We have complete player evaluations for every Portland Timbers player that appeared in their dramatic 2 all draw versus Vancouver on the road, plus a composite rating for the coaches and team. The result extended Portland's unbeaten streak to 10 and left them as the only undefeated MLS club on the road.
Here are the player ratings for every Portland Timbers player that appeared in the May 12 win over Chivas USA, plus a composite rating for the coaches and team.
Portland Timbers extended their unbeaten run to nine matches with a comprehensive 3-0 victory over Chivas USA. Goals from Rodney Wallace, Diego Valeri, and Will Johnson sent the capacity crowd of 20,647 home happy.
We have complete player ratings for every Portland Timbers player that appeared in their 1 all draw versus FC Dallas earlier this week, plus a composite rating for the coaches and team.
We have complete player ratings for every Portland Timbers player that appeared against New England in their scoreless draw. We include a rating for the coaches and the complete team.
We have complete player ratings for every Portland Timbers player that appeared against Sporting Kansas City in the Timbers' 3 to 2 win on the road. We also have a rating for the coaching staff and a complete team rating.
There were players who scored more goals, and some who registered more assists, but you will be hard-pressed to find a player who meant more to his team's success in April than Portland Timbers captain Will Johnson.
The Canadian midfielder led a Timbers squad that rattled off a 3-0-1 record during March, and while he managed one goal during that month (Johnson's brace vs.
Here are player evaluations for every Portland Timbers player that appeared in the team's 1 all draw in San Jose (Ok, Santa Clara to be specific) on April 21. We have ratings for every player plus a composite rating for the coaches and team.
We have complete player evaluations for every Portland Timbers player that appeared against San Jose on April 14, plus a composite rating for the team and the coaches. Suffice to say, the overall effort was impressive.
We have complete player evaluations for every Portland Timbers player that appeared in their 2 to 0 victory over the Houston Dynamo on April 6 at home. It was a very impressive effort, especially considering two starters had to be replaced with the match's first 30 minutes due to injury.
We have complete player evaluations for every Portland Timbers player that appeared in the 2-all draw in Colorado. The result gave Portland another point while they search for their first win of the 2013 season, but they have shown a resilience to fight back against deficits in each fixture.
The most minutes the Timbers have been able to hold a 0-0 draw this season (vs Montreal)
42
Percent of Diego Chara's 2013 turnovers that occurred against the Colorado Rapids
1
Number of times Will Johnson has scored a brace in his career
3
Combined total of assists and goals accrued yesterday by players named Johnson
2008
The last time the Timbers took points from their first two away games of the season (source: Mike Donovan)
Moment of the Match
In the third minute Shane O'Neill put a header on a free kick that went off the far post, deflecting back towards Tony Cascio, whose shot went off the crossbar.
Here are the complete player evaluations for every Portland Timbers player that appeared in the March 16 draw up in Seattle versus the Sounders FC that ended in a 1 all draw.
We have full player ratings for every Portland Timbers player that appeared in Portland's 2 to 1 loss to the Montreal Impact at home on March 9. While the Timbers had a dominant effort statistically in most categories, they weren't able to overcome the two goals scored by Montreal in the 30th and 60th minutes.
Here are the player evaluations for every Portland Timbers player that appeared in the Timbers' 3-all draw versus the New York Red Bulls at home on March 3. There were some shaky moments in the first half, but it was matched by a relentless attack in the second half that allowed Portland to earn a well deserved point for the tie.
In part 7 of our Portland Timbers season preview, we look at the Timbers midfield in greater detail. Melding some holder players with MLS veterans and talented youth should energize this group greatly, and give Coach Caleb Porter plenty of options to populate his game-day lineup.
Tonight the Portland Timbers end their 2013 preseason against the Swedish team AIK, While this game does not count in any standings there still is some added significance as this is the last organized game before Portland plays their home opener on March 3rd. This is the last chance for Caleb Porter to make adjustments before the games start to count.
The Timbers preseason friendly on Tuesday was a chance for fans to see a lot of new faces for the first time. One of those new faces was Will Johnson, who the Timbers acquired from Real Salt Lake at the very beginning of the off season. Though Johnson didn't make quite the splash that teammates Diego Valeri and Jose Adolfo Valencia did, he a bit of why the Timbers were so eager to bring him to Portland.
Line Up: Donovan Ricketts; Ryan Miller, David Horst, Andrew Jean-Baptiste, Michael Harrington; Diego Chara, Jack Jewsbury (Eric Alexander), Diego Valeri, Will Johnson; Darlington Nagbe, Ryan Johnson
The Timbers started off the game in a 4-4-2 diamond formation with the same first team players that they have been using in practice.
The Portland Timbers began their 2013 season with a training session at JELD-WEN Field. Under a bright sun and crisp wind, the team was anxious to show off the new acquisitions under their new coach, Caleb Porter. While there were some ratty moments, the practice showed plenty of potential that could translate into success for the 2013 season.
New England Revolution's disciplined defense was too much for the Portland Timbers as they played out an entertaining 0-0 draw at JELD-WEN Field last Thursday evening.
The Portland Timbers were hoping for a similar result against the San Jose Earthquakes from their April 14th home win when the two teams met on the campus of Santa Clara University on April 21 in their next MLS fixture. While the Timbers jumped to a lead courtesy of Diego Valeri's 58th minute goal, San Jose was able to earn a point in stoppage time behind an Adam Jahn goal as the teams played to a 1 all draw.
After suffering two serious setbacks in the first half Hour the Timbers rallied with a superb second half performance to beat Houston Dynamo 2-0 and record their first win of the 2013 MLS season.
Portland Timbers fought back strongly after going behind to San Jose Earhquakes, courtesy of a "soft" penalty call after Timbers goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts was judged to have fouled Earthquakes forward Steven Lenhart.
It takes a special performance to have a team place more than two or three players in the SBI MLS Best XI, but the Portland Timbers turned in one of those kind of performances in their win against the Houston Dynamo.
Jamaican forward Ryan Johnson leads a group of four Timbers on this Week's SBI MLS Best XI, with midfielder Diego Chara among those earning plaudits for his outstanding efforts against the Dynamo.
The Timbers held practice at Jeld-Wen Field this morning, starting off with a ten minute warmup period before moving closing practice to the press.
After practice concluded and the press were let back out onto the field, most of the Timbers usual starters were no longer on the pitch and Caleb Porter addressed a group of the team's younger players on the far side of the pitch.
Number of turnovers by Diego Chara against Seattle (still, it only takes one...)
26
Number of turnovers Chara has total for the season
31
Number of turnovers Diego Valeri is averaging per match this season
1
Number of players in the MLS era who have scored twice against the Seattle Sounders
18
Average number of shots per match for Portland in 2013
12
Average number of shots per match for Portland in 2012
Moment of the Match
Rodney Wallace equalizes in the 90th minute: Late in the game, down a goal, Wallace came through off the bench with a gorgeous header just inside the near post.
The story early during the 2012 season the first few games were typified by late game collapses. Fast forward to 2013, and now instead of late game collapses the Portland Timbers have a little bit of the Portland Trailblazer syndrome -- they start slow and slowly find their rhythm.
While the Timbers were the first to get a shot on target, transitioning quickly after a Seattle Sounder turnover, they looked out of sorts from that point on.
Practice today was closed after the team's usual warm ups and was just wrapping up as the press were allowed back out onto the pitch.
As practice was shut down the starters went to one end of the pitch and broke into two groups, one comprised of defenders and the other of midfielders and forwards.
The Timbers hit the field later than usual today after taking in a morning video session to prepare for the Earthquakes. Once they were on the pitch, the team went through the usual battery of warm up exercises, wrapping things up just as practice was closed to the press.
As today's training session was opened back up, the Timbers spent some time stretching before being addressed as a team by Caleb Porter.
Diego Chara joined the Portland Timbers in April of 2011, becoming the club's first Designated Player. He was advertised by Merritt Paulson as a box-to-box midfielder and that was how he played his first year with the Timbers, making key defensive plays in the midfield, breaking up the other team's attack and dispossessing his opponents, while racking up four assists and two goals.
I was reading the review of Portland's 2012 season posted on the MLS website and saw they had a look at the Opta stats. In the Opta stats article they had a link to download the Timbers' passing matrix, and so I did. I wanted to show you some observations I found and see what everyone else thought about the matrix.
We open up the Timbers Mailbag after the start of the 2013 MLS Regular season, and we talk a lot about the opening match, Sal Zizzo's injury, and the impending stardom of Diego Valeri.
As the calendar turns to 2013, we look at how some of the Portland Timbers players have spent their offseason break before training camp for the current season opens in Portland on January 21.
Happy Tuesday, ladies and gentlemen. I didn't get to yesterday's edition of Freedom Kicks, so there's a bit of post-game content from the Sporting KC game. Sorry if you'd already forgotten that it was a thing. The only unrelated thing on the D.C. United site is a plea to buy tickets.
