Preseason Friendly: San Jose Earthquakes 2-1 Portland Timbers

By: Bob Kellett | March 29th, 2008

On a bitterly cold night at the University of Portland’s Clive Charles Soccer Complex, the San Jose Earthquakes defeated the Portland Timbers 2-1 in a preseason friendly played in front of 1,168 hearty souls. Kei Kamara knocked in a rebound in the 7th minute and Shea Salinas scored a world class goal in the 12th minute to give the visitors the early lead. Portland defender Tim Karalexis scored in his Timbers debut in the 70th minute. The Quakes held on for the victory in their final tune-up before their MLS season opener on Thursday night.

Portland Lineup
Burse
Thompson Karalexis Knowles Guante
Olum (Bagley 63) Dombrowski (Poltl 17) Gregor Higgins (Lara 82)
Suzuki Brown

Men of the Match
San Jose: Shea Salinas. The speedy forward gave the Timbers backline trouble all evening long and his goal in the 12th minute was a thing of a beauty, a top corner blast from about 25 yards out.

Portland Timbers: Takyuki Suzuki. The former Japanese international was impressive in his debut. He spearheaded a second half charge from the Timbers.

Did you notice….

* Before the match Timbers coach Gavin Wilkinson said he wanted his team to be exposed. He got his wish in the first half. The Timbers came out listless. They looked like a team that had just started training and that had a keeper who had only been to one practice. Two early goals by the Quakes could have easily have been four or five.

* The quick yank of Dombrowski. The speedy San Jose forwards were exposing the middle of the Timbers defense. Dombrowski looked like he was stuck in concrete as Salinas and Kei Kamara blew by him again and again. Poltl replaced him and settled things down. Even though Poltl is not the most skilled player in the world, I think he has to play.

* Ray Burse’s rebound. The trialist from FC Dallas got off to a horrific start. He let in a soft goal after giving up a weak rebound on a San Jose set piece. He got beat on a blast of a goal five minutes later. He looked unsettled and not in command of his backline, a backline he hardly has played with. But to his credit he rebounded nicely and made some huge saves in the second half. I’d give him a C+ on the evening. By the way, he has officially been loaned to the Timbers.

* Suzuki has high soccer IQ. He might be on the downside of his career but it is obvious the guy knows how to play the game. Unfortunately he was working on the same side as Lawrence Olum, a guy who has tremendous potential but who doesn’t always make the best decisions. One of the cool things about watching a game at Merlo is that you can hear the players talking on the pitch. All night long players were yelling at Olum. Once he learns how to play the game a bit, look out.

* The substitution of Bagley out wide on the right. It was interesting to see Wilkinson using Bagley in a similar role as David Hague last year. A second half sub of a guy who traditionally has played forward into a midfield wing position. It almost paid off. Bagley broke free in the 83rd minute on a pass from Gregor but was stoned by Joe Cannon.

* Guante at left back and Higgins at left midfield. I would have guessed the positions would have been reversed. Higgins had a decent offensive game, but this isn’t a left side combination I’d want to see all season. Guante tried hard, but he looked out of position.

* Karalexis’ goal was set up because of a heady decision from Chris Bagley. After a Timbers corner was cleared to the other touchline, Bagley quickly threw in the ball and caught San Jose’s defense off guard. Karalexis eventually had the ball land at his feet and he fired it on the ground into the corner of the goal.

* Karalexis had his jersey ripped off on a set piece in the first half. He wore a jersey without a name in the second half.

* Vardan Adzemian listed as a trialist. Who the heck is Vardan Adzemian?

* Speaking of jerseys, I thought the new red kits looked sharp. I am a traditionalist and love the green and white, but for a third kit the red works for me.

* It started snowing in the 36th minute. I have now seen the Timbers play in the snow. I can wait another decade or so to see it happen again.

* The University of Portland Pilots defeated San Jose’s reserves 1-0 behind a goal from Frankie Lopez in the 34th minute in the first game. Lopez is only a freshman. He was the best player on the pitch that game. Second best was Pilots freshmen keeper Austin Guerrero.

Next up - The Timbers face Gonzaga at Pacific University on Sunday at 2pm. I expect we’ll see the guys sitting on the bench against San Jose getting the minutes in this one.

Final thoughts - Not a bad way to start the season. This was a tough task for a Timbers side that is still in the early stages of training. With four new guys in the starting lineup it is understandable that the timing and rhythm was sometimes lacking. It was encouraging to see that they continued to fight and that they had the better run of play in the final 45 minutes.

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Photo credit: Allison Andrews/Soccer City USA