Early Season Observations About the 2018 Portland Timbers

I thought Bill Tuiloma would be key in 2018, just not this soon

The offseason has been somewhat disjointed - but a big construction project and a schedule full of road matches will do that for fans of the Portland Timbers. In some respects, this year reminds me of the 2011 MLS season when the home opener versus the Chicago Fire was scheduled to accommodate the construction project to convert the grounds from multi-purpose to soccer specific venue. Due to the planned renovation schedule,  Portland played most of their pre-season and early schedule away from the Rose City as progress at the park continued right up until the April 14th home opener. This year, the park is undergoing updates to add approximately 5,000 seats to the east end of the stadium with phase 1 work delaying the home opener for 2018 to - ironically enough - April 14, 2018. Both teams played much of their pre-season in Arizona, but the 2011 Timbers did have a U.S. Open Cup qualifying match at Merlo Field in late March plus the Cascadia Summit at Starfire for fans to see their team in person. For 2018, the Timbers haven't played any competitive soccer locally, meaning that most fans have only seen this team on television - or if you are lucky enough to have traveled to Arizona, Los Angeles, New York or Dallas in support.

It's only 3 matches into the year, but I wanted to put together some quick thoughts about the progress so far after the Timbers secured their first point of 2018 courtesy of a 1 all draw with FC Dallas. Sebastian Blanco netted his second goal of 2018 early in the second half which was enough to give Timbers Coach Giovani Savarese his first ever MLS points as a coach, but Portland actually had several chances to take all 3 points. FC Dallas struck first courtesy of forward Roland Lamah, but they couldn't hold on for the home win even though they had opportunities to stretch their lead. After losing their first 2 matches in Los Angeles and New York, Portland was looking for a reboot to find any positives - especially after watching a Red Bull side populated with several reserves (talented but very young and raw assets) totally dominate the Timbers. Savarese had very harsh words for his team after the Red Bulls result, considering that Portland had played the Galaxy relatively even through most of match 1, and appeared to be the more dominant side in the second half. In New York, the Timbers looked lost and disinterested in all aspects of play, and the results were disheartening to say the least.

Many experts put out their thoughts about the team and what was wrong - from asking questions about the tactical approach to open questions about the defensive approach and captaincy and even throwing out the panic button after 2 matches. It was obvious the Timbers were not in sync in New York at all, and this led to some intriguing tactical decisions by Savarese - leaving captain Liam Ridgewell in Portland and giving youngster Bill Tuiloma his first MLS start, plus putting the team in a measured 4 defender, 3 central midfielder, 2 attacking midfielder, 1 striker formation designed to reinforce the backline in front of goalkeeper Jake Gleeson. While Savarese indicated that he felt Ridgewell was still an important part of this team, he also felt in imperative to send a message to the club. You could tell there was a difference in their step when they took to the pitch versus FC Dallas, there was more cohesiveness, more passion, more energy. There were mistakes and missed opportunities for sure, but Portland showed fire and purpose - and played their most complete match of 2018 in a venue that has troubled them in the past against a team that has usually had their way with them in Texas.

 Blanco's 2nd half goal in Dallas was awesomely ridiculous

Other observations and comments:

• I have a great deal of respect for Savarese's resume and accomplishments during his coaching career, but the New York match showed an egregious lack of discipline from the Timbers. After showing well against the Galaxy, it was almost as if the team had forgotten every principle of the attack. Teams will often test the authority of a new coach, and it was great to see Savarese work within the team to adjust where needed but get his players to buy into his message.
• There's been plenty of ire leveled at Ridgewell, especially after his lackadaisical defense contributed to a New York goal. We've all seen the footage of him jogging slowly while Gleeson is left out to dry on the counter, and Ridgewell had a few other questionable decisions on the night. Savarese's decision to leave the standing captain at home and not travel sent a very clear message - play hard or get benched.
• Sebastian Blanco has been the only Timber to score a goal in 2018, and he's been solid on both sides of the ball. Aiding on defense while contributing to some of the creativity in the offense, it's obvious that having Blanco in camp during pre-season helped his preparedness. Blanco wasn't officially added in time to be part of 2017 camp, and his early season performances were inconsistent at times - but he's very dialed in this year.
• It was good to see more of the creative Diego Valeri in Dallas, but it will continue to be a work in progress to see the 2017 MLS MVP start to influence matches like he did last year. When the team had Darlington Nagbe and Valeri on board, there were 2 extremely creative forces on the pitch, but with Nagbe in Atlanta now, Valeri has become the main instigator for the offense. One of Savarese's big keys to jumpstarting the offense is figuring out how to create more space for Valeri to do his thing, because right now, it's not happening with any frequency.
• Maybe the Ridgewell situation will push Fanendo Adi some. I love Adi's game and talent and he's been a very accomplished scorer for the Timbers over his career. But I saw too many runs yesterday cut off combined with disinterested attacks at points for my own good. When Adi is engaged, he's very dangerous - and right now, this version of Adi doesn't appear switched on.
• I liked Tuiloma's work in the pre-season on the defensive line, and thought we might see him join the rotation at some point in 2018. I have to be honest that I didn't expect it in game 3 of 2018.
• Even in conceding 7 goals in 3 matches, I still think Gleeson has actually played well in 2018. He hasn't made the glaring errors we have seen from him in previous seasons, and I like that he's been very communicative with his defensive line about keeping in sync. Sounds like somebody who wants to keep his starting gig.
• Alvas Powell showed some of the promise we keep hoping to see regularly, but I'm also wary of the talk. Powell has been the player many have expected to elevate his play to elite, but after 5 seasons where his play has been either very on or really off, it's time to see some consistency.

I am also doing my best to see if posts can be generated more regularly. I'd like to have some future posts about cats predicting soccer matches, but part of that means getting them engaged and the other is getting the editor to decide on a format that works. As a thinker by nature, I tend to contemplate and analyze to no end which leads to a lot of "paralysis through analysis" or more commonly known as buffering. Like with other things in my life, it's working through the process to improve - and April can't get here soon enough. 

 

Timbers slog through to pull out 2 to 0 victory over Red Bulls

One of the best displays I've seen all season from the Timbers Army

Soccer is often called the beautiful game, but sometimes, even the best laid plans fall apart upon execution. The Portland Timbers, coming off another road performance that started out serviceable but eventually fell apart dramatically in Toronto, were hoping to rebound at home against the New York Red Bulls. The visitors were dealing with fixture compression and travel, defeating Orlando City on August 13 in Florida followed up by a trip to Cincinnati for the U.S. Open Cup semifinals versus FC Cincinnati on August 15, a reschedule due to weather issues with FC Cincinnati's previous USOC match. The match ended up going into extra time with the Red Bulls advancing, but MLS also moved the Red Bulls - Timbers match from August 20 in the evening to August 18, which squeezed available Red Bull players even more. Red Bulls Coach Jesse Marsch had to rotate his squad significantly with one leading scorer out for injury and the other for fitness, but Portland wasn't going to sympathize with their cause too much with their ongoing defensive struggles. As both sides slogged through a first half filled with countless errors, ineffective passes and disorganization, the Timbers finally broke through with a goal, then held on under furious pressure to add an insurance tally for a 2 to 0 victory. The effort and passion were certainly there, but the effectiveness and organization were off for both sides all night - but the Timbers were able to do enough to post the victory before they deal with a tough few weeks of travel.

Timbers Coach Caleb Porter was dealing with player availability as he has most of 2017 with 4 players unavailable due to injury: Liam Ridgewell with a quad injury after he just returned to play upon rehab, Fanendo Adi with a hamstring strain suffered in the win over the Galaxy, Jake Gleeson with a hamstring strain suffered in the loss to Toronto, and Marco Farfan with a lingering ankle issue. Porter was very upset about how certain players performed in Toronto, so the defense got a slight overhaul in front of goalkeeper Jeff Attinella, who took over for Gleeson. Larrys Mabiala and Lawrence Olum would cover the center back roles with Roy Miller and Zarek Valentin flanking the left and right, and Porter could bring of Vytas or Alvas Powell as subs if needed. Diego Chara and David Guzman once again handled the defensive midfield duties behind the midfield trio of Diego Valeri, Darlington Nagbe and Sebastian Blanco, but Porter could employ Ben Zemanski, Victor Arboleda or Dairon Asprilla if a change was needed. With Adi out, Porter gave youngster Jeremy Ebobisse the start with Darren Mattocks available to sub; Mattocks got the start versus Toronto FC and struggled with Ebobisse tallying an assist on Valeri's late goal. With Kendall McIntosh backing up Attinella, Porter was hoping for continued strong play from Valeri, who has really been carrying Portland over the last few weeks.

Larrys Mabiala and Gonzalo Veron converge. This happened a lot all night.

New York went in a slightly different direction with their starters, as Marsch had to deal with injury and fitness as well. Mike Grella, a key contributor in previous seasons, had season ending surgery recently, and Daniel Royer, a second year midfielder from Austria who has helped with the scoring load, just suffered a knee injury and is out indefinitely. Marsch can always rely upon several standards with forward Bradley Wright-Phillips, once again leading the team in goal scored, midfielder Sacha Kljestan, a creative midfielder that has blossomed in New York, and goalkeeper Luis Robles, who has been an effective goalkeeper for them for several seasons. Marsch unveiled a rather strange initial formation employing a 3 defender, 4 midfielder and 3 forward formation. Wright-Phillips and Kljestan ended up on the bench to start, as Marsch used Kemar Lawrence, Aurelien Collin and former MLS Timber Sal Zizzo on defense, Connor Lade, Felipe, Fidel Escobar and Derrick Etienne as the diamond midfield. Up top, the trio of Gonzalo Veron, Vincent Bezecourt and newly signed Dilly Duka would try and threaten the Timbers goal, but in the back of everyone's minds, they were just placeholders for the Red Bulls' bigger guns. For Portland, it would be imperative to get out to a good start to hopefully keep Kljestan and Wright-Phillips on the bench and attack New York as much as possible.

The tactic didn't exactly work out so well in the first 45 minutes as both teams supremely struggled to find any sort of rhythm. Veron and Escobar both had early chances on goal that were missed or blocked within the first 9 minutes of play, but otherwise, the Red Bulls couldn't find anything to put on frame against the Timbers. Nagbe struck the crossbar in the 39th on a great sequence that saw Chara hold the ball on the right to find Valeri in the corner, and while Nagbe uncorked a great shot, it struck the woodwork and spun away instead of finding the net. Chara, Nagbe and Blanco all had decent attempts on target - Blanco's 13th minute shot didn't miss by much - but nothing really threatened Robles as the Timbers tried to find something that worked. While Blanco was having success in finding space wherever he decided to set up camp, and several Timbers were getting Ebobisse the ball in good spots, there were also plenty of passes that ended up going nowhere. Whether it was anticipating the positioning or trying to create pockets to attack, passes were either flying in the wrong direction, being intercepted or just going over the touchline. Portland did get a final chance in stoppage when Portland was awarded a free kick just outside the box, but Guzman's restart went to the right post but nobody was home to put a shot on frame.

The Maestro added a goal and assist to his account. He's really good.

The halftime stats showed both sides having difficulty in finding anything that worked, as the number of shots were near equal (Portland at 4, New York at 2), a similar number of fouls and passing accuracy, and possession right at 50 percent for each. For me, it was just odd to see how many quirky bounces were being generated as the teams tried to link together, but most tactics weren't working. The Red Bulls were also down a sub after Collin had to leave the match in 27th minute for injury to be replaced by Sean Davis. Another issue from the first half was the work of center official Allen Chapman, who been the center for 11 matches featuring the Timbers over their MLS appearances. While Chapman hasn't exactly called many fouls on Portland or put out many cards against them, the usual criticism against Chapman has been his penchant for allowing plenty of contact and only making calls when pressed. That pattern was never more evident than early in the match when Chara was injured briefly on contact from Collin on a two footed tackle that Chapman didn't even call. Ebobisse was called for several fouls, including one on Collin that eventually led to his removal of the match, for what seemed like light contact but on other instances, it appeared that Chapman was letting plenty of contact go. Chapman did issue two cautions in the first half, but both were for time wasting and delaying a restart on Escobar and Valentin minutes later, but both sides felt aggrieved at Chapman for several calls that didn't go their way. Despite only calling 14 fouls in the first half, I was shocked that more weren't called by the crew. I will give him credit in some respect that it was called even on both sides, and the fact that both groups were complaining and asking questions certainly didn't tilt the advantage towards one side or another.

The second half began with no other player changes, and Portland earned a corner right off the opening kick courtesy of Ebobisse, but nothing came from the chance. The back and forth misses and turnovers continued for several minutes until Porter made his first move to replace a tiring Ebobisse for Mattocks at the 58th minute. Marsch countered by bringing on defender Aaron Long, a 2014 Timbers SuperDraft pick, in for Duka meaning that the Red Bulls wouldn't be bringing on one of the big weapons on the night. In the 65th minute, Portland would finally strike when Chara attacked a ball on the right corner and got in under control past Lawrence, and he had space to find a teammate for a cross. With Mattocks making a channel run, Chara's pass instead fell to a charging Valeri, and he chipped the ball past Robles just inside the left post to give the Timbers a 1 to 0 lead. Long was upset at not seeing the offside flag catch Chara, but he was in line with the last defender and Robles was off his line slightly and didn't see Valeri's effort until it was already on its way. At this point, Marsch decided to bring on Kljestan, the creative midfielder, and he pulled Etienne, who had fouled Miller twice in the preceding minutes and Chapman had finally cautioned him on the second hard foul. New York's movement and passing were much improved with Kljestan and they were moving forward better, so at this point, it was up to Portland to find a way to manage the end of this match without "parking the bus".

Lots of happy faces at the end of this one.

In the 79th minute, Veron tried to shoot on frame but Mabiala blocked the shot back towards the 18 yard line but the ball hit Guzman and fell to Kljestan in the box. Attinella was able to leave his line with Chara and Mabiala in support, and he was able to block the shot away for a Red Bulls corner. A minute later, Kljestan found Zizzo at midpitch, and the defender punched a high pass forward for Veron with Mabiala chasing, and the Red Bulls forward was able to slide into space. Mabiala tried to block the progression and the two bumped just outside the box with Veron crashing down hard, and Chapman wasted no time in calling the foul. With Mabiala being the last defender, Chapman gave the Timbers center back an ejection for the contact and New York a free kick just outside the box. Reviewing the replay several times, I can concede that Mabiala was a step behind and tried to recover, but the contact appeared incidental at best and Veron sold it by diving really hard. Porter decided to fortify the defense before the free kick, and brought on Vytas for Valetin and Powell for Blanco to add more backline fortification. Minutes later, Felipe restarted the ball with a deft touch to Escobar for a quick shot, but the midfielder pulled it just wide of the left post and out of play. With both sides out of subs and the Timbers at 10 men, it would be the beginning of a very wild finish.

Powell was running after a loose ball and Kljestan shoved the defender into the ad boards, prompting Miller and Attinella to go after Kljestan and Chapman to caution the midfielder. Considering the light contact for Mabiala and the two handed shove by Kljestan, it was another odd officiating decision. Zizzo, Felipe and Veron all got chances on goal in the dying moments of regular time, but New York got their best chance late in stoppage time when Lawrence put a speculative cross in towards a charging Lade at the spot, and the New York midfielder put a header on frame but Attinella was able to palm the ball away while Vytas and Miller were able to provide other cover. It looked like New York might not get any more chances once Portland earned a corner kick due to a Chara deep run on the left, but Portland couldn't hold onto the ball and Chara fouled Kljestan to give New York a free kick. On the same run, Guzman fouled Felipe just outside the box for a final attempt on goal and even Robles moved all the way forward as an attacker. The restart, however, was deflected about and Powell punched it out for a charging Valeri with nobody guarding the New York goal. Valeri dribbled to the right with 2 marks, Chara up the middle and Mattocks on the left, and after a couple of touches, Diego found an open Mattocks at the corner of the box with Robles still off the line. Mattocks calmly slotted the ball into the net for the much needed insurance goal, and the whistle blew right after the restart for a gut wrenching 2 to 0 victory.

I am not sure what is going on here at all.

Portland now turns their attention to a compressed week of their own in hosting Colorado on August 23 before traveling to Seattle to play the Flounders on August 27. Portland then plays their next 2 matches on the road after the Labor Day holiday by traveling to New York to play NYCFC on September 9 and then to Salt Lake on September 16 before returning home to host Orlando City on September 24. The Timbers might get some of their reinforcements back for the 2 long road trips in September, but they face Colorado without the services of Ridgewell or Mabiala available. For me, I found Valeri's leadership valuable in tallying an assist and a goal, now his 51st in his Timbers career, while Blanco was a menace everywhere he went on the pitch. The defense did reasonably well in holding New York scoreless, but they were aided by the fact the Red Bulls struggled to put the shots on target. I do have to give my man of the match to Attinella, who came up huge on many moments with quality saves and a calm demeanor. He commanded his goal line incredibly, and I was really happy to see the veteran earn his first clean sheet at home, and earn the coveted log slab. I am expecting we will see lots of Attinella down the stretch, and if he plays like this, the Timbers will be trouble to deal with in the postseason.

Prediction Thread Week 24 - Portland Timbers v. New York Red Bulls

Not the real New York, but it's somewhat similar, right?

It's been a really strange week for the Portland Timbers, and for once, the oddities haven't been confined just to the pitch. After holding Toronto FC scoreless for nearly 60 minutes and playing reasonably well, the roof caved in as Toronto FC hung up 4 goals over the remainder of the match for a 4 to 1 win. What made the match seem worse was the fact that after TFC put up their first, Portland actually was able to keep up with TFC until the 72nd minute when goal 2 happened and 4 minutes later, it got worse. The only highlight of the contest was Diego Valeri's goal in the 89th minute off a drop pass from Jeremy Ebobisse, which ended up being his 50th goal as a Timber. The fact is, Valeri has joined rather elite company in terms of production, as he is the only Timbers player with 50 goals and 50 assists in his career - Fanendo Adi has scored 50 during his time with Portland, while NASL Timbers legends John Bain and Willie Anderson notched 50 assists - but nobody had achieved both until now. Valeri is also one of 18 MLS players to have this mark, and based upon goals & assists per games played, Diego has the third highest average with .72 Goals and/or Assist per game played in just 139 regular season MLS matches.

The historic mark was impressive, but Timbers Coach Caleb Porter was less than pleased with how some of the Timbers reacted after going down a goal. As he put it, there was still points to be had being down by 1, but some of the players hung their heads in frustration and TFC made Portland pay dearly for their lackadaisical effort. Porter was already dealing with Adi and Liam Ridgewell being unavailable for injury - Adi suffered a hamstring injury while Ridgy aggravated a quad injury late in the 3 to 1 victory over Los Angeles - but the Timbers took another hit when goalkeeper Jake Gleeson injured his hamstring scooping up a header from center back Larrys Mabiala, so Jeff Attinella was brought on to finish the match. With Marco Farfan dealing with a lingering ankle injury, Portland will be short handed for their home match facing the New York Red Bulls on August 18. The match was originally scheduled for August 20 for a national broadcast on Fox Sports 1, but MLS moved the match upon request from both teams due to fixture compression. Portland hosts Colorado on August 23 before traveling to Seattle to play the Flounders on August 27, which would have put 3 matches in 1 week for them, but the Red Bulls were dealing with a similar situation. The Red Bulls defeated Orlando City on the road on August 12 before traveling to Cincinnati to play USL side FC Cincinnati in the 2017 U.S. Open Cup semi-finals on August 15.
Cincinnati scored 2 goals to take an early lead, but New York stormed back to level the match until Bradley Wright-Phillips scored the game winner in the 101st minute to propel the Red Bulls to the final.

The Red Bulls have essentially relied upon the scoring of Wright-Phillps and the creativity of Sacha Kljestan to propel them along, but New York has seen Daniel Royer provide another scoring option for them while Luis Robles continues to be strong in goal for them. The Red Bulls under Coach Jesse Marsch have relied upon scrappy, positional play and tactical scoring to put them in fourth in the Eastern Conference, but essentially, the club only goes as far as the scoring of BWP and Royer can take them. There will be several familiar names to Timbers fans visiting tomorrow, as former MLS Timbers Sal Zizzo and Aaron Long will return back to the Rose City (Zizzo played in Portland during the 2011 and 2012 MLS seasons while Long was a draft pick of the Timbers in 2014 who mostly played in Reserve matches) while another blast from the USL past also makes a triumphant return to a place that he knows very well. There has been a lot of other big news relating to the Timbers in terms of media coverage, but we'll cover that in an upcoming entry. At this point, we are here to talk about predictions and see what our crack crew thinks might happen.

Another week, another heron. Hopefully it's a good luck charm.

Rick: Timbers 2, Red Bulls 2.

 

The Red Bulls come here after a 3-2 U.S. Open Cup victory in extra time on Tuesday night. 

Bradley Wright-Phillips, their leading MLS scorer (14) nabbed two and played the full 120 minutes; their second leading scorer, Daniel Roger (10), is apparently out with a knee injury. Seven regular started took part in Tuesday's game so it will be interesting to see how many see substantial playing time on Friday. I'm predicting most of them. 

 

For the Timbers, Roy Miller is back from suspension, but Liam Ridgewell (quad), Fanendo Adi (hamstring), and Jake Gleason (hamstring), are questionable. I'd like to see Jeremy Ebobisse get another start after providing the assist for Diego Valeri's goal during his 15 minutes appearance against Toronto. The Timbers (W0 D2 L1 F6 A8) have never beaten the Red Bulls at Providence Park.The Timbers have been caught out a couple of times in recent memory by teams coming here on a cross country flight after playing midweek. Let's hope that isn't the case on Friday.

Mark is back and thinking about a win.

Mark: Timbers 1, Red Bulls 0. 

Friday night soccer at Providence Park is one of my favorites. The New York Red Bulls hobble into town fresh off 120 minutes against FC Cincinnati in the U.S. Open Cup. This was 3 days ago. You will vaguely remember this tournament as the Timbers were eliminated a long time back. So in my humble opinion, New York will be plenty happy with a draw in this match. For the Timbers that will not be enough. The Timbers need to take maximum points for this game as well as the next home game against the Rapids. Friday's match is basically a put up or shut up match that will define the rest of the season. To add to the mix, Liam Ridgewell, Fanendo Adi and Jake Gleeson are likely out to Red Bulls game. That is not a good thing. Quue up the cliche' background thunder as there are storm clouds on the horizon. And now a thunderbold of lightning, per Jamie Goldberg "On Toronto, Porter said individuals, not full team, hung heads late. Made it sound like there could be lineup changes to correct that."

So if I were a betting man, which I am not, I would bet on a draw in this match. However, the Timbers defy logic most of the time. I see the Timbers coming out and putting an emphasis on defense and relying on a smart counter attack. I am predicting a crisp 1 nil victory with Blanco netting the game winner. If this scenario holds true, I predict the earth will go dark for a few minutes before the next match. Nothing I can do, a total eclipse of the heart.

I love Portland, people. I really do. I just don't think they will win.

GB: Timbers 3, Red Bulls 3.

The grey boy hasn't called for a Timbers win in some time, and the trend continues as the forever hungry one called for another draw. Unlike some other weeks where he's said there will be no goals or a loss, GB was very confident about goals as he meowed three times for Portland. Unfortunately for this week, he also meowed three times for the visitors. He was so confident of his thoughts that he promptly went to sleep after providing his thoughts. Well, I've done that too so guess like caregiver, like cat.

Yes, I know it's soccer. I just like goals.

Tortie: Timbers 17, Red Bulls 13.

The diminutive tortoise shell cat was very chatty during her interview, perhaps a bit more than usual. While it was post brushing and after dinner, Tortie was exceptionally chatty and meowed several times about goals. I honestly am not sure I got all of the meows, but I believe we got the right number. However, there were official confirmation of more for the home side than the visitors. When she was asked about if this was a football score versus soccer score, she rolled over and played coy, then got up to drink some water. One of these days, she'll get the high score she's looking for.

Do I have to do this again? Seriously?

Spot: Timbers 0, Red Bulls 2. 

Stop the presses! Spot actually picked a score in her usual way of rubbing snot on the interviewer. While I do appreciate her weeks of scoreless draws a lot to avoid massive grossness, it wasn't the case this week as Spot seemed very disinterested in the Timbers at all. When asked about the Red Bulls, it was 2 rubs and plenty of drool and other icky stuff. Thank god for hand sanitizer and soap, but it's what we do to get predictions.

Okay, I missed one week. It's not like anybody else has been on fire recently.

Lucy: Timbers 2, Red Bulls 1.

Lucy was pretty upset to not have her streak extended to three matches, and actually hid for a while before she finally relented to providing thoughts. It was 2 emphatic meows for Portland, then a long dramatic pause and 1 for New York. Considering she got 2 right, including a very improbable win for Portland over Los Angeles and her meows were pretty loud, she's confident in her decision here, which should send the Timbers fans home happy.

Everyday is International Black Cat Day as far as I'm concerned.

Moya: Timbers will win.

After watching her brother come away with the closest result last time, Moya decided she wanted to play this week and distracted Pilot with some catnip. Unfortunately, she didn't provide an actual score for the match, but when asked if Portland will win, she responded with a "meoowalarghabaaahmeowrgh". I have no idea what that means, but she said nothing when asked about the Red Bulls, so I can only assume she means that Portland will win on this week. Maybe some time, we can get a score out of here.

My vantage point for Timbers matches. Everyone looks like ants.

Kip: Timbers 2, Red Bulls 0.

I've tried statistical analysis, I've tried gut feelings, although I haven't broken out the magic 8 Ball toy, but I honestly can't figure out this Timbers side one bit. Going from unbeatable to dumpster fire week after week, it's hard to know what group will show up, but we can surmise a few things: Portland has been good at home, they can score goals and New York does have a defense that can concede goals. While Portland hasn't beaten the Red Bulls here, they have been prone to surprising things all year and I'm calling for another one this week.