GAME PREVIEW: The Final 9, Timbers Hit the Road

Portland Timbers

VS

Montreal Impact

Wednesday, August 12th

4:45 pm @ Montreal

Online LIVE at USLlive.com

Preview: With only nine matches remaining on the season, the Timbers head north across the border to Montreal. The 1st place Timbers play three of their next four matches on the road, all against playoff-bound teams - going to Rochester on Saturday, then a week later, home to host Puerto Rico before heading to Charleston for another tough road test. It will be a grueling gut-check moment for this team as they've already accomplished so much in this historic season. Going on 20 matches unbeaten, can this team maintain its focus and hunger as the playoff race tightens up? Fortunately for Portland, the last five games will truly be a "home" stetch. The Timbers finish the regular season with four out their last five games at PGE Park.

The Timbers will head into Montreal as the most dominant team in the USL - boasting the stingiest defense (GA 11) and the most productive offense (GF 32) - tops in the league for both. The calling card of this team has been its depth, balance, and aggresive play and as expected for a team in 1st place there are accolades to go around; the defense has been physical and intimidating, the midfield play has been exceptional, and the front six have been scoring goals. Keeper Steve Cronin, voted by the fans as the Timber's Man of the Month, deserves as much credit as anyone for the team's success with seven shutouts this year.

This will be the final meeting of the regular season between these two clubs, the first two matches in June were played at Portland, the Timbers winning both. The Impact will be looking to regain some measure of dignity after the last meeting ended in a 4-nil beating. Montreal currently sits in 6th place, with the top 7 teams making the playoffs, the Impact are a likely first round playoff opponent for the Timbers.

Players to watch...

Roberto Brown - The Panamanian-born forward leads the team in total points and goals scored. The aggresive veteran helped the Impact secure a 1-0 victory on Sunday, scoring the games only goal. He'll be a lot to handle for the defense.

Eddie Sebrango-Rodriguez - The other half of Montreal's senior citizen forward tandem, the 36-year old has logged a lot of minutes this season and has been very productive. He's been around the USl for a long time and has contributed to many winning clubs over the years, nobody to sleep on.

Rocco Placentino - After spending six seasons playing in Italy, the midfielder comes home to Montreal and has been an important cog in their offensive attack this year. He leads the team in assists with 5 and is also third on the team in shot attempts with 24, finding the back of the net on 2 of those.

Sounders fans in denial over Cascadia Cup belonging to Portland

Check out the verbal acrobatics Sounders fans are going through in order to deny that Portland won the Cascadia Cup:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Cascadia_Cup

From Sounders fan, "Soccerafficianado" (that user name almost makes me want to change the introductory text for Dropping Timber...)

The rules to the competition are determined each year by the supporters of all three teams. There is no on-going rule that says only league matches count. The past is not an indicator of the present. The three teams are in different leagues this season and next, hence a different set of rules was needed once again. The revised article clearly states how the competition will be settled this year. Portland and Vancouver will count league matches, and Seattle will include other matches played against Portland and Seattle. The #2 reference points to an article from 2007, but it is not supporting a time-sensitive fact. It supports that the basis of the competition involves the teams Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders, and Vancouver Whitecaps. The #3 reference is about the game that was played between Portland and Seattle on July 1. It is not about the Cascadia Cup.

Look Sounders fans, it's pretty fucking simple:

The North End in 2011?

OK, maybe not, but this is fucking nuts:

Portland Timbers Stat Leaders

Points
Mandjou Keita, 20 points, #1 in USL
Ryan Pore, 13 points, #6 in USL
George Josten, 10 points, #14 (tie)
Brian Farber, 10 points, #14 (tie)

Goals
Mandjou Keita, 8 goals, #1 (tie)
Ryan Pore, 6 goals, #5

Assists
Mandjou Keita, 4, #6 (tie)
George Josten, 4, #6 (tie)
Brian Farber, 4, #6 (tie)

Shots
Mandjou Keita, 45, #2 (tie)
Ryan Pore, 44, #4

Fouls
Mandjou Keita, 30, #4
Tony McManus, 29, #5

Goal Keeper stats
Steve Cronin, 10 wins (#1 tie), 63 saves, 7 Shutouts (#3 tie), 11 Goals Against (#6), .58 GA avg

Portland Timbers - 2009 Cascadia Cup Champions!

Here's to the Pride of Cascadia

POSTGAME: Welcome to the Alex Nimo Show, Timbers Stomp Battery 3 - 0

Making the most of his starting opportunity, midfielder Alex Nimo put on an exciting show for the fans at PGE Park tonight. Nimo finished the match with 1 goal and 1 assist. An up-and-coming MLS prospect on loan from Real Salt Lake, Caoch Wilkinson gave Nimo the start in hopes that his youthful engery would help give the team an offensive spark - the gamble paid off. Early in the 1st half, Nimo lofted a beautiful volley into the air leading to a Keita header and later would slip behind the defense to find the back of the net himself. Another impressive showing of this team's incredible depth and versatility, as they score 3 goals on the league's best defense. The Timber's unbeaten streak now stands at an amazing 20 matches.

It must be noted that Charleston's starting goalie, Dusty Hudock, was unable to play, this certainly having a major factor in the outcome of the game. The Battery had only given up 10 goals going into the match and Hudock leads the league in shutouts with 12 this season. A tough act to follow for back-up goalie Keith Wiggans, not mention the Timber's are the league's top scoring team.

Ryan Pore played well again, scoring on a assist from Keita. There was a moment in the 2nd half, leading up to Charleston's goal, that the Timber's were a bit relaxed, but Pore stepped up and provided a lot of aggresion after Nimo subbed out. The Timber's onslaught seemed inevitable, they failed to score on multiple 4 vs 1 breaks, but Pore eventually brokethrough. Pore and Keita ran well together tonight and didn't get in each other's way, accept when they, literally, collided into another, both players tumbling onto the pitch. But besides that.

Josten has had a couple rough games. Today, he especially had a tough go, botching more than one play with bad touches or inaccurate passes. Josten's played solid this season, but sometimes he gets tunnel vision out there and misses open teammeates. He needs to move the ball quicker and not try to do everything himself. Nimo could of had 2 assists today if not for a mis-kicked ball on open net by Josten.

The fight in the 2nd half, resulting in a red card and an ejected Battery player, was a product of poor referee management of the match. All game the refs let the players get away with a lot rough play and hard challenges. It wasn't surprising to see frustrations boil over into a confrontation on the pitch. But I think one thing that's nice to see is players that are actually invested in the outcome of the match their playing. Players from both teams showed great passion and intestity. In a age of overpaid prima donna athletes, it's great to see the type of unbridled enthusiasm and the atmosphere of pure competition that the USL can bring.

The Timbers are now in a two way tie for 1st place with the Carolina Railhawks. Charleston trails by one point and the Islanders are not too far back from there. It's basically a four-way race for 1st place, get ready, it's going to be quite the exciting finish.

PGE PARK RENNOVATIONS

In case you missed it, a great article from Oregonlive about the current plans and potential obstacles involved with the rennovation process. It's a good read....

http://blog.oregonlive.com/portlandbeavers/2009/08/renovated_pge_park_will_showca.html