A few items from around the Timbers' and the US Soccer world:

Lee Morrison breaks nose in Calgary game! Ouch!

The topic de jour/semaine on talktimbers.com is this letter received from an irate visitor to PGE Park by Timbers GM Jim Taylor. The post has brought into focus the tensions between occasional visitors to PGE Park and the week-in-week-out fans who occupy 107 and centers mainly around the "You suck, assh@%#" chant that accompanies every opposing keeper's goal kicks.
Personally I agree with Jim when he asks the fans to "... show a little more creativity than sinking to the lowest common denominator and resort to foul language", but it may be too difficult putting this particular genie back in the bottle.

The letter certainly brought out the most creative response from roberto, making the point of those who see section 107 as the heart of the Timbers.

NW Woman makes Greek Olympic Soccer team
22-year old Walker Loseno from Seattle will play soccer for Greece in the upcoming Olympics. The host nation have been looking for women with any Hellenic connection and Loseno is 1/4 Greek. The very first event of the Olympic Games is a game between the United States and Greece. On that day at Gonzaga University, Walker's college teammates will be watching with divided loyalties.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber in Washington Post
Among other things Garber mentions are potential teams for further 2006 MLS expansion (no PDX on this list). The teams are Seattle, Houston, San Antonio, Cleveland and Rochester, N.Y., as top candidates but also Atlanta and Philadelphia as possibles.

MLS teams will have a reserve league system in place next year. Chicago Fire GM Peter Wilt has added that a possible scenario is four extra developmental spots or two minimum salary and two developmental spots per team. Reserve teams would play within conference 4x each (20 games) to minimize travel costs (mainly on Mondays to include a few players who played small minutes on Sat.). Add scrimmages vs. 1st side, local USL and amateur clubs to get up to 30+ games.


The timberlog has heard that the USL"...feel strongly that if MLS commits to reserve teams in 2005 that the most effective and economical means of doing so would be to incorporate them into the existing structure of the Pro Soccer League or PDL."
That makes a lot of sense, especially considering that the current Chicago Fire Reserves currently play in the USL's PDL.
Even though the MLS and A-League markets would be separate (although think of the poor Utah Blitzz getting to be 1 of 3 teams in SLC!), the addition of the MLS reserve teams might have some affect on the current system of loans between the 2 leagues. The current system, in part, gives young MLS players a chance to get playing minutes under their belts, something that a reserve team setup would provide instead.

Utah Coach Possibles
That same Washington Post article mentions former DC United coach Thomas Rongen as one of several candidates to coach the expansion Salt Lake City club. Former U.S. World Cup coach Steve Sampson, a Utah native, is also believed to be under strong consideration. No mention of Bobby Howe...yet.

An 86th minute goal by Alan Gordon (his league-leading 16th of the season) gave the Timbers a 1-0 win in Calgary last night against the Mustangs.

The Timbers are now 2 points behind Vancouver, the first-place team  in the Western Conference, and 3 points above the third place team Minnesota.

The Timbers move on to Milwaukee to play the Wave United on Saturday. 

 
A couple of updates:

This article in the O detailing a potential move of the Mariners farm team to Portland in 2005. The San Diego farm team/Beavers would move to Tacoma for 1 season and then to Reno (as mentioned in the post below) to fill their new ballpark.

The latest news on the Beavers/Timbers/PFE/PCL/City/PGE Park saga is this:

The timberlog got this optimistic quote from a City Official on the ongoing ownership issues in Portland:

"The PCL has found new owners and they are currently working through all the legal issues between PFE, the PCL, and the lender (Teachers) to have the new group purchase the teams.  The City is hopeful that all these transactions will be completed in the next few months and a new operating agreement will be reached with the City that will keep the Beavers and Timbers in Portland for the foreseeable future."

 
The Portland Timbers play the Western Conference's bottom placed team Calgary tonight and today's O article has a pretty frank assesment of the remainder of the Timbers season. The team are looking to be seeded in the playoffs as high as possible and are looking at every game as important.

"We don't want to look forward to the playoffs, but we need to have that mind-set," defender Lee Morrison said. "Each game has to be that playoff mentality."

According to radio announcer (and spy!) Andy McNamara the Timbers will be without Gavin Wilkinson tonight (achilles injury) and there will be (unspecified) changes in midfield tonight.

A couple of other minor notes:
With the Beavers/Timbers ownership issues still no clearer it is clear that there are potential owners snapping at the for-sale baseball team's heels. This article today notes that Reno are looking for a franchise to fill their newly proposed minor-league ball park with the teams in Portland and Tacoma currently looking for new owners. The author of the piece tells me that he knows of no direct talks to move the Beavers out of the Rose City, but it's something to keep an eye on (affecting the Timbers as it does).

...oh and for all those fans of the disciplinary stats...updated ones will be coming soon.

 

"We're playing mediocre soccer".

 "...it's hard to rationalize our performance".

Not the words of disappointed fans after Saturday's 2-0 home loss to Seattle (match report finally done-read all about it here!), but Timbers GM quoted in today's Tribune.

The answer? Bring back Fadi Afash and sign him for the rest of the season[Update: The A-League roster freeze was last Monday at 1pm]. After training with Portland for the whole year and commuting to Utah to play for the Blitzz, the Timbers have obviously decided that Fadi is fit enough and ready to provide some goal-scoring punch to the Timbers bench.

"I didn't think we'd find ourselves in this position, but hopefully Fadi can give us a spark. Obviously, there needs to be a signal sent that what's happened, especially Saturday, is not acceptable."

Strong, but well needed words from Jim Taylor.

[Update]  Afash is currently traveling with the team and is eligible to play in Wednesday's match at Calgary

Frustration was the name of the game at PGE Park last night as the Seattle Sounders headed home northwards with a 2-0 win, improving their playoff chances and sending the undeniably talented Timbers team to another home defeat.

For the first 30 minutes it looked like the Timbers would complete their clean sweep of the Sounders this year, playing some great soccer, but slowly things began to unravel.

First on 42' the Sounders' Roger Levesque headed Jonathan Bolanos' corner past Josh Saunders to put Seattle 1-0 up against the main flow of the game.

In the second half the Timbers came out looking tired and showed no invention and by the 48th minute I was already scribbling "time for a sub" in my notes. By the 68th minute the game's turnaround was complete with an unhappy "Seattle now the stronger team" added to the pages of my notebook.

The only change to the Timbers came on 76' with Miranda replacing Bengard, but this, even baring in mind that Portland were without Wilkinson and S. Saunders tonight, was too little too late.

The sorry evening was iced for Timbers fans when on 80' not only did Levesque get his second (annoyingly on a v. well-taken goal), but Seattle's keeper Burpo got accredited with an assist (Oh the humanity!).

From then on it was one of those games that, even as a rabid soccer fan, you can't wait to get the hell away from, the 4 minutes of stoppage time only delaying the agony.

The Timbers (11-7-0, 33pts) now head out on a 3-game-in-4-day road trip before hosting Minnesota at PGE Park on Aug 5th.
 
[Check back for a more detailed game report in the week] 

 
Tonight the Portland Timbers rejoin their most intense A-League rivalry when the Seattle Sounders come to ply their wares at PGE Park (KO 7pm).

The Timbers have a perfect record against the Sounders this year and the team from Washington State are in danger of missing the playoffs this year unless they turn their season around.

Seattle will be without some key players: Welton (strained hamstring), captain Jason Farrell (sprained right ankle), Billy Sleeth (stress fracture, left foot) and possibly Roger Levesque (sprained MCL) and Sean Henderson (hamstring). Zach Scott also misses tonight's game due to suspension.

The Timbers will be without defenders Shaun Saunders and Gavin Wilkinson who have both reached 21 disciplinary points for the season.

The USL have announced that both Lee Morrison and Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar have been included in this week's A-League team of the week. Morrison scored his first goal of the year and Alcaraz-Cuellar scored the golden-goal game winner to send Seattle to a 4-3 defeat on Saturday.

 
The Timbers split their weekend road-trip, losing in Vancouver (again! I should have just stuck with my policy of ignoring games against the Whitecaps) and then winning 4-3 in the "Battle in Seattle".
 
These are the facts, but go read the numerous threads over at talktimbers.com for the true flavor from the travelling fans who took Vancouver, BC and Seattle by storm.
 
First, the Timbers attack was AWOL on Friday at Swangard Stadium as the Whitecaps outshot the Timbers 14-4 (and 3 of these were from sub Hugo Alcaraz in the last 20 mins!). Vancouver's Martin Nash put in the Whitecaps' single goal in the 56th minute.
 
Saturday in Seattle was a thriller according to those who were there (and not just for taunting the Seattle fan).
The Timbers came back 3 times before Hugo Alcaraz netted the winner in the final minute of double overtime. Former Timber Ben Somoza's corner on 31' led to the Sounders opening goal from Velez. Portland made it 1-1, 4 minutes later as Lee Morrison scored from Alex Bengard's freekick. In the second half it was Velez again on 61' followed by Alan Gordon making it 2-2 on 73'.
Seattle's Zach Scott was sent off and then Bolanos scored a penalty after a foul by Josh Saunders
on 81' before Byron Alvarez scored off a Sounders' defensive error to level it at 3-3.
 
The Timbers won it on 110' as Hugo Alcaraz finished Byron Alvarez' cross for the golden-goal.
 
The Timbers are now 10-6-0, 30 pts and trail the Vancouver Whitecaps by 5 points together with the Minnesota Thunder.
 
Tomorrow nights game in Edmonton has been postponed indefinitely after the USL was informed on Monday that ownership of the A-League's Aviators franchise has ceased operations effective immediately(!!)

 
I wonder if, looking back,  Wednesday night's game might have some extra significance for soccer in Portland.
 
Complimentary remarks have come in from all quarters when it comes to the 10,622 (midweek) crowd and the fact that the week-in-week-out Timbers fans in 107 and elsewhere kept up the same fever-pitch level of support for the whole 90 minutes.
 
Some examples;
 
Sitting in section 107 with the Timbers more vocal supporters made an otherwise disappointing match a very pleasant experience. This group was vocal and enthusiastic to the bitter end of the match. Thanks to this impressive group of fans for making this a very enjoyable evening. This group epitomizes what soccer fans should be. They are hard evidence that professional soccer will make it in this country.  - Cybersoccernews.com
 
"It was a great crowd, I give credit especially to the Timbers fans behind the goal. They're great fans, some of the best I've ever seen." - Brian Ching
 
"I know Portland is a big soccer town,  I don't know many teams, that when you go down two or three nothing, the fans are still cheering like that." - Landon Donovan
 
Rumblings about Portland as a potential city for MLS expansion have slightly increased (admittedly nothing much above the usual potential city-list that trails around the current 10-team league (soon to be 12)), but maybe, just maybe, among the 10,622 there was one potential investor who had the seeds of an idea sown in his or her mind.
 
In the shorter term, it would be nice if a potential owner for the Timbers (with an eye on the long term) would step up to support a wonderful team and a wonderful set of fans.
 
OK,  back to Gavin's red card on Wednesday night. You can watch the incident here.  Of course rewinding the clock the ideal situation would have been this.
 
Earthquakes awarded penalty
Gavin gets yellow
Earthquakes get the 1-on-1 chance against Josh Saunders
Gavin has to tread just that little bit more lightly for the rest of the night
 
As it happened the Timbers got a double-penalty against them which destroyed the whole game.
 
but, as the law stands a player has to get a red if he...

"denies an obvious goal-scoring opportunity to an opponent moving towards the player ’s goal
by an offense punishable by a free kick or a penalty kick (DGF)"
 
This law was introduced to stop blatent fouling of players breaking on goal where the attacker would otherwise be 1-on-1 with the keeper and not the kind of incident we saw between Gavin and Brian Ching
 
It's a pity, because unless a ref applies any flexibility then the sort of incident seen on Wednesday will happen.
 
The other thing to note is that MLS refs (and maybe USL refs as well) have been told to give the benefit of the doubt and the advantage to the attacking team. On Wednesday the attacking team got an advantage that was way too large.
 
One other thing today, a nice article in the Trib about Scot Thompson.

Although the signal to noise ratio is still small, there was more MLS chatter today in john Nolan's O article, MLS keeps eye on Portland.

A disappointing night at PGE Park as the Portland Timbers were picked off by the San Jose Earthquakes 0-3.

A large crowd of 10,622 got treated to an almost full-strength Earthquakes team, but sadly only saw glimpses of the Timbers potential after the game, as a contest, was killed early on when Gavin Wilkinson was sent off.

Prior to that the game had started quietly, but on 17' after a nice 1-2 by the San Jose forwards Landon Donovan and Brian Ching, Wilkinson was giving a red card after pulling Ching back in the box. Ekeland converted the penalty, the Earthquakes were 1-nil up and the Timbers never recovered.

Playing against a side that collectively and in most cases individually were a class above, the Timbers suffered badly being a man down and for long stretches of the game the Earthquakes could move the ball around PGE Park freely, waiting for a chance to attack.

Credit to the Timbers though, they didn't completely fold after the penalty and held on till the second half before conceeding another goal.

With Brian Winters dropping back into the back line, the Timbers had to soak up a lot of pressure with Josh Saunders making 2 or 3 key saves from the feet of his former teammates.

On 25' Donovan's layoff to Hart, the Timbers couldn't clear his cross and Ching shot over. A minute later Donovan's dipping shot was just over Josh Saunders' crossbar.

27' and Winters lost out to Donovan, but Saunders made the save, one of many facing his old San Jose teammates on this night.

Being fair, Winters did do an OK job against Ching, but as we'd seen before playing for Seattle he's adept at coming deep, picking up the ball and turning. Tonight was no different.

At the other end a big factor in the Timbers lack of punch was the fact that Ryan Cochrane and Craig Waibel (both extremely solid at the back) were getting the better of Alan Gordon in the air. The long balls forward looking for a Gordon nod down were ineffectual tonight.

Byron Alvarez shot over from 25yds on 34' and Alex Bengard found some space on the right on 37', but his cross sailed over everyone in the San Jose box.

Particularly effective for San Jose was Mullan wide on the right. Cutting inside Sagare with regularity to set up Ching and Donovan whose teamwork at the top of the box was slick.

On 41' Waibel's foul on Gordon set up a free kick 35 yds out. Gregor's quick kick was to Bengard, but his shot was just over.

Right on half-time Gordon did get a head on a long Saunders clearance, almost getting Alvaraz in, but Dunivant was there to mop-up.

Then at the other end Saunders had to save again from the incoming Donovan after Mulrooney's through-ball.

Half-Time: 0-1 San Jose

De Rosario replaced Donovan in the second half, the US international stopping off for photos and autographs on his way past the beer garden and the Timbers seemed to start off with more confidence.

On 53' a great move involving Hugo Alcaraz, Gregor, Bengard, Gordon, Sagare, back to Bengard who let the ball roll across the top of the San Jose box, but couldn't find the gap for the shot.

The glimpse of Timbers attack was almost immediately beaten down when some poor defending at the back (playing the ball across the back-line under pressure) caused Shaun Saunders to lose out to Ching. He played the ball to Ramiro Corrales and he rifled the ball past Saunders to make it 0-2 on 55'.

It seemed like the floodgates might open as San Jose attacked again, a nice move ending with Mullan's one touch setting up Ching, luckily the shot blocked.

Credit to Bobby Howe now as he must have realized that the Timbers had to make changes. 1-nil down and there was still a chance of getting back in the game (even though one could argue that immediately after the red card Winters should have been replaced with someone more used to playing at the back. 2 down in a Cup game and things needed mixing up.

New Timber Scot Thompson stripped off and waited patiently as the Earthquakes strung together what seemed like 30+ passes with no Timber touching the ball, Winters did manage to cut off De Rosario as he bared down on goal, but it was the last action for him as finally Thompson replaced him on 60'.

So...to the positives of the night. First the crowd. Lovely to see PGE Park filled, hopefully some first-timers come back. Second, Scot Thompson. The defender from the LA Galaxy stood out. Calm and composed at the back, ready to come forward on the overlap. He's going to be a joy to watch for the rest of this year.

If it was me I would have added the speed of Edwin Miranda at this point too, but then I'm not the boss!

61' and another San Jose move and chance for a goal. Corrales to De Rosario, back to Corrales to Ching, but his soft shot trickled straight to Saunders from about 8 yds out.

Thompson was overlapping Alcaraz on the right and on 67' the best Timbers move of the night got the home crowd jumping. A sweeping move ending with Conway saving Sagare's shot for the corner. From the kick, Bengard's shot was wide right, but a sign that the Timbers could make a game of it late on.

2 more corners for the Timbers in quick succession and more changes. Dombrowski on for Cochrane, Walker on for Corrales.

Another Timbers corner on 73' and the Timbers were finally playing.

Miranda replaced Bengard on 75' and on 79' another good Timbers move as Gordon's cross was played off to Alvarez by Alcarez-Cuellar, but his shot was to keeper Conway.

Then on 80' the Earthquakes finished the game. Mulrooney to Mullan, who again cut inside Sagare to cross from the right perfectly for De Rosario to head past Saunders. 0-3 San Jose.

Brown replaced Ching, Antoniuk replaced a limping Gordon and the game faded away leaving the Timbers out of the US Open Cup and looking forward to their NorthWest road trip this coming weekend.

[press]
O-US Open and (Shut)Out
MLSNet.com-Quakes Move Past 10-Man Timbers
WWeek.com-Timbers Outnumbered, Outgunned

...more Timbers press today.

Columbian article about tonight's game:


Just Call him Timber GM: The Columbian (again) with a nice personal story about Timbers GM Jim Taylor.

Last Place Stymies Earthquakes Coach: The Earthquakes will be without Ian Russell and Arturo Alvarez. Center backs Jeff Agoos (lower back sprain) and Ryan Cochrane are doubtful. Landon Donovan could get the day off to recover from a strong 90-minute performance in the U.S. national team's 1-1 draw against Poland on Sunday.

Gregor and Brown: Timbers Andrew Gregor on his former U of P teammate, now Earthquake Chris Brown.

This ain't no friendly, this ain't no exhibition, this ain't no foolin' around!

Tonight at 7pm at PGE Park the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer visit Portland, Oregon for the Timbers 4th round US Open Cup game.

Make no mistake this is NOT an Exhibition game. The Earthquakes will be trying to turn thier season around, having not won a game since June 12th and the Timbers will be trying to prove that this year's side is capable of competing at the highest level of the sport in the US.

Tickets are on sale all day at PGE Park, prices are as follows:

General Admission: $10.00
Upper Reserved: $12.00
Lower Reserved: $17.00
Premier Seating: $23.00

"They are expected to win this game. We expect to win"

Bobby Howe sums up tomorrow night's game in the proverbial nutshell. Predicting the result depends on the angle at which you approach the meeting of the MLS Champions San Jose and the team atop the A-League Western Conference.

San Jose are having a stuttering MLS season. A 4-6-5 record, propping up the MLS West and only 1 win in their last 8 competitive games.

The Timbers coming off a great game against Edmonton, but seemingly needing regular confidence boosts to keep their talented players flowing.

The Earthquakes bring Landon Donovan and Brian Ching to PGE Park so we know that the Timbers' defense will have to be at their best. Add in household names (OK, so it depends on your particular household!) Dwayne De Rosario, Richard Mulrooney, Ronnie Ekelund, Jeff Agoos etc and it's going to be a soccer-treat tomorrow night.

If you love the great game you just have to be at PGE Park tomorrow night...if only to see the Shed's new secret weapon (touted as a "Big A$$ Flag"!), hear a cacophony of super-ribald chants thrown at Mr Donovan and to watch the multitude of soccer-snobs come out of the woodwork.

Can't Wait!

[press]
Game Brings Players Home - The Earthquakes' Ryan Cochrane, a former star at La Salle High and Chris Brown, former Jesuit High standout both have close local connections.

Timbers face MLS Earthquakes

With thoughts on tomorrow night's Cup game against the Earthquakes monopolizing the neurons another sobering reminder about the Timbers/Beavers ownership vacuum in today's Trib.

Contrary to the bold example in Salt Lake where Dave Checketts public "$1 million down-9 to come" maneuver has won Utah an MLS franchise, the tale of PGE Park rolls on with news of "unidentified groups" and "mystery buyers".

Finally got round to a match report from Thursday. A great game and a really fine performance from Andrew Gregor.

Newly arrived Scot Thompson (who is on loan from the LA Galaxy for the rest of the year) must have been impressed watching his new team.

...and finally congratulations to Salt Lake City who look certian to announce that they are one of the expansion cities for MLS in 2005. There has been some sniffiness in some quarters about the beehive state's qualifications to host a major league team, but I know the area pretty well. There is a strong bed of youth soccer all along the Wasatch and a very diverse population in some areas of Salt Lake City itself. If they play their cards right it will be a great success there.

Portland's own links to a possible MLS team were again puffed up in the Tribune last week on the back of the (by now infamous) Sports Buisness journal article. At least this time there were some quotes to back up the speculation even though they are pretty vauge.

This from Drew Mahalic, chief executive officer of the Oregon Sports Authority:


MLS for PDX or not, soccer in this fair city will get a big boost on Wednesday if the Timbers perform against the San Jose Earthquakes.

Back in town (and craftily ignoring the Timbers 0-2 loss to Vancouver last week!) last night at PGE Park was a night of superlatives (except the crowd size, natch).

Edmonton came back to PDX supposedly a team improved from the 6-0 drubbing handed out by the Timbers back at the beginning of June, but a combination of tiredness from playing their 3rd game in 4 days and a great team performance from the Timbers and the result was another 6 goals for Portland and another hat-trick for Alan Gordon.

A full report to come, but here are the highlights:

11' and keeper Stankov could only parry a Bengard shot from 25 yds and Alan Gordon was there to head home the rebound.

17' and the Aviators equalized when Fraser got in behind Heinzen and beat Saunders at the near post.

Despite having most of the possession and chances, the score remained 1-1 until the 49th minute when a Sagare break from midfield and a Gregor dummy left Gordon to hit the corner from the edge of the box. 2-1 Timbers.

3-1 on 60' when my man-of-the-match Andrew Gregor skipped past 3 defenders to lay off to Gordon who took his hat-trick easily. The kind of goal where the phrase "assist Gregor" doesn't do it justice!

4-1 on 72' when new sub Byron Alvarez with his first touch tore down the left, cut inside and beat Stankov. GOAL!

5-1 on 77' Antoniuk put the rebound away after Alvarez' shot was saved and the Timbers rounded off a satisfying night on 88' with Byron Alvarez' second goal of the night, a diving header from Antoniuk's cross.

A great game and a perfect appetizer to the Timbers Open Cup game against the Earthquakes on Wednesday night. Andrew Gregor was a joy to watch, but more about that in the detailed report to come later...oh so much later.

Just back in town, but a quick note that tonight the Timbers take on the Edmonton Aviators at PGE Park, KO 7pm.

A round-up of the past week will be forthcoming!

Tickets for the Portland Timbers game against the MLS San Jose Earthquakes go on sale tomorrow (Friday, July 2 at 10 a.m)

Tickets will be available for purchase at the PGE Park box office as well as Portland-area Ticketmaster outlets. Individual tickets can be purchased by phone at (503) 224-4400 or online at ticketmaster.com

Ticket prices for the U.S. Open Cup match are as follows:
General Admission: $10.00
Upper Reserved: $12.00
Lower Reserved: $17.00
Premier Seating: $23.00

Groups of 15 or more are encouraged to call the Timbers ticket office at (503) 553-5555 for discounts of $2.00-3.00 per ticket, depending on seating category. Exclusive Party Suites and picnic packages are also available by calling the Timbers ticket office.

[press]
O-Timbers Advance in Open Cup
SLTrib-Blitzz See Chances Wasted including great picture of Gavin going down in the red card incident!