Super excited for this one. My dad and I are traveling to this game, first ever away game for us and it's something we've been wanting to do for a while.
couldn't think of a better place for your first road trip. My family loves going here not only for the game but just for the city itself. it has the cool vibe of a seattle without it being as big or as snobish. Are you flying or driving? If you're driving (from Utah) go here for dinner if you can
Ah - that's a bummer. As 15 said, it's a great place to visit. We're headed up for our second road trip up there to watch RSL play the Timbers. Great crowd, nice town with a great food (and brewery) scene. No Zion walls to deal with and you don't have to sign a promise to eat if all you want is a beer. Just be prepared for a ton of hipsters and homeless...and go visit some food trucks/carts.
Maybe I'll just stroll down to the stadium and watch this game... Ahh shit, don't live in Portland anymore.
hit up @UPinSLC for recommendations, then. If you have time after the game (maybe next day), go to Powell's. And Vodoo. And the rose garden. And the museums. And why haven't I moved to Portland yet...
The hotel is within walking distance of Providence Park so we won't have a car. I'm open to food suggestions that are literally bordering the stadium
sounds like you're staying at the place I stayed at there a few times: Park Lane Suites? You can walk most of Portland. @UPinSLC - help Kenda out. You didn't steer me wrong when I went
I stayed at Hotel Deluxe last year for the playoff match. It's only a block away from the stadium. They have a great restaurant called The Driftwood Room. The place was packed with Timbers fans before the match and my wife and I found great food and nice conversation there. If I go back to Portland for a game, that'll be the place I stay again. Very classy and affordable.
Heh, sorry I haven't been around here much lately, been busy with the move back to SLC....and locking in RSL season tickets next year. Watch out section 34.... Anywho, where are you staying @KendaReal ? I can give you a boatload of suggestions for sites/sounds/food/whatever based on where you are downtown.
I highly recommend Elephants Delicatessen on 22nd ave right off Burnside, great breakfast, they make amazing sandwiches, pastries, and have great dinners. If you are looking for a really fancy dinner place, Ringside Steakhouse on Burnside between 21st and 22nd is among the nicest in Portland and is "reasonably" priced. Kell's Brew Pub on 21st and Davis is a good pub with a lot of good beers, food is so-so for an Irish place. Eating at any of the places directly around the stadium will take a long long time to get food near game time, so plan accordingly. I would walk up 21st Ave a little ways, there are A LOT of good places to eat/drink/be merry. I prefer CHA taqueria over Mazatlan for the Mexican food in the area. Schmizza Pub and Grill on 21st is the better pizza in the area, do not go to Hot Lips across from the stadium, very expensive and long long lines. Before the game the Timbers Army and other Timbers fans love to drink at The Bitter End, it's a lot of fun to go over, get a few beers, and interact with some good Timbers fans before the game. After the games I liked to go to Marathon Tavern a few blocks down, they have pool, darts, and all that kind of stuff. If you want to do some shopping in the area, 23rd Ave is a good place to do it, lots of cool local shops mixed in with bigger chains. Lot's of good restaurants on 23rd as well, if you like sushi I recommend Mio down on 23rd and Johnson St., it's a little bit of a walk but they have good stuff. Moonstruck Chocolate has a cafe on 23rd if you want to fulfill your inner chocolate desires. The NW neighborhoods are cool to walk around, lots of little shops and things to look at.
So do we go with a line-up similar to the one that got us three points last week? Or do we go back to the veteran one that has been struggling?
on paper or on the field? I think that is what @georg is referencing to. The talent is with the first team... that lost to Chivas. The better play seems to be with the (mixed in) second string guys. Jeff is going to go with his perceived first XI - especially at this time of year. However, you can't help but see the similarities between this game and the USOC final last year. The second string guys get a win after a string of poor performances (at Vancouver last year - vs SJ this year) but don't get the nod as you would lose the locker room as a coach if you did. The XI I think we'll see: Rimando Beltran Borchers Salcedo Wingert Luke KB Javi Ned Plata Sabo Bench: JeffA, Mansally, Maund, Grossman, Vela, Findley, Jaime
My only change would be to sit Mullholland for Vela. Not taking anything away from Luke but Vela could be the spark in midfield this team needs. Last match we saw a team that used possesion as means to move the ball forward, instead of being content to keep possesion for its own sake. This to me was largely due to Vela. Sure he made a few errors but his commitment to attack was what this team needed and needs.
Vela isn't nearly as good defensively, so being on the side will put more pressure on the back four. I think Vela has the same problems as Gil: their best position seems to be AM, which isn't happening with Javi playing. They both look good in spurts on the outside, but generally don't seem to bring any form of consistency like Ned and Mulholland. We're not going to see backup players starting again like we did last week. It's the last two games of the season, and you'd be crazy to risk breaking team chemistry because your backups beat a terrible team at home. That group didn't even play head and shoulders better than we see from the normal XI. I think you could make a better case if they completely slaughtered SJ, but they didn't, so there's no real reason to shake everything up. Edit: What did Vela do that Morales doesn't? Mulholland is also pretty great in attack, while being a far better defender than Vela.
What team chemistry are you talking about? The first choice starting eleven have pretty much sucked the past few matches. I did not call on morales to sit in place of Vela, I called for Mullholand to sit. The idea that the first eleven as you see them should be guaranteed their starting spot might be part of the reason we are in this late season rut.
If I were the coach, I'd probably start the first team, but with a very clear message before the game that the 2nd string players will take their spot at half time if they're not getting it done. Use the performance of the bench players to light a fire under the 1st team.
And the reason I compared to Morales is because there's no way Mulholland is sitting for him. Mulholland is miles better in defense, and only a little worse than Vela in attack. I'd play Gil out wide before I threw Vela there. And Morales > Vela in the attack, so unless there are things I'm not seeing, the diamond is set. Sure the starting XI hasn't been great, but who do you replace and why? Forwards. Who is better than Plata/Sabo? You could argue for Findley, Jaime, or Olmes, but given the fact that Plata is on fire, and Sabo has still managed to score a couple even while looking completely rusty, those spots are set. I'd say Ned/KB/Morales are pretty much locks at this point, given their overall consistency. Our best on the outside IMO, is Mulholland hands down. As far as the back four? Given injury, that's pretty much set as is. I wouldn't be opposed to seeing Mansally over Beltran or Wingert, just for the offensive punch. If Schuler were healthy I'd really like to see Salcedo at RB again. Sadly that's not really an option right now. And as much as I don't like the lack of offense from Wingert and Beltran, they're generally quite solid on defense, and when playoffs hit, you're going to need a solid defense. So out of our 'crappy' starting XI, the only minor arguments I can see are replacing Mulholland or one of Beltran or Wingert. And who is playing better than them to displace them? Nobody.
If you are going to put Seba in the starting 11 I would rather sit Grabavoy and keep Luke. Luke brings a lot of stability to the midfield and could be asked to be a little more defensively minded with Seba in the midfield with him. Ned, even though he scored, tends to more and more play into the possession play instead of pushing forward when opportunities are there. Luke seems to take a few more opportunities to push forward.
Ned's always been more defensive, which is fine. He's usually tidy with possession and is good at keeping the ball and keeping play going with short passing. Considering how we seem to attack from the left 75% of the time, having someone that won't easily lose the ball is a good thing.
I think one benefit of having Vela over Morales is that we don't have Morales taking our set pieces But I agree. I don't see us benching any of the regular starters despite how terrible they have been the last few games.