Timbers Streaking through the MLS

The Timbers were bumped up to third in the MLS power rankings this week, trailing only Dallas (1) and Montreal (2).

This is right where I think the Timbers should be for now but if we keep winning on the road, especially against opponents that we should be beating, I wouldn’t doubt a move to No. 1 is in the cards.

On Saturday, Portland kept up their unbeaten streak by extending it to 11 games in beating the lowly DC United 2-0. This was exactly what the Timbers needed, to come into a game that they should win and do just that.

The game saw a debut for Pa Modou Kah, who slotted in at center back for the suspended Futty Danso. He is now the fifth center back to start for the Timbers this season. However, Kah and Baptiste were able to keep a shutout, though they were shaky at times presumably because of the limited time Kah has had with his new teammates.

The Timbers were able to exploit D.C. at every turn it seemed but let themselves down in front of goal for much of the match. A few good chances went begging for the Timbers early in the first half but as midway through the first half came upon Portland the always opportunistic Rodney Wallace found himself in space on DC’s right side and slammed home a left footed rocket of a shot past Bill Hamid.

The goal was a great team goal that exploited what seems to be DC’s biggest problem: effort. The D.C. players game the Timbers most of their own half to calmly build the goal and backed off of Timbers forward Piquionne who easily assisted the goal.

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The Timbers had to wait until the 57th minute to seal the victory. Darlington Nagbe had shown well in front of goal at times in the match but at other times seemed to be his own worst enemy. However, after good hold up play by the young midfielder he played a nice give-and-go with Ryan Johnson to find a lobbed ball at his feet in front of goal. Getting the ball was partial luck but mostly great work by Nagbe as he was able to control it and elude the defenders. Then he calmly slotted a shot between the legs of Bill Hamid.

The rest of the game was fairly back and forth and should have seen D.C. awarded a penalty kick after a ball struck the hand of Kah in the box but it wasn’t going to be D.C.’s night as the ref gave a no call.

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The Timbers earned this 2-0 win without midfield maestro Diego Valeri and played a traditional 4-4-2. This bodes well for the Timbers as they were able to impose themselves without two regular starters and win the game fairly handily. Wallace continues to be a standout performer for the team as he seems to add a dimension to the Timbers attack that would be lacking without him. He has a good left foot that was utilized to its capacity in the goal he scored.

Meanwhile it is reassuring that Kah can come into the team and play well, he was calm and passed very well. It will be tough to say what two center backs get the start next MLS game but I hope that we see Kah on Wednesday the 29th in the Timbers US Open Cup as he could use the minutes with the team.