For the second time this year, the Portland Timbers fell 4-1 in Texas. That’s two times too many, but the first came early in the year against Dallas, when the team was managing players’ minutes ahead of a Champions League trip to Mexico. Tonight, the context is less forgiving, with Austin FC scoring twice in the match’s final 13 minutes to hand Portland their third three-goal loss of the season.
“One of the toughest nights since I’ve been here in Portland,” was Timbers head coach Giovanni Savarese’s assessment. Savarese is in his fourth season with Portland. “[We] definitely deserved the score that we saw on the field …
“It’s my responsibility, the responsibility of the staff, everyone involved … it’s our responsibility, what happened today. We will collect, together, the group, make sure that we figure out what comes next.”
Austin went up through Jon Gallagher, who converted on the first good chance of the match in the 28th minute. Five minutes later, Diego Fagundez score after the Timbers were caught in transition, though Jeremy Ebobisse cut the lead to 2-1 just before halftime. In the second half, Alexander Ring headed home a restart in the 77th minutes before Héctor Jiménez closed the scoring in the 81st.
This wasn’t the May 1 game in Dallas, where Portland’s lineup embraced its packed schedule had wrought. Nor was this the 3-0, May 30 loss at Philadelphia, where the team was undone by set pieces. This was a “nothing’s going right” game from a starting group which, in terms of its talent, has rarely struggled this much. Tonight, there were multiple ways that group fell short.
“We weren’t there for all 90 minutes,” Ebobisse said. “We had moments, but we were a little bit passive, didn’t win enough battles, and didn’t make the right decision[s] on the ball …
“It was a challenging game, one that we have to learn from and move forward. Because we’re going to see them again. And that can’t happen again.”
By night’s end, it felt like the Timbers had hit a wall, and it was difficult not to see the team’s injuries and absences as the cause. From the season’s first games, Portland has been trying to compensate for losses, with the ailments of Sebastián Blanco and Jaroslaw Niezgoda compounded by rotating list of issues. Ebobisse wasn’t healthy to start the season. Andy Polo was still in Peru. Clark picked up an injury in the MLS opener, while names like Diego Chara, Larrys Mabiala and Cristhian Paredes have all missed significant time. Polo and Ismaila Jome won’t be back this season, at all.
At one point, the Timbers had 11 players on their injury report. Now that’s down to seven, international callups have added another obstacle. Yimmi Chara and Felipe Mora are currently at Copa América, while Eryk Williamson will now depart to join the United States for the Gold Cup. Claudio Bravo has already reported to Buenos Aires to prepare for the Olympics with Argentina.
In their volume, the Timbers’ absences are so extensive, the team has been forced to do things like dress three goalkeepers, or play formations without wingers. But now, more than the volume, the duration has taken its toll. The Timbers have gone so long without being themselves, they’ve started to play like something else.
“It’s been a difficult year in regards to what we have to manage with the players that we have, the situations that we have to deal with …,” Savarese said. “Now, we are in a delicate moment in which we have to collect ourselves …
“Mora, Yimmi and others when [they’re] able to come back, then we’ll have a little more competition for positions, we can rest some more players. I believe it will be a much better situation.”
Ultimately, those absences aren’t an excuse for how the Timbers played on Thursday. As Ebobisse said, tonight’s was a performance “that can’t happen again.” But the absences are context, and they are an explanation. If the Timbers seem weary, beaten down, over fighting through nights like tonight, it’s because they’ve been waging those battles for so long. And it this point, they’re probably tired of not being themselves.
There are 15 days until Portland’s next game. Players like Blanco, Niezgoda and Paredes are getting closer. Combined with the impending returns of Chara and Mora, and the Timbers may be a completely different team when they return to the field. They may be missing Bravo and Williamson, but elsewhere, they’ll have something closer to a full range of options.
Regardless, the team needs to improve. They don’t need anybody to point that out.
“Naturally, there was a mood of dissatisfaction, but one in which there’s motivation to get things right,” Ebobisse explained. “And how we come around on that path will be dealt with internally, and I have full faith in every single guy in that locker room that we’ll get it right.”
Round-up of Timbers Night at Austin FC:
