Portland Timbers are… who they were last season. Or maybe they’re a little bit better.
Remember, this is a team that won four games on the road all of last season, and through 11 they are already at three wins away from a revamped home that will be rockin’ and rollin’.
Gio Savarese’s men are stocked to the gills with guys that can do it all on the offensive end, and the coach has proved masterful at getting his team to recover responsibly to defend.
Counterattacking kings
After a slow start to 2018, Savarese turned the Timbers into a team that sat bodies behind the ball, found Diego Valeri and Sebastian Blanco in a hurry after turnovers, and became a dadgum nightmare to defend on the counterattack. Jim Curtin called Diego Chara an underrated player extraordinaire, and one of Chara’s overlooked talents is the many ways he can start and get involved in a fast break. Not only does the diminutive midfielder break up a ton of plays, he knows how to get the ball to the right places and when to become an extra body in attack.
Fernandez FTW?
So this Brian Fernandez fellow is an interesting character. Necaxa let him leave even though he was tearing through LigaMX… but why? It couldn’t be due to a three-game suspension he picked up for spitting, could it? Hmm…
The suspension didn’t follow Fernandez to MLS (how nice!) and the new arrival promptly got on the scoresheet against Houston last week and celebrated with a mild taunt of the Houston fans in attendance. He’s a big personality and Savarese played him on the right in his debut so the matchup with Kai Wagner should be delicious.
Lies, d*mn lies, and statistics
On paper, the Timbers look extremely mediocre. They give up a ton of shots and certainly don’t suffocate opponents like they did last year.
But then again, that’s what road numbers will do.
So be like Jim Curtin — don’t fear the Timbers, but respect them on Saturday night!
Portland comes to first place Philly on Saturday, May 25 at 7:30 p.m. ET for a Dollar Dog night showdown.
