman
It may have been Saturday that the Timbers got their first win, but the check had long been in the mail, that’s for sure. With the win, the Timbers now stand on six points through five games, as the team welcomes the return of Donovan Ricketts and Orlando City on Sunday, April 12th, 2 p.m., for a nationally televised match on ESPN2.
The finishing and striking quality aren’t on par with what they were last year–injuries are the culprit here–but the results through five goals reflect a defense which has taken a huge step forward.
Last year’s Timbers allowed 28 goals at home last year. Only Chivas USA allowed more and, when you consider that a) two of those Chivas USA games were road matches to the Galaxy in name only and b) it was Chivas USA. In short: not a good thing.
The Timbers defense clogged the passing lanes, intercepting and deflecting F.C. Dallas passes and truly limiting Dallas from having many productive chances. They did it without fouling either.
Their collective inability to score flustered Dallas coach Oscar Pareja so much that he launched his (in)famous tissue missive. Neither side has been reprimanded by the league for the incident.
Portland went with the same 4-4-2 lineup as it had used in Vancouver. The extra week of familiarity reaped dividends as the team managed to find the back of the net three times even though one of those was the result of Nat Borchers being alone and unmarked on a corner.
Sunday’s match could very well be the debut of recently signed Ghanaian winger Ishmael Yartey. The on-loan winger is different from the team’s current stable of wingers as Caleb Porter described at training this week calling him more of “one-on-one” player. Yartey will be able to use those skills to create opportunities for himself and his teammates like how an NBA player who can break the occasional ankle.
Though an expansion team, Orlando is anything but. A successful USL team, Orlando entered into MLS with Kaka, the last recipient of the Ballon D’or to be not be named Ronaldo or Messi.
Despite the expansion moniker and their 1-2-2 start, they are dangerous.
“Orlando is better than their record indicates,” Caleb Porter said at training on Tuesday, citing that, in their past two games, Orlando was “the better team on the field.”
Indeed. Each of Orlando’s three games has been decided in stoppage time. Meanwhile the team is undefeated on the road, winning in Houston and coming back to earn a draw in Montreal.
Unsurprisingly, the team begins with Kaka who has been nothing short of sensational since entering MLS. The Brazilian has scored two goals and shown he has retained a remarkable first touch on the ball.
Have you seen me lately? Don’t call it a comeback yet, but Brek Shea has returned.
Like any typical expansion team, the roster is chalk full of rejects and reclamation projects. After spending years in the wilderness, it truly appears that Brek Shea may have found a home in Orlando playing the left back position.
He’s coming off a great week where he scored a goal for the Men’s National team before making an incredible goal-line save against D.C. United.
“They are an aggressive team,” Porter said who like to get numbers up the field. Orlando looks to run the counter-attack so keeping Kaka marked, especially in the final third of the field, will be a high priority on Sunday.
Orlando’s aggression extends to their defense. Aurelien Collin is among the league leaders in fouls and ejections. That can open the door for some dangerous free kick opportunities. Portland has only scored off of one set piece goal–i.e. Borchers being inexplicably unmarked against F.C. Dallas.
In the end, this is most definitely a winnable game for the Timbers. Anything less than three points would be considered a disappointment.
