Match 4: Portland Timbers 0-0 Rochester Rhinos

By: Bob Kellett | May 8th, 2008

The Bottom Line: The Portland Timbers and Rochester Rhinos played to a nil-nil draw on a Thursday evening in front of 7,519 at PGE Park. Coming off a 12-day layoff, the Timbers could not find a rhythm against a Rochester side that kept the action tight. The two teams combined for a total of 40 fouls in a contest that was at times chippy. Rochester starts their season by going 270 minutes without a goal and are winless in three games. The Timbers end their four-game homestand with three wins and a draw. Keeper Ray Burse picked up his third shutout in four games. The Timbers have gone 18 regular season games at home without a loss and they remain in first place in the USL First Division.

Timbers Lineup:
Burse
S. Thompson Knowles J. Karalexis Griffin
Guante (Oka 89) Higgins Gregor Lara (Little 70)
Brown (Bagley 87) Suzuki

Three Stars - This is really, really tough to decide. Here goes nothing….

1. Rochester’s backline - The Rhinos were well-organized for most of the contest and they did a great job of limiting the touches of the Timbers’ strikeforce. They kicked, clutched and generally frustrated Takayuki Suzuki all night.

2. Portland’s backline - They didn’t give Rochester’s feeble offense very many opportunities. Ray Burse was largely untested because of the back four in front of him. Rochester finished with four shots, none in the second half. The Rhinos have 8 shots in three games. That is less than impressive.

3. Luke Kreamalmayer - He was the best player in the first half and then disappeared. After a couple games playing in the back for the Rhinos he was moved to his more natural outside midfield position. He gave Griffin fits for 45 minutes.

Did you notice….?

* The game never developed a pace. The Timbers came out looking like a team that hadn’t played in a couple of weeks. Rochester plays a slow, slow style of football. The referee called the game tight from the beginning. All of this resulted in one of those games that both sides would like to forget. Sometimes nil-nil draws can be thrilling. This was not one of those times.

* The only attack the Timbers could muster in the first half came off of Suzuki’s poaching and pressure. He and Brown are experts at forcing the opposing defenders and keepers to hurry. That is great but it is no substitute for a legitimate offensive build up. Other than a couple of occasions we didn’t see anything resembling that from either team.

* Suzuki’s shirt was ripped in the front in the first half. These Nike kits must be made from paper. This is the third time this year that a player’s shirt has torn. The local Fortune 500 shouldn’t be proud of this product.

* The Timbers attacked the South End in the first half for the first time this season.

* Lara got the start at left outside mid and he was largely ineffective. I thought Bryan Little did more in 20 minutes at the position than Kiki did during his 70 minutes. Moving Higgins to the inside was an odd decision. I understand wanting to keep Poltl fresh for Seattle, but Higgins doesn’t work as a holding midfielder.

* The game only started to open up around the 70th minute when Rochester began to tire. The Rhinos are continuing to work their way into shape after starting their season latter than everyone else. Unfortunately the Timbers also seemed to be dragging toward the end and couldn’t take advantage of their superior fitness.

* Chris Brown’s missed a sitter in the 77th (or 72nd, my handwriting sucks as bad as his miss) minute and boy did he miss it. He was six yards out, right in front of the goal and the ball ended up near the corner flag. Ugly.

* Am I the only one who thinks it is time to give Suzuki a shot at taking free kicks? Gregor has been great at these over the years and the team scored a bunch of goals off of his set pieces last season, but this year his free kicks and corner kicks have been consistently low and right at the opposition. Suzuki was a set piece specialist for Japan. I’d like to see him at least line up over the ball when there is an opportunity for a shot on goal. And while I am ripping Gregor, the fact that he called Bagley off of a corner in stoppage time was just selfish. In that situation you let your teammate take it to preserve some of the clock.

* Arsene Oka is alive and he has some quickness. He also took Olum’s spot on the bench. Larry was not dressed for the game. Hard to believe he has gone from starting the first two games to not even dressing. I am not aware of an injury but that could be a possibility.

* I thought Scott Vallow was going to punch Suzuki after Taka picked up a card for a late challenge against Kreamalmayer. The old man in goal hasn’t been that fired up since he ran out of Mutamucil last week. The couple of times there were shots on goal he looked unsteady. It is too bad the Timbers didn’t challenge him more often.

* Ray Burse flirts with getting a hand ball every game. Watch him when he dropkicks a ball. He is almost always right on the line of being outside the box. Just don’t tell the referees.

* The beer garden and expensive seats have spoken. The benches were back on the east side.

* I loved how the microphone didn’t work during the national anthem and how the Timbers Army stepped up to help the elementary school choir finish the song. Nicely done, folks.

* I had the pleasure of looking after a fan who traveled from Japan for the game. She had never been to the United States before and came just to see Takayuki Suzuki. That is hardcore. There is word that an entire group will be flying in from Japan for the games over Memorial Day weekend. Suzuki is single handedly helping Portland’s tourism. I love it.

Attendance watch
I predicted a little above 5,300 and once again I was wrong. The announced crowd was 7,519. It didn’t seem that big, but we’ll take it. The four-game homestand drew 33,311 which works out to an average of 8,327 per game. That is an excellent total for this early in the season.

Final Thoughts: - You didn’t expect the Timbers to win all 30 games did you? Unfortunately this is one of those games that they should have won. Rochester is a work in progress and they are only going to get better as the season progresses. It is going to be hard to make up the lost points when Portland plays in Rochester later in the season. Even more worrisome is how the Timbers played. They showed little signs of the skill and effort we saw from them in the first three games. Now the team must regroup and try to come away with some points against a Seattle team that will be fresher and bent on revenge on Saturday. If a road result is going to happen, Portland simply must be better at all facets of the game.

Match Reports (I’ll update when I see them)