Nothing to Flip Over - Portland Draws With Minnesota 2-2

Forward Bright Dike celebrates after scoring his 3rd goal of the season.

In front of a sellout crowd of over 15,000 screaming fans, the Timbers (7-7-7, 28pts) battled their way to a 2-2 draw Wednesday night at PGE Park. It's been a newsworthy couple weeks for the team with the signing of forward Ibad Muhamadu and the announcement of their future MLS coach John Spencer. While management prepares for the club's 2011 MLS debut and amid all the growing fan excitement, the Timber's managed to survive their longest road trip of the year, escaping with a 1-1-2 record in 4 matches. So heading into this game, the team was aware of just how crucial tonight's outcome could be towards securing a spot in the playoffs and battling for better positioning in the standings.

With both teams deadlocked at 5th place in the overall table, emotions on the pitch were intense and play on the field was rough and noticeably physical all night. Portland and Minnesota would combine for 36 total fouls, including 3 yellow cards and a red card. The Stars would open up the scoring in the 24th minute, midfielder Ely Allen receiving a cross in the box and knocking in a shot past a stretched out Steve Cronin. However, Portland would keep up the pressure and just before halftime, in the 44th minute, forward Bright Dike would catch a pass from midfielder Ryan Pore off his chest, then bowl through two Minnesota defenders before blasting a shot past goal keeper Joe Warren.

In the 2nd half, Portland would continue their aggressive play, attacking Minnesota's defense and creating dangerous opportunities. The Timbers would take the lead in the 63rd minute, as Pore got in behind the defense on a lobbing lead-pass, eventually leading to a Minnesota foul in the box and a Pore penalty kick. The goal is Pore's league leading 12th of the season.

The celebration would be short-lived. A minute later, defender and team captain Ian Joy would be whistled for a foul on a hard-tackling challenge near midfield - a break-up surely deserving of a yellow card, but perhaps not mean-spirited enough for a red. Regardless, Joy would be booked for a red card and ejected from the match, leaving the Timbers a man down for the remainder of the competition.

"The red card happens in soccer." said defender Stephen Keel. "We're all professional and we're good enough to be able to deal with (being down a man). So we expect to keep up our defense, we expect to keep the score at 2-1, so it's disappointing to not get out of here with 3 points."

"The good thing it's on TV and I'd be surprised if (the referee's) family is still talking to him," Said Coach Gavin Wilkinson. "I think he made a mistake and after he watches the game on television, if he's man enough, he would admit to it."

Despite a valiant and gutsy performance on the field, the man down disadvantage would prove to be too much for the Timbers. Ten minutes later, in the 73rd minute, Minnesota would find their equalizer off a corner kick, as Minnesota midfielder Simone Bracalello flew into the box unmarked, heading a shot into the back of the net.

"Anytime you go down to 10 men everybody has to look each other in the eyes and give everything to the team," said Pore. "And I thought we did, we fought hard, so (the result) wasn't for the lack of work ethic because guys were flying around the field tonight."

"Another frustrating performance," added Pore. "We give up two mistakes and we get punished for them, but that's the nature of the game sometimes. I thought we outplayed them."

Portland would outwork and outshoot the Stars, but ultimately a handful of missteps would determine the game.

"There needs to be a certain level of organization in advance," said Coach Wilkinson. "We need to be proactive instead of reactive to situations."

"We've got to stop making these mistakes at costly times," said Pore. "Like I said we made two mistakes tonight and they only had a few shots on goal all night and they score 2 goals, so if we can find a way to stay mentally in-tune for a full 90 minutes I think we'll be fine."

After the match the team tried to keep things in perspective. Despite the disappointing outcome Portland remains tied for 5th place in the overall standings and still have 9 games left in the regular season to focus on.

"I thought the 2nd half in general, the mindset was good. We came out and put pressure on them," said Keel. "And that was our whole mentality for the game, to get back to our Timber's ways, working hard and not giving up anything."

Added Keel: "From front to back I felt like the energy was good."

"The players legitimately wanted to win (tonight)," Said Coach Wilkinson. "We had a tremendous crowd, we've had a great week of training, and they wanted to take that into the game. I think we showed a lot of spirit."

When pressed to find an explanation for the team's shortcomings and defensive breakdowns, Coach Wilkinson chose to take the high road.

"I'm not gonna criticize the players though, they're good guys and good players," Said Coach Wilkinson. "After we had a player sent off, the players were working extremely hard, maybe there's a level of fatigue that comes into the fold, and that's when you make mistakes. There's no excuses, but I'll defend the guys."

The Timbers are currently on a 4 game winless streak and have allowed two or more goals in three of their last four games. The team heads back onto the road for a match with St. Louis on Saturday and then will travel to Minnesota for a return showdown with the Stars the following weekend.

"We definitely would have liked a better result and gotten 3 points in front of this crowd tonight," Said Keel. "We gotta regroup, and we've got another game on Saturday, so St. Louis is our focus now."

Who Bad?
Timbers new signee Ibad (pronounced E-Bad) Muhamadu saw his first action as a Timber, entering the game late in the 2nd half. Teammates looked for Muhamadu right away, sending long passes over the top of the defense to try and capitalize on their teammate's speedy reputation. However, in limited playing time and with the team already a man down, not much could be assessed from Ibad's performance.

"We just wanted to get him into the fold," said Coach Wilkinson. "It's not enough to pass judgment on him, but still, he did pretty well."

The Timbers hope that Muhamadu will help the spark the team's underachieving offense, giving them a boost as they head down the stretch run. With 8 goals in 18 appearances for FC Dordrecht and a reputation as a scorer, Muhamadu could potentially play for the team next season when they move up to the MLS.

"We want this team to improve," said Pore. "We haven't been able to find the net as much as we can, so we're looking for Ibad to come in and provide some of that."

Asked if fans can expect to see Ibad back on the field soon, Gavin replied: "Absolutely, otherwise we wouldn't have gotten him. We've got nine games left and then the playoffs, so you'll see a lot of him."

What Distractions?
After a historic 2009 season and the Timber's entering this year with the highest of aspirations, it's hard not to look at this season as a mild disappointment thus far. Whether you blame it on bad luck, poor play on the field, or perhaps unfair expectations, it's undeniable that the team is lower in the standings than they should be. With all the hoopla surrounding the team this season and the added pressure from the fans and the management as the team moves towards its MLS debut, the Timbers must balance their on-field play with all the off-field distractions, increased media scrutiny, and more fan and community promotions. In the end, it's all apart of being promoted to the MLS, but could all the extra-curriculars be hurting the product on the field? Have the Timbers been distracted by all the excitement, pressures, and expectations?

"You're always going to have distractions around you when you're a professional," Said Pore. "But its about being a good professional and dealing with it."

"I don't think there's any distraction at all, if anything I think it's a motivation," Said Keel. "We're focused on this season, but to do well going into next season you have to do well here. You can't just lay an egg this year and then expect to go onto bigger and better things next season."

"No distractions whatsoever," Said Coach Wilkinson. "You only label it as a distraction as an excuse. I look at it as a positive and for the organization it's a necessity. Whether there's causalities along the way, its expected and accepted. We're an organization with a bright future and we have to plan for that."

Take Me To Our Leader...
Who would you say is the leader of this team? I think the easy answer is to say Coach Wilkinson is the leader of the team. It's Gavin's team, right? A coach should always provide leadership and direction for their team, that's their job. But it's equally important that a team has a leader on the field, in practice, and in the locker room.

Said Wilkinson when asked about the team's struggles: "We need a little bit of leadership on the field."

So who's the leader? Team captain Ian Joy? Veteran Scot Thompson? Or the team's leading scorer Ryan Pore?

"Gavin's looked at me as this year to be more of leader on this team," Said Pore. "This being my 2nd year on the team and there's a lot of guys who are in their 1st or 2nd year on the team, but I'll take that role and try to run with it. If I have to play defense, I'll play defense, if I have to play goalie, I'll play goalie. I just want to win right now and (everyone on this team) will do whatever it takes."

Pore is a softer spoken guy, certainly not the most vocal or animated personality on the team. If asked to mold an ideal model for a leader, I'm not sure if Pore would be the first guy to pop into your head. Nothing against Pore, but he seems to be more of a lead by example kind of a guy. That being said, there are many different qualities that go into being a good leader and for that matter, many different ways to be an effective leader.

When asked what he sees as being the most important part of being a leader, being more vocal or leading through actions, Pore replied: "A little bit of both. Bringing a work ethic from day one, working hard in practice and never taking a day off. Being a little bit more vocal within the locker room and encouraging the young guys. Just doing everything I remember that the leaders did when I was a rookie and try to learn from those experiences."

So, do the Timber's need a single superstar player to take the reigns of leadership? Or is it better to have a few players assume the leadership role by committee? Do you feel that a lack of leadership has held this team back at all?

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* photo provided by Allison Andrews @ Timber Mill