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Game 9 Recap: PDXSEA100

Fish & Chips: A Detailed Recap From the Field

“When the (green) smoked cleared, the scoreboard read 1-0.”

 

What a day! What a day!

When the schedule first came out in January, we had this one circled in permanent marker. It’s always a big deal when the Sounders come to town, but for PDXSEA100, the stakes were raised considerably. We were thrilled to be fortunate enough to score some Media Field Passes for this historic Derby match. We got there early to enjoy the UV rays and watch the Timbers Army eagerly fill into their seats, increasingly getting louder as the clock slowly ticked towards the start. While we were waiting, we wrote a couple questions down for things we were eager to have answered at the start and as the game progressed.

 

Pregame Questions

Bill or Liam?

Polo or Flores?

Dempsey to play full match?

Will things get chippy?

Heat factor in May?

 

As the players came out to line up, two of the five questions we had going into the match were already answered. Captain Liam Ridgewell, who had been in fine form since returning to the lineup was getting the start over Bill Tuiloma and Andy Polo, who looked solid in the Timbers’ previous matchup with San Jose continued in his starting role over Andres Flores. Though much has been made to the inauspicious start to the season for Ridgewell, the move seemed like a no-brainer given his international experience as well as his history of playing the Sounders. If anybody knows what it’s like to have Clint Dempsey as an assignment, it’s probably him.

 

By the time kickoff came, the Army was raucous, and we were equally as fired up. The first ten minutes seemed a lot like both teams feeling each other out for the first time with a new coach at the helm for Portland. Though the Timbers moved the ball sharply with crisp passes, there wasn’t much to write home about early on.

 

The 10-13 minute mark showed the Timbers start to pick some momentum up but with limited success. Seattle opted for a five defender back line, that pinches well together and holds their line. Early on, it forces everything from Portland into the center where it becomes very crowded.

 

The next few minutes, Diego Valeri tried to sneak behind the back line of the defense twice, and each time he is greeted with a flag up from the linesmen. Diego didn’t like either call and let the ref know by wagging his finger in disapproval. The fans let the ref know with a bit more theatrics and bad language.

 

Through the first thirty minutes of the game, one thing we noticed especially because it was the side we were on, was that Alvas Powell, was completely shut down.  He has been abusing his recent opponents with an incredible burst and some great footwork, but this game, he was overmatched. He found himself with consistent 1-on-1s on the wing with #5, Nouhou Tolo and each time Nouhou got the better of him. It looked like Powell lost his footing on more than one occasion, but even without it, he wasn’t going anywhere. Ditto with the other side of the pitch. Through the first thirty minutes, Timbers wingers were well thwarted.

 

Another thing we noticed in the first half, this time a positive, was what a rock Liam Ridgewell is for the defense when he’s on his game. For one, every time Dempsey checked to the ball, he did so with the Timbers captain draped all over him. More than that though, Ridgewell has phenomenal first touches, great volleys, and a wit about him, where he never looks uncomfortable with the ball at his feet. Both Ridgewell and Chara are the keys for the Timbers in defense to offense transitions.

In the 38th minute, the Timbers secured their best opportunity of the first half as Sebastian Blanco took the ball from the left wing, dribbled it back to the middle with his right foot, and blasted one just over the bar. In a game that didn’t see many shots through the first forty, this was about the only one that raised either keeper’s heart rate. With both sides’ attack stalling late in the half, it was an unexciting 0-0 halftime score.

 

The second half started similarly to the first half with not much action taking place in the first ten minutes. Probably all that water they drank at halftime. Another thing we noticed right away was that in the 60th minute, Nouhou was lifted from the game. Maybe it was because he’s young and inexperienced? Maybe their coach just need our vantage point to see what he had in his defender, but either way, that substitution was good for the Timbers.

 

In the 68th minute, the Timbers once again got their best chance of the game. This time, it was an Andy Polo blast from just outside the 18-yard box that was struct beautifully with an arching curve but was just barely handled by the Sounders keeper. At this point, I think Seattle’s defensive-minded play was starting to hurt them. They had exerted all of their energy in stopping the dangerous Timbers attack up to that point, and tired defenders were starting to show when Andy Polo finally got his first real opportunity 68 minutes into the affair.

In the 77th, the Timbers took out Adi and Paredes for Armenteros and Flores. The subs were great because they had fresh legs and because absent of Adi, the Timbers stopped trying to funnel everything through Adi and instead moved the ball well with their wingers and defensive mids. Certainly, that was the case in the 86th, when Samuel Armenteros perfectly threaded the needle through four Sounders defenders to a streaking Sebastian Blanco, who found himself with only the keeper to beat. Blanco effortlessly chipped the goalie, and just like that, we were jumping up and down, high-fiving strangers and singing “Build a bonfire”. The rest of the game was long, though Seattle really never mustered much of last ditched effort. They had committed their energy to stopping Portland, but when the (green) smoke cleared, the scoredboard said 1-0 and 90 minutes elapsed.

 

After the game, we did what you do, we hit the Cheerful Bullpen for a postgame drink and to talk about the match. Not that seeing it from the field tells you a story that the TV can’t, but Sebastian Blanco is truly a gift for the Timbers faithful to behold. Excuse the cross-sport comparison, but he has a lot of Darren Sproles-like qualities. Besides the obvious height comparisons, the way Blanco can get the ball and immediately head North-South through an opening and into space is reminiscent of Sproles. He has consistently given Portland’s opponents fits and even in games like Saturday, when Valeri and Adi can’t break free, he makes things happen. He’s the X-factor on this team that all of the sudden is the last team that anyone in the MLS wants to face right now. #RCTID #Onward #BUILDABONFIRE #PDXSEA100