They were on the road against a Casacadian rival that hadn’t lost at home in ages. They were struggling to find their game. Their designated player from Argentina couldn’t string together a pass. They fell behind twice. The referee seemed like a twelfth opponent. They went down a man just at the moment when a dramatic comeback would have been in order. The lineup was scrambled with players out of position and an end to the unbeaten run looking eminent. And then, like has been the case on more than one occasion this season, the Portland Timbers overcame the adversity and got a result when a result wasn’t expected. It wasn’t a beautiful performance on Saturday against Vancouver but it was a beautiful result. It was a draw that felt like a victory for the Timbers and a defeat for the Whitecaps. It was another sign that the 2013 Timbers are a tough bunch.

2. Train rolling down the tracks

A few more goals we’ll change that to “I know I can.”

Prior to entering the pitch at Our House in the Middle of BC, Jose Valencia was last seen in Seattle on March 16. That is two month’s of inactivity based on the manager’s discretion. There have certainly been times when a late game insertion of the Little Train seemed to make sense but didn’t take place much to the dismay of those who are intrigued by his ability to make things happen. Happen it did on Saturday with the young Colombian showing both the strength and skill that make him such an interesting prospect. The question now is whether his goal will lead to more minutes, as a late equalizer against Seattle did for Rodney Wallace, or if Valencia disappears on the bench again. With just 54 minutes of MLS play under his belt it is hard to say we have a complete picture of Valencia. Unlike Frederic Piquionne, who plays a lot like Johnson, Valencia has a more direct style of play and a hunger around the net. If you want to change up the attack, Valencia appears to have the game to do that.

3. Running late

Earlier in the week it was Jack Jewsbury who was quoted as saying that one of the values that Diego Chara and Will Johnson bring to the team are their ability to make late runs in the box and how difficult that is to stop in MLS. Jewsbury should know. He saw his team killed by late runs the past couple of seasons when he was responsible for stopping them. The area right behind the forwards is all too often the most dangerous place on the pitch. We saw that on Vancouver’s second goal when both Chara and Johnson got caught ahead in the box and couldn’t recover in time to close down Gershon Koffie. It was a notable moment because it has happened so infrequently on the defensive end this season.

4. Things and things and such

• Considering how thoroughly Vancouver dominated the Timbers at home during the USL era, it is amazing that the Whitecaps have yet to defeat Portland in MLS play.
• Of the 20 goals the Timbers have scored this season, 16 have been scored in the second half. The possession game really wears teams down.
• Valencia is the sixth player to score for the Timbers this season. It was the second time a player has come off the bench to score.
• Paging Pa-Modou Kah. You are next on the center back carousel. Futty’s red card is the latest in the curse of the position. I thought it was a call that could have gone either way. He put himself in a position to have to force the contact and he got burned for it. It was great to see Kah being a vocal presence on the bench and after the game. He seems like a guy who will be well liked. Now let’s see how long he can last before he gets bitten by the curse.
• We can only wait to see how long Darlington Nagbe will be sidelined. Let’s hope it isn’t for long. I’m officially disenchanted with Kalif Alhassan’s play away from JWF.
• Diego Valeri was really off his game. Perhaps he was confused by the fact that both teams were wearing white. I know it confused me on a couple of occasions.
• Ryan Johnson looks like he could use an injection of confidence. On a team brimming with belief, he is the only one hanging his head. I have the sense that he could really use a goal to get back on track.
• I’m not even going to pretend to know what the Timbers’ formation was in the final 10 minutes. Alhassan and Piquionne were seemingly both playing right back.

5. Rolling it on the turf

It was like a home match with the Timbers controlling possession. It wasn’t a case of Vancouver playing a bunker but in my view it was a difference in quality of the two sides. Vancouver is lacking, especially in the midfield.

Franchise’s lowest point: Chainsaw the Monkey

Even if the image of one of their club’s players shoving a ball boy is fresh in your mind and even if you have always considered their club a weak link in MLS, you still should feel some sympathy for the Union Ultras. The group that loyally supports Chivas USA, and that has done so through years of misery, woke up this morning with uncertainty about whether or not their club would remain in their city much longer. It is an awful feeling.

It is an unimaginable feeling in our city. Ours is a city that saw 11,000 people show up on a damp Thursday evening in May to watch a pair of women’s teams play. It is unimaginable to think about losing your team in a city that has sold out every seat since joining MLS in 2011. It is hard to imagine when there is a waiting list for season tickets that is larger than the amount of actual season tickets sold in some MLS cities. It is impossible to imagine the uncertainty of your club’s future when you live in Soccer City USA.

Only it isn’t.

A rare sighting of the previous owner at the stadium.

It wasn’t long ago, in fact, when it was the Timbers Army that woke up wondering whether we would have a team to support in the coming year. It wasn’t long ago when our ownership group imploded from hubris and foolishness, and our club was taken (and saved) over by a minor league baseball league. It wasn’t long ago when we had no idea whether that Triple A baseball league would take everything that we were trying to build away from us. It wasn’t long ago when the baseball league sold the club to an absentee California fast food chain magnate who took a poorly run organization and made it even poorer and who made its future even more uncertain.

It was less than a decade ago that a season would end and like clockwork an offseason of uncertainty would begin. The dark, gloomy winter months would be devoid of news and full of rumors about the club’s fate. The winters of 2004, 2005, and 2006 included the occasional meeting with the general manager or staff person who would try to reassure us that there would be a next season during the next season, but who would inevitably end that promise with something along the lines of “but you never know.”

Take me out to the ballgame.

It was during that time that some of the supporters even gathered to talk about who we could convince to buy the club. It may come as no surprise that the list we drew up while downing beers at the Lucky Lab didn’t include the name of the guy who currently owns the Portland Timbers — the same guy whose reputation as a baseball guy and whose company’s name Shortstop LLC didn’t exactly reassure us of our future when he was announced as the new owner.

Looking back on it, I never would have bet on things turning out as they have. Not with what happened during the end of the NASL era and not with the direction things were taking in the mid-2000s. The potential was always there, of course, but it took a special alignment of forces – owner, fans, city, luck – to have that potential realized.

Ours is a Hollywood ending that those small, but loyal fans in LA can only hope for.

The Mike Donovan looks over the numbers.

Memories,Like the corners of my mind, Misty water-colored memories, Of the way we were

This never gets old

Familiar Faces, Different Places

Up the Wildcats!

In 2007, Eric Hurtado was the Oregon high school player of the year at Westview. He went on to play for Santa Clara and the Portland Timbers U23s before being drafted by Vancouver in the MLS SuperDraft. He has featured in six matches and has tallied one assist.

Brad Knighton was loaned to the Timbers from New England during the 2008 nightmare season. He played eight games in goal for Portland and now serves as a back up to Vancover’s Joe Cannon.

FC Dallas tries to lay down the smack. It largely fails


 

Watch out for the Winger

Reunited and it feels so good

Fear the Squirrels

Vancouver has a pair of Japanese players on its roster. Attacking midfielder Daigo Kobayashi joined the Caps this season after spending a couple of seasons with Shimizu S-Pulse in the J-League. He joins Jun Marques Davidson in the midfield. The pair were teammates at Omiya Ardija, leading to mighty Squirrels to mid-table glory.

Giving Piquionne’s Fro a run for its money

Darren Mattocks laughs at your bed head

Boys will be Boys

Eric Hurtado and Kekuta Manneh make the rookie mistake of wearing pants in the tub.

Hey, Urban Crew, Kenny Miller stole your shirt

Someone photoshopped Kris Boyd out and put Kenny Miller’s wife in this picture.

5mTKO Beer Endorsement of the Week

Probably tastes like piss but who cares, it is VancouverAway!

#VancouverAway has been fantastic for the 5mTKO production crew over the years (at least the snippets we can still remember), but one thing that has always been disappointing has been the beer. For reasons unknown to scientists, the IPAs in Vancouver always taste like lagers and the lagers always taste like piss. If good beer is a requirement for citizenship in Cascadia, the borders may need to be redrawn. Regardless, we can continue to give things a try and this year we’re going to take a different approach. Sour beer is our savior and the sour beer of choice is apparently Oud Bruin by Yaletown Brewing. By most accounts it is worthy of the much coveted 5mTKO beer endorsement of the week. It tastes best when served in a large trophy that represents your soccer team’s superiority in a bio region.

Almost as sharply dressed as Chelis.

A game plan that didn’t work, a feeble attack, and a loss of fight after falling behind on the road. Thank you, Chivas USA, for reminding us of how the Portland Timbers used to be. No more. In a game in which the Timbers were expected to come away with three points and ahead of a stretch where they don’t play a league game at home for over a month, they took care of business in convincing fashion. If getting draws on the road is part of the game plan, then getting three points at home is also a requirement. Getting three points against a team in free fall that was playing without its top keeper and with an attack that doesn’t attack was a must.

2. Come out, come out and play

In three of the six home games they have had this season, the Timbers have faced a side that has bunkered behind the ball. Unlike against Montreal and New England, the Timbers were able to break Chivas’ bunker. Sometimes when you play a team that has no interest in going forward you have to make them come out of the shell. Witness the Timbers first goal which came from a counter that was set up by Chivas USA having to bring players up during a corner. The Timbers play best when the game is back and forth – think back to the first half against Sporting KC – and a spread out Chivas USA side was ripe for exposure. Once they fell behind Chivas USA had to throw more forward which is exactly what the Timbers wanted. It is something to think about the next time Portland faces a bunker team. How can you draw a team out without getting burned yourself. Conceding a corner or two is one way to do it.

3. Three in the back, Jack

Coming into the match there was some discussion whether Chivas USA would continue to roll the dice and play with three in the back line or if they would use four backs. They went with four. The funny thing is that the Timbers essentially went with two to three backs for most of the game. While the formation sheet might have listed four fullbacks, the positioning of Jack Jewsbury shows otherwise. The Club Captain – who was back on the right side after playing a couple of games on the left – was in the offensive half most of the game, in part because he didn’t have to worry about Chivas USA’s attack on the wing and in part because the game plan was to attack the Goat’s wide players. Take a look at Jewsbury’s heat map and compare it with that of his counterpart at right back, Mario de Luna. Jewsbury was given the mandate to push forward. de Luna was forced to spend most of the match trying (and failing) to keep up with Rodney Wallace.

The high line of the Club Captain.

Mario de Luna was forced to stay home to defend.

You can also note that Jewsbury and Darlington Nagbe played on the same side. Nagbe has primarily played on the same side with Michael Harrington. With Nagbe’s tendency to drift to the middle and the value it brings to have him move around, whomever is the back on his side is asked to play the wing. The same isn’t true on Rodney Wallace’s side. He plays wider and as a result we didn’t see Harrington as far forward today.

4. Some numbers to chew on

• Only two teams in MLS have had just one loss, Portland and FC Dallas. One loss from 11 games. Let that sink in.
• Will Johnson has set a career high for goals in a season. Rodney Wallace has equaled his.
• The Timbers have 5 different players who have scored 3 or more goals.
• That is four straight clean sheets at home. The last time the Timbers conceded a home goal was in the 60th minute against Montreal. By my math that is 390 minutes without yielding a goal.
• 14 of the 18 goals scored by the Timbers this season have come in the second half of games.
• How many lives does Futty Danso have? It was just a few weeks ago he didn’t look long for this club. Now he is playing some of his finest soccer. It is remarkable.
• The Timbers have gone two straight games without losing a center back to injury. That is an accomplishment this season.
• Is it me or does Ryan Johnson look a little out of sorts? His timing of runs the past few games has been below his standards. He has also seemed gassed at the end of games.
• Why does Chivas USA put two players over the ball on corner kicks? Makes no sense to take a player out of action on a corner.
• And now you know why Steve Purdy didn’t get many minutes in these parts. Nice dude, but marginal MLS player at best.
• McLain’s save on Valeri’s header early on was top notch. He made some poor decisions coming off his line, but it wasn’t a bad performance from a keeper making his first MLS start.

5. One team came to play, the other came to push ball boys

Ten out 11 games with the possession battle won. It was the fewest passes at a home match, which may be partially attributed to the absence of Mikael Silvestre. You can also note a remarkable consistency with passing accuracy at Jeld-WEN Field.

Chivas USA hiring process.

Club Deportivo Chivas USA is playing its ninth year of existence with its eighth manager. Job security? We don’t need no stinking job security. The Goats’ manager of the moment is José Luis Sánchez Solá. You may call him Chelis. A colorful personality who is much beloved in his native Meixco, Chelis has added a bit of interest to a franchise that has played second fiddle to the Galaxy and second fiddle to the parent club in Mexico. Don’t get too attached, however. He’ll probably be fired by the time you finish reading this post.

Familiar Faces, Different Places

Steve Purdy action figures coming to a store near you soon.

This week we welcome back our old friend Steve Purdy who somehow managed turn his  3 appearances and $44,000 salary last season for the Timbers into an $80,000 salary this season for Chivas USA. Much to the dismay of El Salvadorian Tweeters everywhere, he has only featured in one game thus far. The Rebaño Angelino also have keeper Dan Kennedy, who was drafted by the USL Timbers back in 2005 but never suited up for the good guys because he preferred spending time on the beach in Puerto Rico. He won’t play on Sunday, either. He is in the sin bin for his red card last week against Sporting KC.

Top Training Techniques

Chivas North

El Chore

It doesn’t seem like very much of a winning strategy to use your club as a farm team for another club, but that is the path you could say Chivas USA has taken. Midfielder Edgar “El Chore” Mejia is one a of a handful of players that are loan to the Goats from the other Goats, the ones that play in Mexico. The 24-year-old leads Chivas USA in assists, which means it is probably only a matter of time before he goes back to Guadalajara.

The cheerleader budget is greater than the player budget

Looking forward to the Chiva Girls the Musical.

Blood in the water, unleash the sharks

Two – the number of goals Bobby Burling will be responsible for conceding on Sunday.

One of the reasons it had been fun to watch the Chivas USA circus this year is that Chelis has asked his side to play with just three along the back line. In most of the matches, one of those three has been Bobby Burling, a journeyman MLS player. He’s been played on both sides of the pitch and has been vulnerable to players with speed. Paging, Darlington Nagbe and Rodney Wallace. Attack, attack, attack.

Terrifying

Word of advice: Don’t let your kid see this mascot. Hours of nightmares. Hours.

Blood in the water, unleash the sharks, part 2

Dude, the ball is on the ground next to you. Why the acrobatics?

Not only do the Timbers catch a break with Dan Kennedy sitting this one out, but they also catch a break in playing against a keeper who has a total of 34 minutes of MLS experience to his name. Patrick McLain will make his first career start standing in front of the Timbers Army. Better bring the earplugs, son.

5mTKO Beverage Endorsement of the Week

Nevets (left) and Roberto getting their pre-funk on.

All this talk about Chivas is enough to make one thirsty. At 5mTKO, we usually stick to beer and rhum, but this week we are dipping into our parental unit’s liquor cabinet for something that will put a little hair on our chests (and have the side benefit of making it more enjoyable to watch a shite team like Chivas USA). Roberto prefers his Chivas Regal neat and by neat we mean straight out of the bottle. Nevets is a little more refined. His choice, and our selection for the much coveted 5mTKO Beverage Endorsement of the Week, goes to this recipe for the Blood and Sand:

Tasting Notes
Dominant Flavors: sweet black cherries and botanicals from vermouth
Body or Mouth feel: rich medium bodied from Cherry Herring
Dryness: medium (balanced)
Complexity: rich flavors with medium complexity
Accentuating or contrasting flavors: smokiness from the scotch and sweetness from orange juice
Finish: short, lingering smoky finish

[Glass: Cocktail]

Recipe:
1 ounce Chivas Regal 12 y Scotch
1 ounce Carpano Antiqua sweet vermouth
1 ounce Cherry Heering
1 ounce freshly squeezed orange juice
1 orange twist, for garnish

Directions:
Pour all ingredients into a mixing glass. Add large cold ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with orange twist.

Caleb Porter’s managerial technique

Boy is it a lot more fun when you have a team that is capable of coming away with a result at any stadium in MLS. It is also fun to have a manager capable of making in-game adjustments. One that really paid off for Caleb Porter against FC Dallas on Wednesday night was moving Darlington Nagbe to the striker spot at around the 60 minute mark. In doing so, Porter moved an off his game Diego Valeri out wide and played Frederic Piquionne in support of Nags. The move seemed to ignite Nagbe, while giving the FCD back line a different look than what they saw when Piquionne was the striker with Valeri in support in the first half. And yet again we saw some contribution from RodWall off the bench, doing the hard work to get himself in position to set Nagbe up. Some might be critical of having Kalif Alhassan in the linuep – he was largely absent most of the match – but it sure is nice having some flexibility with the lineup when you play three games in ten days.

2. On the bright side…

AJB

…the Timbers made it an entire 90 minutes without losing a center back to injury. That is a feat given the string of misfortune that has plagued the position, as well as the fact that FC Dallas did its best to attack the Timbers’ CBs. What we saw from Futty and AJB is that neither of them is Mikael Silvestre. We knew this already, of course, but with Silvestre not on the pitch the composure over the ball was lacking, the passing accuracy from the back suffered, and the mistakes left fewer nails to be chewed. It is worth noting that FCD choose to aggressively press high and they had some success with it. I would expect we’ll see other teams take this approach if we continue to see the current center back pairing.

3. The $150K Man

Is he ready to answer the call?

It was the first start of the season for our man from New Caledonia and it wasn’t a bad time to give him a run. With Ryan Johnson slightly dinged and a game coming up on Sunday we got an extended look at Frederic Piquionne. He lived up to his reputation as a player who can hold possession and win things in the air, but who isn’t a goal scorer by nature. If given the choice, I definitely favor having Johnson in the striker role. I also think it might be interesting to see them both on the pitch together with Piquionne playing underneath Johnson or even in the left wing slot. They might be too similar to one another but I could also see them making runs off one another that would add a different wrinkle in the final third.

4. Some points to chew on

•  The Timbers are not only the only MLS side still undefeated away from home, 1-0-4, but they also have equalled their road point total from the entire 2012 season.
• Total points after 10 games: 2011 — 17pts, 2012 — 9pts, 2013 — 15pts.
• Season total road goals: 2011 –10gf, 2012 — 10gf, 2013 — 8gf
• The Timbers have scored 3 goals and conceded 8 goals in the first half. They have scored 12 goals and conceded 4 in the second half of games this season.
• Celebrate the play of Donovan Ricketts. He has been outstanding. But also fret over the fact that his teammates have left him in a position where he has to make a couple of huge saves every game. If he weren’t on top form, this team has a few more ticks in the loss column.
• Someone should probably point out that Jack Jewsbury has done a tremendous job transitioning to being a full back. He’s done so with hardly a peep of complaint. I was not alone in being a critic of his play in the midfield and his stint as captain so it is only fair to give credit where credit is due.
• I still remain unconvinced with brining in Ben Zemanski to close out games.
• Complaining about the referees hasn’t worked for the club in the past. I don’t suppose it is going to bring about more favorable calls this time either.
• Diego Chara, Futty, and Kalif Alhassan were the only players in the starting XI on Wednesday who also were in the starting unit in last July’s 5-0 drubbing in Dallas.
• Considering the amount of time he spent on the JWF turf when he played for the Timbers, there was something very familiar watching Kenny Cooper celebrate his goal by slipping and falling.

5. 9 out 10 possession battles won…

…but also a season low number of passes…

Eleven of nineteen teams play two matches this game week. This will be a turning point for those who can get the full six points and for those who end up with none. Besides watching Portland us Timbers fans we will be keeping a close eye on the Western Conference clubs that are doubled up. RSL has two away matches vs. eastern teams, San Jose has one home and one away, the last place Seattle Sounders have two tricky matches, and the top team in the west, FC Dallas plays both at home.

So what do we know so far?

• FC Dallas is 5-0-0 / +7 at home.
• Seattle is 0 for 3 at home.
• DC United has been shutout in all 4 away matches.
• Timbers have taken points in all 4 away matches.
• Seattle has only scored ONE home goal.
• 40,000 Sounders fans have requested refunds.

Match Preview
FC Dallas v Portland Timbers

Always protect yourself when you are part of the wall.

Familiar Faces, Different Places

He fell to the ground immediately after this picture was snapped.

After a year of being spoon fed goals by Thierry Henry in New York, Kenny Cooper is back on form with one goal in his first nine games of the 2013 campaign. Frankencooper’s adjustment back to Big D has been slow, but at least he has gotten more than a minute’s playing time. One minute of action is all Stephen Keel has received thus far for the Hoops. Finally there is backup keeper Chris Seitz. Remember him? He was loaned to the Timbers for a couple of games back in 2009, earning a two shutouts against the Carolina RailHawks.

Must have been Stephen Keel night at the stadium

Atmosphere!

You Dirty Rat

Playing as the striker in FC Dallas’ 4-2-3-1, the Panamanian international Blas Antonio Miguel Pérez Ortega (you can call him Blas short) has scored a team high three goals in six games this season. He led FC Dallas with nine goals a season ago. The 32-year-old has played at the highest levels in the Western Hemisphere, playing in Uruguay, Colombia, and Mexico with a stint in the Spanish second division in between. His nickname is Super Ratón. In unrelated new, did you know that Mighty Mouse was once accused on using cocaine. And, THAT folks, is why you come to this blogg.

Who let the dogs out? Woof, Woof

Oh, Burn!

Feel the burn.

DTID

Frisco, Texas: A Photo Essay

Do mascots get red cards for taking off their shirts?

They say his name is Hooper but really the mascot should be called Stud Muffin.

Did you know…?

• Frisco is located approximately 12 miles northwest of Plano, 24 miles northwest of Dallas, and 41 miles northeast of Fort Worth.
• The most popular snack foods in Texas are Frito pie (a bag of Fritos mixed with chili, onions, and cheese eaten straight from the bag), peanuts in Dr Pepper, beef jerky, jalapenos, and corn dogs.
  
•  The Dallas TV drama series ran from 1978 to 1991 and has been dubbed into 67 languages and broadcast into more than 90 countries. It was filmed on location at the Cloyce Box Ranch in Frisco, Texas, outside of Dallas.
  
• For three consecutive years Frisco has been one of the top 5 cities in the nation for growth.

5mTKO Beer Endorsement of the Week

Pints Up!

Anyone who has ever been to Dallas will tell you that the best way thing about Dallas is leaving Dallas. That said, there are some ways to make your visit there a little less painful. One such way is the consumption of adult beverages. There may be tastier beers and there may be beers that haven’t been sitting in cans for a couple of decades, but there is no beer that says “Dallas” more to us than JR Ewing’s Private Stock Beer, which earns the much coveted 5mTKO beer endorsement of the week.

5mTKO’s weekly salary (allocation money not included)

Yippee. Today’s the day when we all get to feel dirty about ourselves and look at the salaries that MLS players may or may not be making. Undoubtedly, you’ll look over the list and think that some guys are Danny Mwanga-ish overpaid (Piquionne), some guys have bad agents (Dike and Horst), some have incredible Kiwi benefactors (Gleeson), and some guys should be looking for a little extra work on the side (Kawulok, Tucker-Gangnes).

One thing that may be worth looking at are how the reported numbers have changed from last year. Some guys have contracts that balloon over time (Nagbe, Chara). Some have contracts that may have already maxed out (Ricketts, Will Johnson). And some have contracts that have been torn up and rewritten (Wallace and Nanchoff).

Here you go. These are the Guaranteed Compensation figures. The guys on the top should be the first you ask to buy Nevets a beer.