Portland Timbers vs. Atlanta United Providence Park – Portland August 18 – 10:00 PM ET FS1 MLSsoccer.com preview here. ATLUTD.com preview here. Portland preview here. AJC.com United home page here. Having just beat Club America to claim a trophy, our beloved Five Stripes travel clear across America to face the team against whom they last claimed a trophy to become the best team in America! Atlanta heads to Portland to face the Timbers in the 5th match of an 8 match August. Such is the price of success that you get extra games to test your mettle. The Timbers come into this MLS Cup rematch lying 7th in the West but with all but 1 of their remaining matches at home. And Portland has proven formidable in their larger house, claiming 17 of 24 possible points so far with LAFC proving their only home loss. Key players remain from last year's Cup finalists such as Diego Valeri and Seba Blanco, but new faces such as Brian Fernandez have added a depth to the side that has gelled over the course of the season and seen them take 6 wins and 2 draws in their last 9 MLS matches. Portland's prowess is deceptive, very much an effort to employ Total Football. They seek to control the ball for a comprehensive attack not unlike FdB's original concept, only Portland typically features a more wing-heavy attack while Fernandez plays a more floating role compared to Josef. This leads to a volume of overlapping runs and an aggressive effort to move the ball forward. Defensively this also tends to lead to more man-marking than zonal coverage, as Coach Savarese seeks to maximize individual match-ups, challenging his players to always win the 1v1 battles. They have the players to make it work and are a safe bet to both qualify for the playoffs and potentially vie for the west once again. For Atlanta the question of late seems to be a final word on the latest iteration of their 3 back formation. Is this the trick that sends them on their way or simply a still-flawed scheme masked over by their offensive potential? Their performances since making the shift have shown glimpses of brilliance and signs of lingering defensive lapses, the latter of which still seems to this author a matter of personal focus and communication. If that is so then how much of that might yet suffer as the team tries to play the same key players over and over? Regardless the team's confidence is sky high and I'm sure they'll relish the chance to remain in the spotlight. Roberson projects Villalba might start for Pity just to offer some rotation, meanwhile Remedi and Escobar are expected to miss out through injury. Fortunately the side is deep enough to adapt, provided the offensive movement is strong. 2-2, as the history of draws between the sides continues.
Ah, but the biggest game we played against them was not a draw! There's that bit of history to be factored in. We're gonna win. Don't ask me how, or what the score's gonna be- you might jinx it
Road game on the left coast. We rested some guys mid-week, so should have a full roster for this one, but long travel and a short week are going to make a difficult game. If we pull out a win, I'm betting on a 1-0 nail-biter.
Personally I can't see Atlanta securing the shutout AT Providence Park. Portland has been strong of late. So if Stripes win I suspect a 3 or 3 goal output from the good guys. Anxious to see lineup. Would prefer Villalba not start today but midweek, but that's just me.
I don't see a game on my weekend calendar so I keep assuming it's simply a Wednesday match. Keep forgetting this league sneaks in Friday games. Works in our favor tonight, then.
Central Time Zone pays off, baby! It's only 9:30 here. I might make it through the first half before unconsciousness sneaks up on me.
Have watched with a side eye while trying to help my daughter log in online, only to learn of the ongoing dispute between Fox and DirecTV. Alas. 29' and Portland the better side the past 10 minutes. Stripes need to assert some control in middle of the pitch.
32' and both Pogba and Larentowicz are on a yellow, which is less than ideal, to put it mildly. Defense has been chaos of late.
45' and Barco wastes his 2nd breakaway chance, then follows up by earning a yellow by taking out his frustration on a Timber player.
The big chatter is whether or not Pity was fouled in the box near the end. If he wasn't then he literally stepped in between the sliding defender's legs in the only spots possible without contacting him.
TV says that's only the 15th goal to come from the Gressel to Martinez combination?! Feels like the 40th!
60' Been up and down the last 10 minutes. Atlanta attempting a LOT of long passes. That got them goal #2 but it's also been the source of a lot of giveaways.
A) Chara due for a card. B) Guzan makes a save of the year candidate! C) Barco needs to come out. He's just not making it work tonight. Bring on Hyndman, I say.
80' and still 0-2. Atlanta has had better man-marking past 10 minutes. REALLY need to gut this one out.
FT: 0-2! Hellz yeah! Never would have pegged this game for the shutout but that was duly earned. Onward and upward!
Glad we pulled out the W... I have the game recorded but things have been pretty chaotic as of late at work for me, so I’ll just take that I missed my first league match of the year. It seems from the highlights we were on our back foot a lot. But what a goal from Josef.
I did in fact go to sleep at halftime last night. Happy to wake up to the win, and Josef's 11th in a row! Our defense looked suspect, but the first half was definitely entertaining. Looked like the second half was, too. Guzan had a couple of fine saves. Barco seems not to have missed a beat, Pity's coming along nicely, and Josef is still the same ol' Josef.
Game was eerily similar to LAFC game in that Atlanta struck early, then was slack for about 20-25 minutes in the first half but otherwise was the more assertive team. Biggest difference in this match, obviously, is that the Stripes were better in defense and Portland wasn't as potent in their attack. Barco didn't have his best game. He was aggressive but his final ball was routinely poor, especially on two breakaways. (On the whole Atlanta struggled as a team to get shots on target.) Pogba started meekly but recovered. He and others for that spell Portland controlled were putting on a clinic in poor man-marking. Even when the midfielders were recovering they were bunching up and giving up lots of space to Timbers players. 2nd half was much better - you could see the lines, you could see the coverage, and you could see the efforts to push forward. Nagbe had one of the most stupid giveaways I've ever seen from him but otherwise another solid game for Atlanta's glue man. He and Miles are arguably the most unheralded great players in the league. Overall a standout display. If they play like that they'll win most every match.
I have the benefit of being an hour behind you guys (much better getting home last season), so I was awake for the whole thing. Guz put the cape on for 90 minutes, thru two knees to the dome, and I wish there was a "Pass of the week" category Gressel could win.
Just got back from Portland late last night. What an absolutely fantastic time. I'd been out there once before a long time ago, but it was for work so I didn't get to do much in the way of fun stuff. Not so this time. Hiking near Mt. Hood and then at Oswald State Park on the coast, walking everywhere in the city, a few long runs crossing back over their various bridges, and drinking --- lots of drinking. Also, ran in to Nagbe twice walking around the city. As for the match, their stadium is fantastic, their crowd enthusiastic but ridiculously nice. We never felt at any point that we'd be on the wrong end of any aggro. Even after the match, Timbers fans were telling us it was a good match and we deserved the W. Can't add much to the analysis than what's already been stated here. No way, I would've predicted 2-nil, but I really thought we played fairly well. Guzan with a great save to avoid any squeaky bum time at the end. And yeah, their CB (right) missed a sitter early on, but arguably we should've had a PK and Barco should've finished his breakaway. So -- deserved outcome in my humble opinion.