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The Portland Timbers have spent 427 minutes since they’ve last found the back of the other team’s net—notwithstanding
an own goal by Sporting Kansas City on April 21. In that time, the defense has compensated
considerably; three of the past four games have been shutouts, and the Timbers defense has currently gone 206 minutes without allowing a goal.
But to put it bluntly, if you don’t
score, you can’t win games. And Portland (2-5-3, 9 points)
desperately needs a win against the Chicago Fire on May 20 at JELD-WEN Field
in order to turn around the season.
In the past four games, coach John
Spencer has been utilizing an essentially defensive configuration to stop
Portland’s previously leaky backfield, but this has come at a cost.
Diego Chara and
Lovel Palmer are both essentially defensive center midfielders,
which can make forward link-ups difficult except on mid-pitch steals or breaks
up the wings. The centerfield marshaling of plays that makes for good
opportunities has been absent for Portland in recent games.
Kevin Alexander at
Slide Rule Pass
has an
excellent graphic analysis of
Portland’s defensive stance over the past two games against the Columbus Crew
and Houston Dynamo, showing a broadening chasm between the midfield and the increasingly
isolated strikers.
But against the Chicago Fire’s
offense this year, Coach Spencer’s shoes may feel very tight indeed. Portland
bested Chicago in both games last year; indeed, Chicago accounted for one of
Portland’s only two road victories. But Chicago (4-2-3, 15 pts.) is playing as a
stronger team this year than last year. At home last week, the Fire were able
to hold Western Conference leader Real Salt Lake to a tie on May 9. On May 12, they
knocked Sporting Kansas City off the top of the Eastern Conference with a 2-1
victory.
Twinned Ghanaian forwards
Patrick Nyarko (one goal this season) and especially
Dominic Oduro (four goals) are
two of the speediest forwards in the league, which is an asset that seems
almost designed to spike a consistent weakness in the Portland backfield: its lack
of speed on the right wing. Look for a highly physical game in the backfield
against the tall, slender forwards—but look also for the Portland backfield to
get badly burned by the whippet-quick Oduro at least a couple times during the
game.
With this threat, along with strong
midfield support from
Sebastian Grazzini
(1 goal, 3 assists), it’s not clear that Spencer will elect to dilute his
defensive strategy in favor of a stronger offensive line-up, especially with
center back
Futty Danso’s suspension
and the touch-and-go groin injury status of
Jack Jewsbury.
What needs to happen no matter what,
however, is that the team does a better job linking upfield to create more
chances for strikers
Kris Boyd and
Darlington Nagbe, as well as the attacking
midfield wingers. The probable return of
Kalif
Alhassan after a long injury may provide some much-needed spark to Portland’s
offense; he has the ability to be one of the most creative and dynamic
offensive-minded players on the team.
Chicago is far from unbeatable,
even given their solid results last week. Most of Chicago’s victories have come
against some of the weaker teams in the league, and their play places them
solidly in the middle of the pack. A Portland team that is able to move the
ball forward for solid chances on goal, without sacrificing the impressive defensive
strides of the past four games, should have a solid chance to come up with the
three points.
