As many of you know on May 12 the Timbers Army showed our support for the International Day Against Homophobia by doing a large-scale display.

Reactions to the display have been overwhelming. One photo set on Tumblr has been reblogged over 20,000 times. Additionally, we’ve received hundreds of comments in various online forums commending us on the display. And, as one would expect, there have been a few emails as well.

One of those emails came from Pride Northwest. Pride NW is a non-profit that works to promote equality and understanding around LGBTQ issues. They’re also the group that puts together the annual pride parade in downtown Portland.

They have invited the Timbers Army to be a featured group in this year’s parade, and we’re inviting you to join us. This is an incredible opportunity to show all of Portland how much equality means to the Timbers Army.

If you want to participate, here’s what you need to know:

The parade takes place on June 16th (yes, that’s Father’s day), and participants will need to be staged up by 10:30 a.m. downtown. They expect that we’ll be done marching by around 12:30 p.m. - so that gives you plenty of time to make it back up to Jeld-Wen if you are planning on attending the Thorns match that afternoon.

Welcome back to the latest installment of the power rankings. Each week I look at a bunch of power rankings, and amalgamate the results here. Typically I look at six reports, but this week its only 5 (ESPN, Bleacher Report, Sporting News, MLS, and The Oregonian), as Soccer By Ives hasn’t yet published any rankings for week 12 (which is understandable with all the news coming out yesterday about Manchester Yankees City Football Club).

When I look at the rankings I take an average to see how teams stack up overall, and then also look at points in the past 5 games as another measure of form. Additionally I look at the average movement in the rankings week over week for each team. Finally I use standard deviation (which is a way of looking at the variation in a set of numbers) to see how much agreement there is between ‘the experts’ (a low standard deviation indicates a high level of agreement, a higher standard deviation could indicate a high level of disagreement).

Here are this weeks raw numbers:

So, as you can see we have a new number one. The surging New York Red Bulls have benefitted from a very nice run of form plus some late game heroics from Tim Cahill that took down the the Galaxy to move past FC Dallas (who were torn asunder by Fishing Village FC this week). The Timbers fell a spot (from 2nd to a tie for 3rd), but there is a wide variety of opinions on where they should be ranked (more on that in a few paragraphs).  And while some things have changed at the top, things at the bottom are pretty much the same as they ever were – with D.C. United bringing up the rear once again.

If you look at points through the past 5 games (PP5G), it’s pretty consistent. Most teams are with in 4 spots in the rankings of where they can be found in the PP5G. The relationship between ranking and PP5G is much less volatile than it has been in the past few weeks (I’ve only been doing these rankings since Week 9)

In terms of winners and losers – this week’s big winner (again) are Fishing Village FC (you do remember this is being hosted on ta Timbers Army website right). After scoring 4 goals for a 2nd week in a row, and taking down the consensus best team in the league they jump an average of 3.8 spots (adding to the 5.3 spots from last week). In other news, New York picked up a respectable 2.4 spots. This week’s big loser was the Dynamo. They dropped a whopping 3.6 spots after dropping 3 points at home in convincing fashion to New England.

As far as standar deviation goes, this is the first week were there was no team that we ranked the same across the board (in previous weeks DC United and FC Dallas were ranked the consensus worst and best respectively). In terms of both rankings and movement Portland is the team the ‘experts’ least agree on. If you look at their individual rankings 3 of the 5 ‘experts’ have them at #2 but the other two have them at #5 and #6 – that’s a pretty huge disparity. Additionally in movement one ‘expert’ kept them at #2, two others moved them from #3 to #2, and the other two experts dropped them from #4 to #6 (MLS) and #3 to #5 (Bleacher Report). FC Dallas is in a similar boat as Portland – being the 2nd most debated team in both movement and rankings. In their case they rank anywhere from #1 (MLS) to #5 (Oregon Live) (they also have two rankings at #3 and one at #2). Clearly folks didn’t know how much to read into what happened up north.

For folks who want to see trends over time, here are the average rankings for each team form Week 1 – Week 12 and a graph that is painful to look at and virtually worthless

Well that’s it for this week, if you have question, comments or concerns – let me know.

Despite the Timbers’ exertion of control over much of the first ten minutes, Vancouver came away with the first legitimate chance on goal.  After Futty blocked a pair of Caps chances in the tenth minute, Gershon Koffie found himself in space 20 yards out, but sent his shot well high.

Portland would turn its possession into a golden opportunity three minutes later, when a Diego Valeri shot from a tight angle on the right escaped Brad Knighton’s grasp and bounced tantalizingly in front of goal, but Rodney Wallace couldn’t find a way to push it across the goalline before Vancouver cleared it behind for a corner.

Six minutes later Ryan Johnson got loose on the left side, but his dangerous low cross evaded a Timber’s finishing touch and skipped harmlessly across the face of goal.

There would be no evading a brilliant set piece from Camilo three minutes later.  After Will Johnson got suckered into a soft foul on Camilo just outside the box on the right, the Brazilian hammered the ball inside the near post to give the Caps their first goal against Portland in this building.

As they have all year, however, the Timbers reacted calmly to the concession and came right back.  In the 30^th minute Diego Valeri and Darlington Nagbe combined on the weaker left side of Vancouver’s defense to give Valeri a little bit of space.  The Argentine fired a cross to the top of the six where Rodney Wallace got head to it, but Knighton made a deceptively difficult save above his head to preserve the lead.

After controlling almost 70% of the ball in the first half, there was a feeling at halftime that there was a goal out there for the Timbers.  That goal came in the 52^nd minute after Andy O’Brien clearly handled a Will Johnson shot in the box, prompting the referee to blow for a penalty.[1]  The Captain coolly stepped to the spot and buried the penalty.

As good as the Timbers’ response to their concession was, their reaction to equalizing was equally bad.  Two minutes later, the Timbers’ defense, Will Johnson prominently included, needlessly flattened at the top of the box after a Whitecaps attacking throw.  Koffie – who was the best player on the field for much of the match – took full advantage of the space and curled a beautiful shot into the net.

The ensuing minutes were among the nerviest of 2013 for Portland.  While Vancouver had a hard time getting into gear to put the game away, the Timbers struggled to find the midfield dynamism they have showed so often this year.  For much of the next twenty minutes it looked like the Timbers’ nine-match unbeaten streak was fated to come to an end in Vancouver.

That fate was seemingly sealed in the 81^st minute, when Futty gave a little tug to Camilo in a footrace for a Nigel Reo-Coker long ball.  The Brazilian cast a line in the water by tumbling to the ground, and the referee took it hook, line, and sinker, giving the Gambian a straight red card for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.

Certainly the Timbers couldn’t find their way back a goal and a man down.  The Caps would discover, however, that it’s hard to stop a runaway Trencito.

After Will Johnson picked up a loose 84^th minute header in the center of the field, he lobbed a long ball forward into the path of Jose Valencia.  Trencito handled the ball on the way down, but both the center referee and the linesman’s views were obstructed, and after a deft cut back shed his defenders, the youngster slotted past Knighton like he’d been there a million times.  For a player who doesn’t have many moments on the field, the young Colombian sure seems to make them count.

Despite being up a man, Vancouver couldn’t seriously threaten to pull ahead once again.

The result is huge for Portland.  Not only does it run the unbeaten streak to ten games, it also levels the Cascadian playing field, as the Timbers have erased their two-match away disadvantage by earning draws at Seattle and Vancouver.

Game on.

Notes & Observations

• Sort of a strange performance from the Timbers.  While they were often sloppy in their passing, Portland still managed 63% possession and a respectable 79% pass completion percentage.  The Timbers shot themselves in the foot on multiple occasions, including both concessions, but battled back.
• This team’s pluck is uncanny.  I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a team that can rally as consistently and as often as the Timbers have in 2013.  Saturday marked the fourth time in the ten-game streak that the Timbers have fallen behind on the road to come back and earn a result.
• Six of the Timbers’ results in the ten unbeaten have come on the road, surpassing the total number of road draws and wins the Timbers earned in 2012.
• There may be hay to be made on the rest of Portland current three-match road trip.  The Timbers’ next two games are winnable fixtures at DC United and Chicago Fire, whose eleven points combined are eight fewer than Portland’s 19.
• The reemergence of Koffie is the difference between the Whitecaps on Saturday and the Whitecaps two weeks ago.  He was fantastic Saturday and could make the Caps dangerous going forward.

Timbers Grades

Donovan Ricketts, 5 – Completely helpless on both concessions, but he also didn’t bail his team out on Saturday.  Average day for a goalkeeper.

Michael Harrington, 3 – Another poor performance in a generally poor month for Harrington.  Upgrade his seat from lukewarm to toasty.

Futty, 4 – Can’t pin either concession on the center backs, and Vancouver’s other chances were limited, but Futty needs to be a little bit smarter with Camilo.  Yes, it looked like a dive.  But it would have been a shocker if he hadn’t gone down in the face of even a penumbra of a touch.

Andrew Jean-Baptiste, 6 – Whereas Futty struggled with Camilo, AJB used his width to good effect in controlling him on a number of occasions.  Good showing from Jean-Baptiste, who stated his case to pair with Pa Kah when everybody is healthy and available.

Jack Jewsbury, 4.5 – Decent game defensively, but Jack had a couple opportunities for dangerous crosses that he didn’t capitalize on.

Diego Chara, 7 – The best Timber on Saturday.  Had a difficult task in matching up alternately with Reo-Coker and Koffie, and showed very well.  Was a touch looser in his passing than usual, but was massive in winning the ball back in midfield.

Will Johnson, 5 – This is a tough grade.  A goal and an assist will generally earn a player an impressive scorecard, but he was culpable on both concessions for failing to mark Koffie and giving Camilo the opportunity to hug the turf leading to the set piece goal.

Diego Valeri, 4 – As tough a game as Valeri has had.  Didn’t do too poorly in the opening half hour, but as the rhythm of the game got choppier, Valeri looked increasingly uncomfortable.  Right now Diego is the prohibitive favorite to take home the Diego Chara Award,[2] given to the player with the biggest difference between him home and away performances.

Darlington Nagbe, 6 – Went down early, but was very effective in combinations and using his movement to open spaces in a Whitecaps defensive midfield that seemingly had a lot of them early on.

Rodney Wallace, 6 – Rod had a tough task running into the right side of a Caps’ defense that features Y.P. Lee and Andy O’Brien.  Wallace did well, however, nearly finding the net twice in the first half.

Ryan Johnson, 4 – A step off all day, as he had a couple crucial moments that weren’t quite right, including having his steps wrong in collecting a perfectly weighted ball from Kalif Alhassan in the second half.

Kalif Alhassan, 5.5 – Pretty poor in the first half, but Kalif worked into the game nicely as the second half went along, settling the ball in the center of midfield and feeding it out to promising attacking areas.

Frederic Piquionne, 6 – This was a nice example of good Frederic.  Held the ball up well and distributed nicely after he came in.  Once the Timbers pulled level, Piquionne did a decent impression of a right back to add some extra defense.

Jose Valencia, 7 – Okay, Vancouver fans, it was totally a handball.  But showed poise well beyond his years in calmly cutting it back, rendering Knighton helpless, and rolling it past the keeper.

Preseason Prediction: Timbers 2, Whitecaps 2.  Valeri,[3] Jewsbury.
Actual Result: Timbers 2, Whitecaps 2.  Will Johnson, Valencia.

Onward, Rose City!

The following is a guest post that comes to us from one of those involved in creating the anti-homophobia display in the stadium prior to the dismantling of Chivas USA. The Timbers Army joins many other supporters groups around the world in our opposition to homophobia. You can see many of those displays on the Football Fans Against Homophobia web page (warning: it’s in German). I hope you enjoy reading this guest post as much as I did.

I, Anonymous,

Am the target MLS fan: I am a male in my mid-20′s, from the suburbs of Everywhere, USA.

Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life; define yourself.
- Harvey Fierstein

I can’t tell you exactly when or how it happened, but at some point hate-speech took over my life. Did someone pass a note around the entire school? Was this some cruel game of telephone? Who decided saying incredibly ignorant shit was suddenly cool? The first time I said the “F-word” I had no clue what it meant, but in time, “fag” and I developed a close personal relationship.

Once profanity became mainstream, hate-speech became the schoolyard slang of kids everywhere. Throughout my adolescence “fag” was tossed around almost as much as the word “dude”. The act of doing something uncool meant you were a “faggot”, while anything remotely negative was quickly dismissed as “gay”. Needless to say, my love of soccer, music and fashion instantly made me an easy target. “Fag” might as well have been my nickname through high school. Every time I heard the word it burned me emotionally. Even as a heterosexual male, it made me feel like less of a human, and less of a man. My refusal to play the part of the macho alpha-male made me marked among my peers. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t keep me up some nights.

Straight Americans need… an education of the heart and soul. They must understand – to begin with – how it can feel to spend years denying your own deepest truths, to sit silently through classes, meals, and church services while people you love toss off remarks that brutalize your soul.
- Bruce Bawer in The Advocate

In spite of the fact that I had been bullied, I was never deterred from spreading my own brand of hatred, tossing hateful words around with exceptional accuracy. I labeled anything uncool as “gay”, and dismissed those I disagreed with as “fags”. Even though, by now, I now understood the meaning of these hateful words, they spilled from my mouth with little rhyme or reason. The majority of the time I was substituting the word “gay” for “bad”, never considering that I was essentially saying homosexuality = bad. I often think back to these times and consider all those around me who were experiencing internal struggles with sexuality, and the pain and confusion they must have felt. I had plenty of friends and classmates who were involved in long-term heterosexual relationships before coming out and my choice to stubbornly follow the crowd only added to the perpetual cycle of hatred and pain. Though I tried, passing this pain onto others did little to cure my personal misunderstandings.

It’s important that allies truly become allies. Saying “I have gay friends” doesn’t make you an ally. An ally actually fights for something. Cleaning up your language and pointing out that it’s not right when others use hateful language makes you an ally. This creates a better atmosphere where closeted people – especially those in the sports world – can feel comfortable being themselves.
- Tony Jovenitt

When I was 18, I moved to Soccer City, USA, where I met my second family – the Timbers Army. Any time you’re talking about a large number of people, you’re bound to run into differing view-points, especially on issues considered political or religious. It didn’t take me long to notice that you can find all types of people at a Timbers match. All colors, shapes, sizes, and sexual preferences. With a member-policy like “if you want to be Timbers Army you already are,” how can you go wrong? I am proud to say in my many years supporting the Timbers, I’ve never seen a case of explicit bigotry. I am even more proud to say that individuals in the TA who may say things “in the heat of the match” have always been quickly educated on why hate-speech is unacceptable. Rather than ignoring topics some would like to avoid, the TA has embraced the education of its members. In a complete 180 from my adolescence, now referring to something as “gay” was the exact opposite of cool. In fact, it made YOU look like the asshole. I found myself cutting these words from my vocabulary almost instantly. It felt incredibly liberating to be involved in a community where the only thing that truly matters is supporting the Timbers.

What is straight? A line can be straight, or a street, but the human heart, oh, no, it’s curved like a road through mountains.
- Tennessee Williams in A Streetcar Named Desire

This past weekend, the Timbers Army unveiled a display in support of International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, which takes place Friday, May 17. Some saw this as an opportunity to counter Alan Gordon’s remarks made during his last trip to Portland. Others saw this as Portland taking another opportunity to be hip and jump on the Robbie Rogers/Jason Collins bandwagon. In reality, this was the Timbers Army expressing what they’ve always believed – soccer should be enjoyed by everyone. This was a cry to set aside whatever differences we may have and enjoy the beautiful game (yes, you, internet comment sections). There have been comments about how safe and welcoming PTFC matches are for people of all types. If tifo displays like this spread awareness to others that may be curious about MLS, it can only be positive for supporters groups, as well as the league and its clubs. In the few days following the Anti-Homophobia display, there has been widespread support for the Timbers from sources that otherwise may not have even known the club – or the Timbers Army – existed. This outreach can be crucial to the growth of the TA. These values that have been the cornerstones of the Timbers Army since 2001 can also serve as an education and connection with new fans today.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jpmoore/soccer-fans-take-a-powerful-stand-for-gay-rights
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/05/portland-timbers-international-day-against-homophobia/?sf12746072=1
http://www.pqmonthly.com/timbers-army-takes-a-colorful-stand-against-homophobia/14479
http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2013/05/13/us-portland-football-fans-choreograph-giant-anti-homophobia-rainbow-flag/

“Football was my escape, my purpose, my identity. Football hid my secret, gave me more joy than I could have ever imagined.”

- Robbie Rogers

The Timbers Army should be proud to lead the way on these issues. With over 10 years of equality and acceptance under our belt, we should embrace the opportunity to share our culture through these displays. There may be other supporter groups throughout the league that are still stuck in the same adolescent phase I found myself in during high school. The TA should be proud to educate others on how they too can cultivate an atmosphere that is comfortable for all soccer fans, and not just the young straight male that many view as the prototypical soccer fan. Regardless of issues they may be dealing with in their personal lives, every human deserves the opportunity to escape and experience joy. For many throughout Portland, that joy can be found on match day amongst the TA.

Here in the North End, you are not black or white – you are green and gold.
You are not gay or straight – you are Timbers Army.

Saturday June 1st 7:00PM
Sellwood Public House - 8132 SE 13th Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97202 ]]> http://timbersarmy.org/timbers-army-meet-and-tweet-the-spring-2013-were-good-at-soccer-edition/feed 0 http://timbersarmy.org/away-day-in-bend-june-8-come-along http://timbersarmy.org/away-day-in-bend-june-8-come-along#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 17:13:35 +0000 Bruce Eaton http://timbersarmy.org/?p=12908 Continue reading »]]> 107ist is organizing a Central Oregon away day to view the June 8 match v. Chicago.

Central Oregon has a lot of Timbers supporters but has yet to establish a coordinated group like some of the other areas in the state. We’re hoping to bring dozens of TA along to share ideas and help them network together and jump start their group.

We’re coordinating with Bend supporters for the right venue (kids allowed) and seeking a hotel partner. We are also exploring a possible service opportunity for Saturday before the match. These details will be finalized soon.

There’s great camping and recreation in Bend and the surrounding area. If you want to join us camping, Tumalo State Park has a few dozen spots still available, Loop C is where we’re setting up. http://www.oregonstateparks.org/index.cfm?do=parkPage.dsp_parkPage&parkId=34

So start planning and join us in Bend for the Chicago match!

I had hoped this whole ordeal was over Wednesday morning after the Disciplinary Committee gave Mario de Luna a one-game suspension in addition to the match he will miss due to yellow card accumulation.  On Wednesday, the MLS Players Union, however, decided to breathe troubling new life into a controversy that really shouldn’t be.

In case you missed it, after the ball went out of bounds off of a Chivas USA player in the 86^th minute of Sunday’s game, de Luna tripped Rodney Wallace and grabbed at a ball a ball kid was holding.  When the ball kid pulled away – likely having seen that the referee immediately pointed for a correctly identified Timbers’ throw – de Luna pushed the young man and took the ball from him.

After the MLS Disciplinary Committee issued a one game suspension,[1] the MLS Players Union issued this statement, in full:

Players Union Statement on Discipline of Mario de Luna

Physical contact between a player and a ball boy should never occur. Rather than focusing exclusively on player punishment, however, the league must eliminate ball boy antics, as the Players Union requested last year.  There should be no place in our game for off-field personnel to attempt to impact play on the field.

The failure to address this problem substantially increases the risk of unfortunate incidents like we saw last weekend.  The league and our teams must do their part to keep our stadiums safe.  We urge the league once again to take action and hold teams accountable for the conduct of their ball boys.

Now, if you blinked while reading that, you may have missed that you missed something; to wit, a statement on the discipline of Mario de Luna.  In fact, on its face, the statement says nothing at all about Mario de Luna or his punishment.

A couple hours later, Eddie Pope, former U.S. Men’s National Team player and current Director of Player Relations for the MLS Players Union, added this clarification in a string of tweets:

The intent of our press release was not to place blame on the ball boy.  Rather, the purpose was to [shed] light on the fact that we have [e]ncouraged MLS in the past to take preventive measures so this type of incident[,] or something more serious[,] does not happen in the future.  Why put a kid in a position to possibly inadvertently impact tempo of game?  Kids should not be put in any positional [sic] within or near the [h]eat of competition.  We don’t condone any contact with a ball boy, we want to prevent this from happening again in the future.  Publicly[,] we ask the MLS to take some measures and remove children from the heat of battle.  We will in turn continue to do everything we can as well.  Status quo is not working.  Third incident in a little over a year.

Pope’s clarification, however, is disingenuous.  His overriding message was that ball kids “should not be put in any [position] within or near the [h]eat of competition.”  Essentially, the job of shagging soccer balls and tossing them to players should be vested in adults because the intensity of a soccer game can sometimes put youngsters in a difficult position, even if by no fault of their own.

This is a perfectly reasonable point.[2]  But it’s not the one his organization made in its release.

In its release, the Union demanded that the league “eliminate ball boy antics,” not eliminate the employment of ball kids.  Similarly, the statement asked the League to hold home teams “accountable for the conduct of their ball boys.”  It did not ask the League to prohibit ball boys.

The Union’s press release postulated that there was no place in the game for “off-field personnel to attempt to impact play on the field.”  It did not rue putting ball kids in a position to “possibly inadvertently impact [the] tempo of [the] game.”  Using the word “attempt” necessarily implicates intent.  There is simply no such thing as an accidental, or even negligent attempt.[3]

The Union’s ultimate thesis, then, was that failure to address this problem – the problem being ball kid “antics,” “conduct,” and “attempt[s] to impact play on the field” – “increases the risk of unfortunate incidents like we saw last weekend.”

The issue is that the “problem” identified by the Union is not what led to Sunday’s incident.  The ball kid did the right thing.  He did his job.  And he did it well.  No antics, improper conduct, or attempts to impact the play on the field.

The statement the Union made inescapably implied that this ball kid did something wrong.  That unwarranted public condemnation is far worse than anything Mario de Luna did on Sunday.

Now, it’s no longer about what the Union said, or what Pope would like you to think the Union said.  Rather, it’s about what the Union needs to say to the young man that unfairly found himself in the center of the Union’s mess.  “We were wrong.  We’re sorry.”

Today, somebody has been inspired to spread the love in his own way. An anonymous donor had the good fortune to wind up with an extra Atticus scarf, and he wants to share in a way that will benefit others. He is offering the scarf in a raffle with the proceeds going to charity, so that others can experience some of the joy that Atticus shared with his teammates and with all of us.

If you would like a shot at owning a tangible reminder of that special day, you can donate below. $5 gets you one chance at the scarf, $10 gets you two chances, and so on. All proceeds will be donated to charity to support others like Atticus.

Drawing will be held on Wednesday, May 29th at 6pm at the fanladen. Winner need not be present, and we will ship the scarf to you if you can’t make it to the fanladen in person.

Link to donate is here:

Welcome to Week 11′s MLS Meta Power Rankings, MMPL ™. I take rankings from six different sources (Soccer By Ives, ESPN, Bleacher Report, Sporting News, MLS, and The Oregonian) and average them out. Additionally, I also look at the standard deviation between the movement for the week and the overall rankings (this to me shows how in agreement the ‘experts’ are in their rankings) – finally as another really basic measure of “power” I look points in the past 5 games.

Dallas continues to hold down the #1 spot universally across all six sources despite being gifted a PK to save 2 points against Portland (you realize you’re reading this on the Timbers Army website, right?) and a not-so-convincing win on the road against the consensus worst team in the league, D.C. United.  The ‘experts’ also agree that the LA Galaxy are universally the 7th best team in the league (note their Std Deviation of 0.00).  The Timbers, according to these averages, are the 2nd best team in the league at this moment, their highest ranking of the season.

If we look at movement for the week clearly Cascadia’s domination over the teams from California this week paid dividends with the top 3 teams in term of spots gained were Seattle (5.3), Portland (3.0), and Vancouver (2.8). On the other end of the spectrum Chivas (3.3), Columbus (3.2), and L.A. (3.0) fell the furthest.

In looking at the standard deviation in rank, it’s apparent that the ‘experts’ are more in agreement this week than in the past. The outliers (New York, Montreal, and Philadelphia) aren’t that far off from the rest of the league. For New York, their ranked #2 by ESPN and #6 by Soccer By Ives (they also have a two #5′s, one #4,  and one #3) – clearly there is wide variety of opinions. Montreal is similar to New York in that they have a range from #2 to #6. Philadelphia benefits from a #8 ranking from Soccer by Ives when the rest of the group has them lower (one #9, three #11, and one #12).

In movement Seattle has the highest standard deviation in their group. Clearly everyone agreed they deserved a big jump (I begrudgingly agree, and admit to almost enjoying watching them kick the crap out of San Jose), experts just weren’t sure exactly how much (the movement ranged from 3 spots to 7). To some extent this is a case of some folks not having them nearly as far down the rankings as others in the previous weeks (for instance Oregonian had them at #12 in week 9 and everyone else had them ranked #14 – #17).

Finally, I’ve complained the last two weeks about San Jose having a nearly league low points out of their past 5 games, but hanging around the middle of the rankings, so I’d be remiss if I didn’t comment on Portland being ranked 6th as far as points earned in the past 5 games, but 2nd over all in the rankings. I think the ‘experts’ realize that Portland could (should) have had 2 more points out of Dallas (you do realize you’re reading this on the Timbers Army website, right?). Of course it’s not nearly as bad as SKC being near the top of the rankings with a whopping 6 points out of their past 5 games (I guess you get bonus rank points for snapping Houston’s streak, and the Seattle loss could have easily been 3 points). And to avoid any (more) screams of homerism, I’ll point out the huge disparity between Seattle’s points in the past 5 vs. their ranking.

Below is a historical graph and table showing average power rankings from week 1 through week 11.

Tickets are either $50.00 for both a match ticket and a seat on the bus – OR – if you’ve already got a match ticket you can ride in luxury for only $32.00.

And, it’s not just an outing to see the Thorns – the bus (which departs PDX around Noon from the convention center) will be stopping at Elliott Bay Brewing Company to watch the Timbers take on DC United before making its way over to Starfire.

So if you’re not going to be in DC, then what excuse do you really have to not join in?

You can find more information and order your tickets here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/6656585025

Right now, the Portland Timbers are playing like a very good team.  And facing a reeling Chivas USA side on Sunday, the Timbers left absolutely no doubt.

There was never a question who the superior side was on Mother’s Day, as Portland dominated the Goats from the crack of the starter’s pistol.  Portland was unlucky not to go up in the tenth minute, as Michael Harrington picked Diego Valeri out at the far post, but the trialing hand of backup Rojiblanco keeper, Patrick McLain, made a Kennedyesque save to turn the Argentine’s header away.

Portland unlocked Chivas again two minutes later, as Valeri found Futty streaking into the box, but the Gambian’s classy chip over McLain was negated by a proper offside call.

The Timbers continued to dominate, and in the 32^nd minute showed the most striking example of the scintillating buildup play that has marked their marked reformation in 2013.  After Diego Valeri recovered the ball in the defensive third, he one-timed forward for Darlington Nagbe.  Nagbe immediately played out wide to Diego Chara who sent the ball up the touchline to Ryan Johnson.  The striker promptly back-heeled to a suddenly free Nagbe, and the Timbers were off to the races.  The prodigy cleverly used his body and space to bring the ball into the middle, where he played it to Valeri on the left.  Valeri cut back and unleashed a right-footed shot that left McLain helpless, only to be kept out by the crossbar in a manifest miscarriage of justice.  At the beginning of that sequence, the Timbers moved 50 yards through the Goats’ midfield with four touches of the ball.  That is how football is meant to be played.

Justice, however, has a habit of being served.  And two minutes later, Donovan Ricketts helped deliver it on a silver platter.  After gathering the remnants of a Chivas corner, Ricketts threw out to Valeri near midfield.  Valeri played back into the center for Ryan Johnson, who chipped into the path of an onrushing Rodney Wallace on Chivas’s vulnerable right flank.  Wallace nodded the ball down and lofted the ball over McLain for the opener.

Chivas’s only real chance of the half – and, if we’re being honest, of the game – came in the 44^th minute, as Edgar Mejia’s corner found Steve Purdy-Ramos nine yards out at the back post, but his reentry header was handled cleanly by Ricketts.

The second half was more of the same.  While Portland didn’t hold quite as much of the ball, and had a couple moments of loose defending, Chivas never seriously threatened to equalize.

And in the 70^th minute, the Timbers would take the next step toward turning this one into a laugher.  After Ryan Johnson gathered near the byline and played back to Darlington Nagbe, Rodney Wallace flashed in the middle of the field.  Wallace gathered the ball and slipped it into the box, where Valeri had just run by the Goats’ defense, and the Argentine coolly slotted past McLain to ensure that his third time was the charm.

Chivas were beaten, and for a moment the Timbers seemed satisfied to knock the ball around the midfield and let the clock wind down.

But Will Johnson hadn’t yet had his dance party.  Wanting to get in on the action, the Captain streaked into the box from seemingly nowhere in the second minute of stoppage time, and got on the end of a low Frederic Piquionne cross, but McLain made another nice save to knock it out for a corner kick.

The Timbers took the ensuing corner short, as Kalif Alhassan gathered it and played to Will Johnson at the corner of the box.  Johnson took a pair of touches toward the center of the field, and unleashed a right-footed shot from the top of the box that curled around McLain’s outstretched hand and inside the far post.

While a couple results in a row had slipped away from the Timbers, there was nothing Chivas could have done on Sunday to overcome Portland’s pressure.  The gulf between the two teams was just too great, and as very good teams should do, the Timbers ran away from the Goats and never looked back.

Notes & Observations

• After the match, Caleb Porter emphasized that the Timbers would “keep this high low,” and was equivocal about whether he considered this Portland’s best effort of the season.  Asked whether Sunday was the team’s best performance to date, Porter retorted, “Ah, not really.  I think based on result you could call it that, but I’m looking at the performance and looking at all the little plays in the game, and you guys are always looking at the score, and a three-zero game doesn’t mean it was your best performance just because it was your widest margin of victory.”[1]  Porter added, “For me, we’re just scratching the surface of the team that we can be.”
• I largely agree with Porter’s assessment.  Especially in the second half, there was just a little bit of shaky defending and passing that the Timbers didn’t show, for example, against Houston.  While it wasn’t enough to ever give Chivas serious hope, it wasn’t quite a perfect half from the Timbers.  It was still pretty darn good, though.
• Portland was once again aggressive attacking down the left side.  This is, in no small part, because of the magnificence that has been Rodney Wallace’s last month.  Against Chivas, though, it could have also been something Portland saw on tape.  Both two weeks ago against San Jose, and last week against Sporting Kansas City, Shea Salinas and Graham Zusi gored the Goats down the left side.  Add Rodney Wallace – and company – to that list, as the Timbers once again had good success on the right side of Chivas’s defense.

Timbers Grades

Donovan Ricketts, 6 – Not much for Ricketts to do today, but on the rare occasion Chivas had a sliver of intent, Ricketts was there to put the kybosh on any ambition.

Michael Harrington, 3.5 – Another rough day for Harrington, as his defending on the left side was by far the least consistent aspect of the Timbers’ performance on Sunday.  It remains to be seen whether this is just a little bit of a rough patch for Harrington, or whether his string of solid performances in April was the aberration.

Andrew Jean-Baptiste, 5 – A better performance for AJB on Sunday, as he distributed well and stayed way from the mistakes that have cost Portland in the past.  Still got a little handsy from time to time, but nothing like he was against Dallas.

Futty, 5.5 – Was intent on scoring on Sunday, but just couldn’t quite make it happen.  Had the one chance called back for offside and another header sail just high.  Futty’s grade is depressed just a little bit by some poor marking on corners that allowed Chivas to find some free headers.

Jack Jewsbury, 6 – Another solid day for Jack.  While Jewsbury will rarely generate headlines from high fullback position, his consistency there is something the Timbers haven’t had at that position in quite some time.

Will Johnson, 7.5 – Great goal, and just all around good work from Johnson.  If he was a little bit off on Wednesday, he shook that off in a hurry, as he was very good against Chivas.

Diego Chara, 7.5 – Probably unlucky not to get on the scoresheet today, as Diego again flaunted his newfound offensive game to go along with his defensive dominance.  In a little bit of a passing slump, however, as he only completed 49 of 55 today, for a measly 89% completion percentage.

Diego Valeri, 8 – Clinical finish on his goal, and got absolutely robbed twice more – once on a fantastic save and the second time by the crossbar.

Rodney Wallace, 8.5 – I’m not sure what to say about Rodney that I haven’t said in the past several weeks, so I’ll let Caleb Porter do the talking.  “Rodney Wallace is having a breakout year.  I’m not sure why he hasn’t had a breakout year up to this point, because I think clearly he’s one of the better wingers in the league, and he’s really flourishing.”

Darlington Nagbe, 6 – A little bit subtler from Nagbe on Sunday, but pretty effective.  Though he wasn’t as directly involved in many of the buildups, he often played a crucial role form a deeper lying position, including in the second goal.

Ryan Johnson, 5.5 – Really nice chipped assist on the first goal, but for goodness sake, Ryan, get onside.

Kalif Alhassan, 6 – One of his better performances off the bench.  Solid passing from Kalif earned him an assist on Will Johnson’s goal.

Ben Zemanski, 5.5 – A like-for-like swap with Jack Jewsbury, Zemanski came on and played well at right back again.  If Harrington continues to struggle, the answer may be to move Jack back to the left – where he was perfectly adequate – and bring Zemanski in on the right where he may provide a little bit more offense.[2]

Frederic Piquionne, 4 – Saves his grade a little with a nice cross to Will Johnson in stoppage time, but overall this was one of Frederic’s bizarrely ineffective performances.

Preseason Prediction: Timbers 2, Goats 0.  Valeri, Silvestre.
Actual Result: Timbers 3, Goats 0.  Wallace, Valeri, Will Johnson.

Onward, Rose City!

To make a positive statement that he thinks it’s more important to raise money for worthy causes than to use points to bid for a place in line, Lou is asking that folks who feel like he does donate to OPI in support of Bless Field. For every $50 donated, Lou will destroy one wristband. If we donate at least $200, he will happily destroy all four wristbands that he won in the RCR points auction.

Let’s help him out by donating here:

We’ll keep tabs on the donations here, manually updating every time Sheba gets the chance.

Click here for more information about OPI and Bless Field.

UPDATE #5: and you blew the top off the thermometer. Keep up the good work!
UPDATE #4: YES. Ed puts us over the top. I <3 all of you people. Feel free to blow the top off of that thermometer just the same.
UPDATE #3: Splash three. You people are awesome.
UPDATE #2: And that makes two wristbands gone.
UPDATE #1: Boom, one wristband gone. Well done folks.

It didn’t look like three points were a possibility in the first fifteen minutes, however, as Dallas came out dominant.

After a bad eighth minute giveaway by Andrew Jean-Baptiste, Fabian Castillo got loose on Dallas’s left side, but his effort from a tight angle sailed harmlessly across goal.  The Burn had their best chance in the 12^th minute when Blas Perez played a Zach Lloyd entry ball back to an open David Ferreira on the left side of the box, but the Colombian’s promising shot sailed high.

The Timbers weathered the storm, however, and after Ferreira’s miss began to build some momentum.  In the 16^th minute Diego Chara brilliantly found Frederic Piquionne, who fed the ball wide to Kalif Alhassan.  Kalif sent a looping cross to Diego Valeri open at the back post, but Valeri’s sliding goal-bound effort was saved by Raul Fernandez.

Portland wasn’t done.  After Diego Chara scooped the ball off of Michael Harrington’s foot in the defensive end and, with the help of a combination with Darlington Nagbe put in a 60 yard run, the tiny talisman played a perfect pass through to Piquionne in on goal, but the New Caledonian’s shot was deflected by Fernandez just enough to make it rattle the near post and bounce cruelly away.

As good as Chara was offensively, he came up bigger in defense in the 32^nd minute.  After failing to win a ball in the attacking end, Chara followed the play eighty yards, committed a harmless foul along the way, and when Ferreira burst through on goal, the designated player made a saving tackle in the box.  Every player in the league gives up on that play after losing the initial challenge.  Not Diego Chara.

It was Ricketts’s turn to come to the rescue seven minutes later.  After Fabian Castillo once again got loose on the left side, and with Michael Harrington once again nowhere in sight, Ricketts closed down the oncoming Castillo’s tight angle and palmed the youngster’s effort behind.

Dallas had the quantity of the chances in the first half, but the even intermission scoreline carried out justice, as the Timbers had the quality.

That would change early in the second half, however.  After the Timbers botched an interchange at midfield, Castillo took a 50^th minute ball off Ferreira’s foot and played a pretty ball behind to Perez, but Ricketts again went low to turn the Panamanian’s shot away.

There was nothing Ricketts could do in the 68^th minute, however.  After the right side of his defense, prominently featuring Harrington, let Michel have all the space he wanted to pick somebody out of the box, the Brazilian found Perez at the spot, but the striker’s header into an open net was denied by the same post that turned Piquionne away fifty minutes earlier.

If Timbers’ opponents have learned anything this year, it’s that they have to take your chances against Portland.  If you let Portland hang around, the Timbers will find their goal.

And that Portland did in the 70^th minute.  Second half substitute Rodney Wallace put his mark on the game with some solid work to meander from the center onto the left side of the box, drawing Dallas’s defense toward him and out of shape.  All it took, then, was a pretty chipped cross to Nagbe waiting all alone at the far post and a soild bouncing finish for the Timbers to find themselves once again in the lead on the road.[1]

Enter, referee Juan Guzman.  Six minutes later, after a Je-Vaughan Watson cross was popped up by Ben Zemanski and routinely gathered by Ricketts, Guzman blew his whistle for activity away from the play.  The referee, wanting to make his mark on the game, pointed at the spot after seeing Jean-Baptiste and Perez grappling in the box.  Perez and Jean-Baptiste had locked arms in the box, and Perez swung the pair around as though they were square dancing.  The defender looks like less than a willing participant, but as Perez pulled Jean-Baptiste away from the play, the flopping forward disengaged and flung himself to the ground.[2]  Guzman horrifically adjudged it a yellow card on Jean-Baptiste and pointed to the spot where Kenny Cooper classily converted.

Cooper nearly gave Dallas the win in the 86^th minute, when Perez won an aerial 50-50 from Futty, which fell to an open Kenny Cooper in the spot vacated by the longtime Timber, but Jack Jewbsury recovered to deflect Cooper’s volley and Donovan Ricketts tapped the deflection high and wide to preserve the draw.

By any objective measure, the point in Dallas – the first any visitor has earned in 2013 – is a good one.  The result is more or less just, as the teams played on almost comically even terms.  The only difference, however, is the Timbers earned their goal, while Guzman gifted the Hoops’.  And that is how a draw that would have felt great a year ago, feels empty today.

Timbers Grades

Donovan Ricketts, 8 – On fire.

Jack Jewsbury, 6 – Good night from Jewsbury.  Had only couple contributions to the attack, but was solid defensively in keeping the left side relatively quiet.

Futty, 5.5 – Needs to win a couple more 50-50s in the air, but came through with some good tackles and solid overall defending.  Was up to a difficult task being lined up alongside Jean-Baptiste tonight.

Andrew Jean-Baptiste, 3.5 – Although he probably shouldn’t put himself in positions like that, the penalty call was an awful one.  Still, AJB was repeatedly picked on to some success for Dallas.

Michael Harrington, 2.5 – Nowhere offensively or defensively.  The way was open for Dallas down Portland’s right side on Wednesday, and Michael has his teammates and good fortune to thank for not being punished for that.

Diego Chara, 8 – Just fantastic from Diego.  He was intimately involved in everything positive in the first half, and had some dominant moments in the midfield.  He was the engine that made Portland run on Wednesday, and a big chunk of the reason the Timbers came away with a good point.

Will Johnson, 5 – Overall a little bit below average night for Will.  Didn’t do a whale of a lot offensively, and got caught just a shade out of position a couple times defensively.  Still, a little bit of a rough night for Will is a perfectly acceptable night by any other standard.

Diego Valeri, 5 – Had some good moments offensively, including feeding Rodney Wallace on the scoring play, but also had some cringe-worthy giveaways.  Should point out, however, that Diego also had a couple moments of handy defending.  On the whole, he looks like a guy that’s still adjusting to MLS travel.

Kalif Alhassan, 5.5 – Nice first half.  Anonymous second half.  I think this start had more to do with resting Rodney Wallace than anything, but Kalif held up his end of the bargain.

Darlington Nagbe, 6 – Didn’t do much aside from the goal, but a goal is a goal, and this one was big.  A pretty well finished one, as well.

Frederic Piquionne, 6 – A nice first half, including a good finish that was only kept out by a great save and the post, but much quieter in the second.  Probably could have come off 10 minutes earlier, which would have given Ryan Johnson more time to work into the game.  Five clearances from Frederic, however, which highlights some handy set piece defending.

Rodney Wallace, 8 – Here’s one guy who didn’t need any time to work into the game.  Held out of the start, Rodney showed his value as a supersub once again, as it was his work that really earned the go-ahead goal.

Ben Zemanski, 5 – A mostly quiet 15 minute spell from Zemanski, highlighted by a difficult volley attempt that he couldn’t steer on frame.

Ryan Johnson, 5.5 – Only had eight minutes to work with, but Johnson threatened a couple times.

Preseason Prediction: FCD 1, Timbers 0.
Actual Result: Timbers 1, FCD 1.

Onward, Rose City!

Well there were some positive comments, and a few people read this last week so I decided to do it again.

I’ve compiled the power rankings from MLS, Soccer By Ives, Sporting News, Bleacher Report, ESPN, and OregonLive (I looked at adding Seattle Times, but they weren’t published yet).

Here are this weeks #’s. Again, there is the the averaging of all the rankings from the six sources as well as points scored during the past 5 games – both of these give an indication of how teams are performing. I’ve also compiled the average movement for each team, and then the standard deviation for movement and rank (a low standard deviation means the ‘experts’ are in agreement and, conversely, a higher standard deviation means they are pretty varied in their assessments).

Clearly there is one thing that all the experts agree on – right now with an average ranking of 1.0 and a standard deviation of 0.00 (meaning everyone ranked them #1) Dallas is the best team in the league (everyone also agrees that RSL is your consensus #8, but how interesting is that?). Almost everyone agrees that D.C. United is the worst team in the league at this point – the lone wolf is our own GCA from OregonLive. He is the only person to not rank DC dead last.

As with last week, even though San Jose has scored fewer points over the past 5 games than all but 3 teams, they are still ranked 12th on average. While this is a bit befuddling, almost more confusing is how NYRB have racked up 12 points over 5 games (an MLS best), but are only ranked 6th (on average). Since I was able this week to input all the rankings from the 1st 10 weeks, I may go back and add a strength of schedule component to see if there is any insight there.

Looking a bit closer at NYRB. They had the highest standard deviation in terms of movement this week. But rather than being indicative of the ‘experts’ not being sure on how far to move them, it was really about Sporting News and Bleacher Report falling in line with what the other 4 ‘experts’ were already saying – with Bleacher report moving them from 11th to 6th and Sporting News moving them from 10th  to 7th week over week.  If you look at their rank standard deviation (0.55) it’s clear that it’s pretty universally agreed they are a solid #7 in this week’s ranking.

As far as teams that the experts don’t really agree on, we can go back to San Jose.  They are ranked as high as 9th by GCA at Oregon live, and as low as 15th by ESPN (with one 10th and 3 12th’s from the others). Clearly ESPN feels 4 points over 5 games is a good indicator whereas GCA (and MLS for that matter) don’t give it much credence.

However San Jose only has the 2nd highest disparity in rankings – the team with the largest standard deviation (and by quite a margin) is the Fishing Village to the North.  Again our man GCA can take a lot of credit for this – he has them ranked at #11, which is 2 spots above anyone else. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Soccer By Ives and Bleacher report who have them ranked at 17th (they also have a 13th, 14th, and 16th in there).

As an aside, if I get really bored I’m going to look at exactly how far out of whack GCA is with his rankings vs. the rest of the ‘experts’.

Finally, looking at his week’s winners and losers. Chivas dropped an average of four spots after getting trounced by SKC (SKC by contrast only gained 1.3 spots – which doesn’t surprise since the top is pretty darn crowded).

If you look at some draws the Union and Sounders remained largely stagnant after their 2-2 outing. In the case of Portland and New England, the revolution gained about the same number of spots (1.7) as the Timbers gave up (1.5) coming out of their draw.

This weeks big winner in terms of picking up spots were the Rapids, who gained 3 spots. I don’t think it was their 1-0 victory of Toronto (who are battling with D.C. United for the title of worst team in MLS at the moment) that caused this move. I think that picking up 10 points in 5 games, and having only lost 1 in the past six were the key factors in their ascension this week.

I’m going to close with chart and a spreadsheet that you wont’ be able to read very well. They show the average ranking of each team over the 1st 10 weeks. I’ll work to see if I can find a better way to present this data moving forward.

Thanks for reading, and if you have any comments or questions – post them below.

Thursday was one of those days for the Timbers.  Through a combination of flatness in the final third, bad luck, and good goalkeeping, the Portland Timbers dominated the ball, put 9 shots on frame and many more tantalizingly close, and still came away with the scoreless draw.

A sign of future foibles showed up in the 7^th minute, when Diego Valeri did brilliantly to gather a header from Ryan Johnson and combine with Darlington Nagbe to set him into space, but ultimately the Argentine sailed his volley over the bar.

The true harbinger, however, appeared eight minutes later when Diego Chara set Nagbe one on one with Bobby Shuttleworth, but Nagbe chose to strike it first time from outside the box, ultimately hitting it right at Shuttleworth’s right foot.

Nagbe sent another chance begging in the 30^th minute, when a corner was cleared to him at the top right side of the box.  Nagbe’s volley, somewhat reminiscent of his wondergoal in 2011, elevated just over the bar.

The buildup kept coming, but the Timbers just couldn’t break through.  In the 39^th minute a corner fell dangerously for Valeri, but his goalward shot was deflected behind for a corner at the last moment.

As you so often see in games like this, despite seeing very little of the ball, New England had their chances.  Their best of the first half came in the 42^nd minute, when they worked the ball around the horn to Ryan Guy on the left side of the box, but his dangerous shot was deflected just wide.  There would be no deflection on the ensuring corner, however, as Jerry Bengston got a free head to the ball, but his header looped inches over the bar onto the top of the goal.

The Revs chance was the exception to the increasingly significant rule of Timbers dominance.  As the half went along, Portland’s opportunities presented themselves seemingly at will, but for all the possibilities, none would find themselves nestled comfortably in the back of the net.

How easily determination leads to frustration, however, as the Timbers’ bad luck in failing to find the right touch in the first half quickly turned into a struggle against themselves in the second half.

But for Shuttleworth it could have been so different.  After Will Johnson and Rodney Wallace put in a nice piece of work to free Wallace for a cross from the left side of the box, Ryan Johnson found himself with a free volley at the near post.  Again, however, the shot found the stranded Shuttleworth’s left knee and bounced away.

As every minute ticked by, a growing feeling of inevitability grew throughout Jeld-Wen Field.  It was just one of those days.  It had to be.

Despite their frustration, the Timbers persisted in working themselves into the right positions.  In the 63^rd minute, new entrant Frederic Piquionne got free on the left wing and sent a Premier League cross into the box, but his target – Diego Chara – was a head too short.

Nine minutes later it was another newbie that nearly broke the deadlock, this time for New England.  In the 72^nd minute Saer Sene, the lone goalscorer a year ago in New England, found an acre of space in the middle of the field and pulled the trigger on a left footed shot that beat Donovan Ricketts, but could only tickle the top of the net on its way harmlessly by.

Aside from a handful of chances, the day’s ill fate largely kept the Timbers at bay in the final fifteen minutes.  Only a big Jamaican could keep New England at bay.

After Sear Sene found space between substitute Andrew Jean-Baptiste and Futty, he got through one-on-one with Donovan Ricketts.  Sene is no Darlington Nagbe, however, and his strike looked dangerous enough to beat the towering keeper, but Ricketts, whose splendor has preserved more than one result for Portland in 2013, went down quickly and got just enough of a palm on the ball to send it skipping wide of the post.  In an early season full of good saves, this may have been Ricketts’ best, and it came at a vital moment to keep the Timbers from a crushing defeat.

In the end, as the brief postgame press conference awkwardly indicated, there was really nothing to say.  It was just one of those days.

Notes & Observations

• There isn’t much to be concerned about from the Timbers’ standpoint.  As Caleb Porter pointed out, when you get 22 shots, including nine on frame, you’re doing something right.  The shots weren’t prayers from distance, either.  The Timbers were doing exactly what they wanted to do through he midfield, and even into the final third.  For one reason or another, however, they just couldn’t finish.  If this were a habit, there might be reason to raise an eyebrow, but, as the win in Kansas City demonstrated, the Timbers have been reasonably opportunistic lately.
• As Caleb Porter indicated in the club’s press release, the signing of Ka Pah comes at a relatively desperate time for center backs on Morrison Street.  The absence of Mikael Silvestre was conspicuous after he went out with a torn ACL.  The spaces that Sene and company repeatedly found in the middle were the same spaces that Futty and Silvestre had shut down for over an hour.  While concern about Pah’s resume of late is reasonable, the front office has earned the benefit of the doubt with what, despite early skepticism, turned out to be sharp signings in Silvestre and Piquionne.

Timbers Grades

Donovan Ricketts, 8 – It doesn’t get a whole lot better than the save he made to preserve the draw in the 85^th minute.  The simple reality is this: Ricketts has been nothing short of great in 2013.

Jack Jewsbury, 6 – A nice outing from Jewsbury.  Porter was a little bit more aggressive with him as the Timbers became more desperate for the goal they deserved, and Jack did well in finding himself a couple dangerous shots and combining well on the left, while not exposing his defensive position.

Futty, 5.5 – Had a really nice partnership with Silvestre, as they had New England running at them a couple times, and turned the Revs away with little drama.  It’s clear Futty was the Robin to Silvestre’s Batman, however, as the connection with Andrew Jean-Baptiste wasn’t nearly as good.

Mikael Silvestre, 7 – Aside from his aforementioned tremendous defending, Mikael almost found himself a goal in the 45^th minute when he got foot to a Wallace cross.  His loss is very, very significant.

Michael Harrington, 5 – A relatively quiet game again from Harrington, which, as long as the offense is knocking the ball around well, I’ll take from my fullbacks.  The other thing is just too silly to merit discussion in this forum.[1]

Will Johnson, 6 – A nice game from Will, who had a handful of nice tackles and appearances in the attack, including an 80^th minute strike from outside the box that had Shuttleworth beat, but sailed just high and wide.  Takes a little knock in his grade for being a little too aggressive and occasionally leaving space in front of the center backs.

Diego Chara, 5.5 – His grade is deflated just a little bit by a couple instances of uncharacteristically loose defense in the midfield, but showed flashes of the incisive attacking distribution that made him the unlikely early league leader in assists.

Rodney Wallace, 6 – I thought he might be a little flat coming off his coming out party in Kansas City, but ultimately many of the Timbers’ best chances came through Rod.

Diego Valeri, 5.5 – Had a handful of chances that went begging, but was otherwise effective in the buildup.  Valeri isn’t perfect as a finisher, but his final touches have more of a cool purpose in them that makes them best suited to beat the keeper.  Valeri did just that in the 82^nd minute, but unfortunately his shot that stranded Shuttleworth dribbled wide of the far post.

Darlington Nagbe, 4 – There were so many things that looked so good, but he has to finish.  His one-on-one with Shuttleworth was just a disaster.

Ryan Johnson, 4.5 – Was as quiet as he’s been all season, but every time I go back and take a second look at a game I find something subtly significant that Johnson did that I didn’t notice on first watch.  This time it was his beautifully cushioned header to Valeri to set up his 7^th minute combination with Nagbe.

Frederic Piquionne, 6 – Piquionne is a little bit frustrating at times, such as his 70^th minute free header that was straight at Shuttleworth.  There are moments, however, where he shows remarkable quality.  His cross for Chara was just such a moment.

Andrew Jean-Baptiste, 4 – Maybe this is a little bit unfair, but the positioning juxtaposition between he and Silvestre was unkind to AJB.  Then again, that probably has to do with the 16 years of top-flight football Silvestre has on Andrew.

Kalif Alhassan, 4 – A little bit disappointing, as I thought he was coming on in a really favorable spot on the left with Wallace shifting to left back.  But Kalif’s bench performances have been inconsistent, which really isn’t altogether surprising.

Preseason Prediction: PTFC 3, Revs 0. Ryan Johnson (x2), Diego Chara.
Actual Result: Timbers 0, Revs 0.

Onward, Rose City!

You can join in the fun of tomorrow’s beautiful morning. We still have room for you to come and help us in Goose Hollow for the ‘Spruce Up the Goose’ neighborhood cleanup. Hope you all had a chance to look around on your way to and from the stadium this week. We definitely contribute to the wear and tear on the neighborhood and it is worthy of our stewardship. There’s a bit of work to do on this cleanup but, we can do this with your help. Oh, and there are rumors of a kegger after the event.

Team. Town. TA. It’s time to tidy the yard.

Click here to sign up!

In the second minute, Atticus himself took the ball straight off of Darlington Nagbe’s foot, ran into the middle, and slotted through Will Johnson’s wickets for the opening goal.

After the Green Machine opened an early 3-0 lead, and with the Timbers Army singing “We always win ten-to-nil,” the Timbers showed some of the fightback that has been key to their early season success.  After Will Johnson freed himself on the right wing, he crossed to Darlington Nagbe at the far post, who tapped home to bring the Timbers back to 3-1.

Three minutes later, however, Atticus was back at it.  After the Green Machine weathered the Timbers’ onslaught, Atticus extended the lead by finishing clinically past a bewildered Jack Jewsbury.

After picking up a yellow card for a hard tackle in the seventh minute, Johnson found the net in the ninth, as Nagbe returned Johnson’s earlier favor by feeding the Timbers’ captain to pull the Timbers back within two.

GMFC responded again, however, tallying a pair of goals in the 10^th and 11^th minutes, respectively, to take a commanding 6-2 lead over the stunned Timbers.

The 12^th minute brought controversy, however.  After more than a year of tough calls at home, the Timbers were gifted one when a clear Ryan Kawoluk foul went uncalled, setting the former Portland Pilot through on goal to narrow Green Machine’s lead to three.

Portland would add one more just before halftime, as Sebastian Rincon made one of his signature runs through the Green Machine defense and scored from a tight angle to give the MLS side hope heading into the locker room.

The halftime team talks were indicative of the first half, however, with Green Machine manager Caleb Porter praising his team’s adherence to Porterball’s high pressure and quick passing, and imploring them to go out and beat the Timbers at their own game.

That they did just one minute after halftime, as Green Machine promptly broke down the Timbers midfield and hit them on the break to extend the lead to 7-4.

What seemed a tall task for the Timbers to get back in the game became seemingly impossible in the 17^th minute, when captain Will Johnson was sent off after receiving a second yellow card for trampling a Green Machine player.

The five-man Timbers had some fight left in them, however, as 19^th minute goals from Nagbe and Jewsbury brought Portland back to within one with just five minutes to play.

Once again, enter Atticus.  After the hardworking men of Mount Tabor earned a corner kick, the ball found its way to Green Machine’s captain beyond the far post, Atticus calmly put it home from a tight angle on the right.

The Timbers’ pressure kept coming, however, and in the 22^nd minute Rincon buried a jumbled Kawulok cross to pull the Timbers within one goal at 8-7.  A minute later, a Caleb Porter side was bit for trying to bunker down defensively for the second time in ten days, as the Timbers broke through a packed-in box to level things at eight.

It was Portland’s defense that got greedy two minutes from fulltime, however, as Green Machine easily passed through a flurry of desperate sliding tackles for the go-ahead goal.

But Rincon wasn’t finished.  Once again flashing the brilliance with the ball at his feet that terrorized the MLS Reserve League in 2012, Rincon tore through the Green Machine defense and seemingly salvaged a point for the Timbers with little more than a minute left.

Atticus, however, has seen tougher scrapes before and come out on top, and Wednesday would be no different.  With time ticking away and the Timbers clutching the draw, it was Green Machine’s talisman who ran into the teeth of the Timbers defense and coolly slotted into the near corner for the winner.

In the end, Atticus and the Porterballing Green Machine were too much for the Timbers to handle.  To the delight of their 3,000 supporters, Green Machine came into Jeld-Wen Field and walked away with the full three points and some of the biggest smiles you’ll ever see.

Say those words, and then imagine what the perfect blend of those three things would look like.

If you were at Jeld-Wen field today, or if you watched the videos or took a peak at the pictures, then I can pretty much guess what your vision would be. What we all witnessed today was the embodiment of those 11 letters.

By now most of you have the background, but it bears repeating because there is a point here that is so important – a point that, again, embodies the mantra of team, town, and TA.

Atticus was like any other 8-year-old boy playing soccer, when he learned he had cancer. His treatments forced him to miss his final soccer game with his team, the Green Machine.

When Make-A-Wish contacted him and asked what he might like to do, he could have said, “I want my family to go to Disneyworld”. NOBODY would have faulted him for that.

Instead he said that he wanted to do something his whole team could share in – he wanted to play soccer against the Timbers.  He is an 8-year-old boy who is the definition of “wise beyond his years” – he wanted to share it with his friends and community – or, saying it another way, his team and his town.

And, so, a match was set. The Timbers would face the Green Machine in the late morning on May 1^st.

The second – and I literally mean the second – the word of the game hit social media the Timbers Army was flooded by members offering to help out.  It was amazing.

The hardest part of what we did today wasn’t making it happen, it was making sure everyone who wanted to be involved could be involved. The outpouring of love that went into the tifo, the chants, and everything else was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.

When over 3,000 of us walked into the stadium we probably thought, “Man, Atticus is going to love this” – and I’m sure he did (at least I hope he did). But, there was something else.

In the midst of all that, some of us were lucky enough for the first time to really feel what it means when we say team, town, TA. It’s nearly 5 hours since the match ended, and there are still tears welling up in my eyes.

I wish I could articulate exactly why. Part of it is because I’m a father, and I cannot fathom how terrifying it would be to have one of my kids diagnosed with cancer. Part of it is because I’ve always believed in the power of sport to bring people together, but this was overwhelming. And, part of it is because I’m completely taken aback by how much love and community I have felt this afternoon.

Atticus wanted to share his wish with his team; I wonder if he had any idea how much it would mean to the rest of rest of us.

I should close there, because really that’s the message – sometimes you think you’re doing something for someone else, but you actually end up getting more out of it than you could have ever put in.

But I can’t wrap up with acknowledging all the folks that made today special.

On behalf of the 107ist board of directors I’d like to thank:

• The people who came out to help paint the tifo a few weeks back
• Our amazing capos, drums, and trumpet crew for their contributions
• The flag crew (and ad hoc volunteers) who set up the North End today
• The entire Timbers organization, from Merritt to his staff to the players and coaches, all of whom showed the world the definition of class today
• Make-A-Wish Oregon for reaching out to us
• And, of course, Atticus – Thank you for letting us take part in your wish.

Team. Town. TA.

Another one of my favorite things is futzing with data in Excel. I’m not a statistician by any measure, but I love manipulating data and trying to figure out any relationships that might exist (yes, I know, that sounds terribly exciting).

In any case, back to soccer . . .

I read about 5 different power rankings, and have always wondered how they compare. So this week I built myself an excel spreadsheet where I take power rankings from 5 different sources (MLS.com, Bleacher Report, Sports Nation, Soccer By Ives, and The Oregonian) and figure out what the average ranking was, how much (on average) the teams moved from one week to the next as well as the standard deviation in the ranks and movement. Finally, I thought the results of the past 5 matches would be an interesting indicator of a teams “power” (although it would be a trailing indicator at best, and doesn’t account for who the opponents were during that time e.g. there is no “strength of schedule” component)

I’m not sure if anyone else cares about this, but I thought I’d share it here this week. If folks dig it, I’ll happily keep doing it. I’m also looking to go back and input the data for the first 8 weeks so I can chart the change in power rankings over the season.

So, without further blathering here are your meta power rankings for Week 9:

Nothing to surprising here, but what’s interesting is what happens when you look at the last point totals from the past 5 matches:

It would seem near the top and bottom the last 5 games are pretty well reflected. Houston is ranked a bit higher than their past 5 matches would suggest. The real surprise is San Jose who, despite only earning 3 points in the past 5 matches (which is tied for 2^nd worst in the league) is ranked middle of the pack. One can only assume that the ‘experts’ feel like the 3 points are not indicative of their potential.

The next thing I looked at was movement. The Union were this week’s biggest losers – their 2-0 loss to New England cost them an average of 3.4 spots in the Power Rankings. On the opposite side of the spectrum Columbus picked up a whopping 3.6 points by virtue of their 3-0 defeat of D.C. United (one could question if beating the consensus worst team in the league warranted such a big leap). D.C. United, Colorado, and Chivas all  held pretty steady week after week, and our beloved Timbers picked up the 2^nd highest number of spots (2.8) with their defeat of Sporting Kansas City (it would be hard for me to argue that they should have picked up more spots as that would put them above Montreal, their lone defeat, LA, and Dallas).

The last thing I looked at were the standard deviation of both the movement and rankings. Like I said, I’m not statistician, but I believe that standard deviation (which basically provides an indication of how much variation there is in a set of numbers) offers interesting insight into what the ‘experts’ all agree on and where there is a lack of alignment.

With a standard deviation of 0 the ‘experts’ all agree that D.C. United is the worst team in MLS – every single one of them ranked them 19. On the other end of the spectrum there is considerably less agreement on New York (1.82) and Philadelphia (1.92). In the case of New York the rankings are almost uniformly spread from 7^th (Soccer By Ives and the Oregonian) to 11^th (Bleacher Report). For Philadelphia the main outlier is The Oregonian where they ranked 15^th (compared to 10^th, two at 11^th , and 12^th) – clearly GCA has no love for the Union. It’s also important to note that the teams at the top are generally agreed on by the ‘experts’ (as is the placement of Vancouver).

Looking at the deviation in movement – clearly the biggest outlier by a pretty significant margin is New York. In two rankings they gained a whopping 4 spots, in two rankings they gained 2 spots, and in one ranking, Bleacher Report, they actually lost 2 spots, falling from 9^th to 11^th  (for the sake of completeness I will note that they were actually tied for 11^th).

What does all this mean, I have no idea. Like I said, I just like to geek out with numbers. I’m sure some of my conclusions aren’t necessarily that insightful (or even correct). If you have a suggestion on how to improve this exercise, let me know.

For those who want to see the information for themselves, you can find my spreadsheet here on google docs.

Click here to purchase your May 18 Vancouver Away Tickets

IMPORTANT: Match tickets are NOT being mailed out and your Paypal receipt or confirmation you received when purchasing your ticket will NOT get you into the match, you need an actual physical ticket as well. All tickets must be collected in Vancouver.

• Tickets will be available for collection 12:30 pm to 2:00 pm
  See Below for information on how to get your ticket if you are delayed getting to the meet-up location.
• Location: The Railway Club, 579 Dunsmuir St, Vancouver, BC.
  

Reminder: Our away supporter sections are treated as general admission areas even though there may be seat numbers on your tickets. Because standing, singing chanting and flag waving are to be expected in a supporters section, your view may be blocked at times.

Matchday Meeting point

Meet at The Railway Club, 579 Dunsmuir St, Vancouver, BC. between 12:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. to collect your tickets. We will be heading to the Stadium around 2:30 p.m.

We will be setting off as a group from this location so please be there in good time to collect your ticket.

If for any reason you cannot make it to the pre-match meeting point, please meet up with the group at BC place, GATE C no later than 3:00 pm. If you are delayed later than then, still head to Will Call at GATE B and we will have left your ticket there for you to collect.

Because of the high cost of data and telecom in Canada, we are unable to have a contact number or email available on day of game. So when in doubt, remember to head to gate C first, then to Will Call at gate B if you can’t find us!

TA Gatherings

POST-MATCH GATHERING
————————————————————

The Vancouver supporters group -  Vancouver Southsiders  – have generously invited us to a post-match gathering where other MLS matches will be playing and beers flowing.

Doolins Irish Pub
654 Nelson St  Vancouver, BC

http://www.doolins.ca/

Travel and Vancouver info

Reminder: Although they will let you INTO Canada with just a birth certificate and driving license, in order to get back in to the USA, you MUST have either a passport, passport card or enhanced driving license. See the WHTI site for more information. Note: The only exception to this requirement is for U.S. citizens under the age of 16 who need only present a birth certificate (original, photocopy or certified copy)

We have the Away Game Travel Guide to Vancouver put together by our travel guru, Andew Brawley.

We also have a handy dandy Google Map with all the important places on it

After The Match

We will be held for around 20 mins after the match.

Volunteer TA members will be helping with the logistics of getting us in and out of the stadium, we would appreciate your patience during this process.

If after reading this email you still have a burning question… send it to awaytravel@timbersarmy.org

Travel safe and we’ll see you in Vancouver, eh

Hotels

We are in process of arranging for discounted Timbers Army lodging at two Vancouver hotels in close proximity to downtown, venues & BC Place.

Downtown Ramada
1221 Granville Street
Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6Z 1M6
Tel: 604-685-1111
Fax: 604-685-0707
Toll Free: 888-835-0078

Timbers Army Rate: for a rooms with 2 beds (4ppl) $199 plus taxes and for rooms with 1 bed (queen or king) $179 plus taxes per night.  Just mention the Timbers Army group rate or use the booking code CG5517

The Georgian
773 Beatty Street
Vancouver BC V6B 2M4
Phone: 604-682-5555

A luxury hotel very close to BC Place with large restaurant and bar.

IMPORTANT

For this trip you MUST have a current passport, enhanced ID, or other acceptable international travel document.

If you are NOT a US Citizen, please consult the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website for your specific ID and visa requirements

Canada, like the United States, has rules that prohibit entry for persons with specific ineligibilities. For example, anyone with a criminal record (including misdemeanors or Driving While Impaired (DWI)), no matter how long ago, may be barred from entering Canada and must obtain a special waiver well in advance of any planned travel. To determine whether you may be inadmissible and how to overcome this finding, please refer to the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website.