The Portland Timbers paid a visit to Sandy on Saturday for a Star Wars match showdown with Real Salt Lake. Although the match occurred on the same field, the Timbers and RSL might as well have been playing in different galaxies.
The Lineup
This lineup for Phil Neville and the Timbers only featured one change from the win at San Diego FC over the weekend, with Antony starting in place of Alexander Aravena. Notable absentees from the matchday squad included Joao Ortiz and Eric Miller, who stayed back in Portland. What started out as a 4-2-3-1 in the first half shifted into a back 3 in the second half, with Fory moving to the wingback role, Antony dropping from winger to wingback, and Da Costa and Velde playing centrally under Kelsy up top.
Recap and Highlights
My High School Band Director in rehearsal would say, "out of all the reps I have ever seen, that was one of them." And I certainly echo the sentiment.
Out of all of the soccer games I have ever seen, that was one of them.
The match started early with PTFC pressing high against RSL, but the Claret and Cobalt were able to break down the Timbers quickly. RSL were able to find good use of open space, and subsequently play through balls into space, which created dangerous opportunities for attack.
2' Finn Surman takes an early foul from Diego Luna, which forces a free kick from deep inside the Timbers defensive half.
5' Diego Luna takes a shot from the top of the 18-yard box, forcing James Pantemis into a big save.
10' Goal, RSL. Zavier Gozo gets it past James Pantemis.
12' Sergi Solans nearly doubles the lead for the hosts, but James Pantemis comes up big again. Pantemis would prove to come up big again throughout the match.
PTFC played a lot of buildup play, which turned out to shoot them in the foot.
26' Kevin Kelsy takes a shot that is saved by Rafa Cabral. First big chance by PTFC.
28' Diego Luna doubles the lead for the hosts.
44' Antony takes a chance that gets deflected.
Finn Surman goes down with a head injury that ultimately sees him substituted for Kamal Miller to start the second half.
51' Gozo takes a shot that results in a big save from Pantemis. Yet again, he was huge this game.
The rest of the second half didn't have much action. Honestly, not much of this game did. There were additional substitutions made for both teams, but the soccer was played with nothing exciting happening.
Questions need to be asked of this team, and in turn the team needs to examine themselves and address their concerns internally. The next few weeks of Portland Timbers football will tell folks a lot about the direction that this team is heading. Buckle up, buttercups.
