Portland Timbers finally get a break
Thirsty Thursday at PGE Park is a chaotic affair at best. Beer lite flows like water. Crowds mill about in the stands. Balloons bounce up and down in the cooling air. Lines snake through the snack areas, both for those who wish to relieve themselves of liquids and those who wish to acquire more. All the while, a soccer match caroms up and down the glistening green turf below.
Last night's entertainment on the pitch had this year's crew of greenclads battling away against the police tape yellow Rochester Rhinos. Interesting to see Brent Sancho back-- a sweet guy as I recall though he didn't give much cheer to our lot. And I think he looked better in green and white.
Regardless, the Timbers did a fine job of putting the ball in front of the Rochester net, more than a score of shots but sadly not so many scores. Our early goal was a corker---smacked into the back of the net off a perfect cross. The hero was Farber for whom it was the second of the season. And the finishing touch of the game came from Pore who plunked in a pk at the very very bitter end. It was a night to remember on all those future nights when we're prompted to grouse that our guys never get any joy from the officials. I actually missed the foul and thought we'd see the whistle hit the spittle, but instead had the pleasure of watching Pore do a very calm job of sending the ball home. It was worth an extra sigh of relief since Rochester had held us off with only ten men for the last third of the match.
I very much like the high work rate, stingy defense, and diverse attacking flow the Timbers are displaying. I particularly like the fact that people like Claesson are cracking shots from outside as well as trying to nick it in close. What is still puzzling to me, though, is that again it's our midfield who are putting the goals in and not our forwards. This has happened in years past as well. And I'm not sure what to make of it. Long long ago, the earliest Timbers had forwards like Peter Withe (later of Notts Forest) who were pretty effective up front and there have been scorers in recent years (the good ones seem to be sucked up to the Galactic level too often), but right now our forwards aren't making the impact I'd like. Keita and McLaughlin were perhaps most effective at tying up the defense to give our mids more space. McLaughlin is only listed as having four shots or about one for every 30 minutes on the field. By contrast, Pore is a shootin' machine cracking one off every 22 minutes. Not that shooting is lacking by any measure. Just gotta have someone get a hot streak. Especially since the crew is heading out for back to back matches with the Islanders. Seems like Puerto Rico would be a good place to get hot! And come back fully charged to play the 'Caps.
Last night's entertainment on the pitch had this year's crew of greenclads battling away against the police tape yellow Rochester Rhinos. Interesting to see Brent Sancho back-- a sweet guy as I recall though he didn't give much cheer to our lot. And I think he looked better in green and white.
Regardless, the Timbers did a fine job of putting the ball in front of the Rochester net, more than a score of shots but sadly not so many scores. Our early goal was a corker---smacked into the back of the net off a perfect cross. The hero was Farber for whom it was the second of the season. And the finishing touch of the game came from Pore who plunked in a pk at the very very bitter end. It was a night to remember on all those future nights when we're prompted to grouse that our guys never get any joy from the officials. I actually missed the foul and thought we'd see the whistle hit the spittle, but instead had the pleasure of watching Pore do a very calm job of sending the ball home. It was worth an extra sigh of relief since Rochester had held us off with only ten men for the last third of the match.
I very much like the high work rate, stingy defense, and diverse attacking flow the Timbers are displaying. I particularly like the fact that people like Claesson are cracking shots from outside as well as trying to nick it in close. What is still puzzling to me, though, is that again it's our midfield who are putting the goals in and not our forwards. This has happened in years past as well. And I'm not sure what to make of it. Long long ago, the earliest Timbers had forwards like Peter Withe (later of Notts Forest) who were pretty effective up front and there have been scorers in recent years (the good ones seem to be sucked up to the Galactic level too often), but right now our forwards aren't making the impact I'd like. Keita and McLaughlin were perhaps most effective at tying up the defense to give our mids more space. McLaughlin is only listed as having four shots or about one for every 30 minutes on the field. By contrast, Pore is a shootin' machine cracking one off every 22 minutes. Not that shooting is lacking by any measure. Just gotta have someone get a hot streak. Especially since the crew is heading out for back to back matches with the Islanders. Seems like Puerto Rico would be a good place to get hot! And come back fully charged to play the 'Caps.
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