Exhibition: Portland Timbers 2-0 Tigres

By: Bob Kellett | July 15th, 2008

The Bottom Line: Byron Alvarez made a triumphant return to the Portland, setting up a goal and scoring one himself to lead the Timbers to a 2-0 victory over Tigres in an exhibition match played in front of 8,375 at PGE Park. Alvarez, on trial with Portland, danced around the box before setting up Justin Thompson who shot a low, hard shot into the goal from the top of the box in the 52nd minute. Less than two minutes later, Tom Poltl’s blast hit the crossbar and bounced right to Alvarez who calmly knocked it past the Tigres keeper. Portland Timbers keeper Brad Knighton made a couple of big saves and combined with Chase Harrison to pick up a shutout. The Timbers finish the exhibition part of their schedule with two wins and two losses.

Timbers Lineup:
Knighton (Harrison 81)
S. Thompson Knowles (J. Thompson 45) Karalexis Griffin (Oka 45)
Guante Poltl Dombrowski (Little 45, Walker 58) Higgins
Olum (Brown 69) Alvarez (Tototi 81)

Did you notice….?

* The majority of the first half was tightly played with little in the way of scoring opportunities for either side. Play opened up toward the end of the half with Knighton being forced into a pair of reaction saves. The Timbers best scoring chance was when Alvarez worked himself into a cross that Miguel Guante nearly headed home.

* For a three-minute stretch in the second half it was like being back in 2003 all over again with Bryon Alvarez leading the charge. The guy still struggles with his first touch and he is prone to picking up cheap, bad fouls, but he showed flashes tonight of why he is the Timbers all-time leading goal scorer. He certainly hasn’t made it easy for Gavin Wilkinson not to sign him. Would he contribute more to the team than a fourth keeper? Affirmative.

* After the Timbers scored things got really chippy with both sides barking at one another and the referee. No surprise that it was Tom Poltl who was in the center of a near melee. Poltl had himself a nice game after a few weeks off for his red card suspension.

* With Lawrence Olum wearing his #15 shirt, Alvarez wore #21, the same number Alan Gordon wore. His name was on the back, interpret that as you will. Olum’s #15 was ripped in half in the first half, continuing the Timbers season-long string of mutilated kits.

* The best part about this game: Gavin Wilkinson used all seven of his subs. He finally treated an exhibition game like an exhibition game. Chris Brown didn’t play big minutes, Takayuki Suzuki didn’t even dress, and guys like Oka and Olum got a nice little run. I just wish he had gone the same route with the other friendlies.

* Bryan Little left the pitch with an injury after playing about ten minutes in the second half. I didn’t see what he injured, it happened during the Alvarez goal.

* Lawrence Olum is gangly and doesn’t always make good decisions, but he at least makes things happen when he plays forward. He is just about the only player on the roster who is able to win balls in the air after long goal kicks. I’m not saying he is the answer, but he certainly is an option I’d like to see get a chance up front.

* The game ended with Poltl, Oka, Totori, and Walker on the pitch. That is the shortest team in Timbers history. Possibly the fastest too, if you remove Poltl from the equation.

* My sense is that Justin Thompson has fallen out of favor and that is why Karalexis got the start. Karalexis was steady in the back. Scott Thompson was actually the weak link tonight. He was burned a few times and was lucky that he wasn’t called for a penalty in the box in the second half. It was nice to see Knowles sitting on the bench in the second half. The dude deserves a few minutes off each season.

* I laughed in the first half when the Timbers finally won a corner kick and no one went over to take it. Gregor, Suzuki and Brown were nowhere to be seen. Neither was Kiki Lara. After much discussion and about 45 seconds, Guante drew the short straw and trotted over to the corner.

* This was a much different crowd than the one that showed up for Morelia. There weren’t a lot of Tigres fans, but there were quite a number of Mexican fans wearing Chivas, Cruz Azul, Mexican national team shirts, etc. A nice showing for a Tuesday night — 8,375 total.

* Apparently Tigres isn’t a big enough club to warrant the covering of home base.

Final Thoughts: - That was a nice change of pace. Instead of watching frustrating ugly soccer for 90 minutes, the fans tonight got to see a little bit of positive action. Alvarez will get the headlines and deservedly so, but to me it was simply enjoyable to see the Timbers maintain possession from time to time. It was enjoyable to see the Timbers display a little bit of creativity in the attack. It was enjoyable to see a team play with a bit of pace. Sure, this was merely an exhibition match and Tigres didn’t field its best team, but the way this season has gone we’ll take what we can get. Now it is on to Atlanta and Charleston with the hope that the lads are feeling a little better about themselves.

Match Reports (I’ll update when I see them or when I wake up)

Timbers beat Tigres in exhibition game (The Oregonian)

Portland Timbers 2 - 0 Tigres (Pierden, pierden, pierden y ni un golecito) (El Siglo de Torreon)

Alvarez leads the way as Timbers win exhibition match (Portland Tribune)

Photos of the game (Soccer City USA)

Photos: Oregonian Flickr