Match 11: Rochester Rhinos 2-1 Portland Timbers

By: Bob Kellett | June 1st, 2008

The Bottom Line: Johnny Menyongar’s goal in the 80th minute lifted the Rochester Rhinos to a 2-1 victory over the Portland Timbers in front of 5,123 at PAETEC Park. The victory is the first of the 2008 season for the Rhinos (1-4-3). Coming off a victory in Montreal on Friday night, the Timbers (4-3-4) looked poised to pick up a point after a 78th minute equalizer from Justin Thompson erased a 14th minute goal by Rochester’s Matthew Delicate, but a defensive breakdown led to Menyongar’s goal. It is the first road loss for Portland. The Timbers have now lost three of their past four games and have only won once since April 26.

Timbers Lineup:
GK: James
Def: S. Thompson, Knowles, J. Thompson (Karalexis 84), Griffin
Mid: Gregor, Poltl (Lara 79), Higgins
For: Brown, Bagley (Little 38), Suzuki (Guante 69)

Three Stars

1. Matthew Delicate – A goal and an assist on the evening for Rochester’s big Englishman. Delicate was quiet most of the evening, but he took advantage of Cameron Knowles’ blunder to score early and he did a marvelous job setting up Menyongar’s goal late.

2. Mauricio Salles – The tall Brazilian controlled the action as a playmaking midfielder for the Rhinos. He is the type of player this Timbers’ team really could use in the middle of the pitch. He is steady on the ball and makes the simple passes to spring his teammates free.

3. Jordan James – After getting the news that the Timbers number one keeper, Ray Burse, had been called back to duty for FC Dallas, James picked up his first start and played well. James made a couple of great reaction saves in goal and certainly didn’t look out of place in goal. His leg strength leaves a little to be desired but he looks like he is capable of playing at this level. It only took the Rochester announcers 40 minutes to realize that his first name is Jordan, but I can’t fault him for their mistakes. He didn’t have much of a chance on either of the goals he allowed.

Did you notice….?

* Gavin Wilkinson started a defensive lineup and went for the same tactics that brought about a 0-0 draw in Seattle. He basically used a 4-5-1 with Chris Brown and Takayuki Suzuki playing wide at the midfield and Chris Bagley as the lone forward. I see the logic of going defensive, especially with a new keeper in play, but I can’t figure out why he would play the only three forwards listed on the roster at once when Benjamin Totori is out injured. After the early goal by Rochester, this formation became useless. He took out Bagley in the first half, replaced him with Little, and still stuck to a defensive 4-5-1. He took out Suzuki in the second half and it was still a 4-5-1. When fresh legs were needed at forward he only could turn to Tim Karalexis, a freakin’ defender. The strategy backfired for the Timbers boss this game.

* Mathhew Delicate’s goal in the 14th minute came off a big mistake by the usually unflappable Cameron Knowles. The Kiwi misplayed a ball and failed to clear it, leaving Delicate wide open to go in against Jordan James who came off his line and was easily beaten. Knowles has been so steady since he has been here that when he makes a terrible mistake like that it is shocking. Can’t really fault James, who did the right thing to rush out to take the angle away, but got dribbled around by a calm, cool, and collected Delicate.

* Justin Thompson’s goal in the 78th minute was one of those garbage goals we saw so often last year. Gregor sent in a free kick and Miguel Guante fired it off keeper Scott Vallow. Thompson got the rebound and put in his first goal of the season. Not a thing of beauty but it worked. The Timbers had a similar goal disallowed in the 35th minute. After Gregor fired in a free kick from midfield, there was a large scrum in the box and somehow it was poked into the goal by Justin Thompson. The announcers said it was disallowed because someone was offside, which would be next to impossible considering the ball was played on a free kick. I think instead the infraction was called for something in the scrum. A questionable call at best.

* Menyongar’s goal was one where the Timbers were caught sleeping. After getting the equalizer a couple minutes before, Delicate feed Menyongar a ball in the box and he burred it. Shaun Higgins had responsibility for the Liberian forward on the play and it was like he was stuck in sand. He simply didn’t have the speed to keep up with him. These types of goals seem to happen so often in soccer. After battling back to even the game it is natural for a team to have a let down. Rochester took advantage of it.

* Yes, that was Takayuki Suzuki taking corner kicks for the Timbers. And it is about time. Next up, let’s see him take some free kicks.

* That might have been Scot Thompson’s poorest game all season. Bryan Little played, but I can’t recall him doing anything of value.

* Miguel Guante should get more than a 20-minute run. He brings energy, pace and creativity to the pitch, something that is all too often lacking from the rest of the midfield. He played his balls off in Montreal. I would have liked to have seen him out there to begin the game tonight.

* Higgins was flirting with a yellow card all night. He seemed content to play the role of the thug. He also had an all around awful game. I can’t for the life of me understand why Wilkinson plays him at holding midfield. He played great out wide against Montreal. Every time he plays on the inside he struggles. Indeed, he does a nice job of cracking back on defense, but with him and Poltl in the center midfield you have two players who struggle finding their teammates with passes.

* The effort was there in the second half and even though they played two nights before the Timbers still had good energy late in the game. A foot or two to the left and Chris Brown’s shot would have tied it in stoppage time.

* The Timbers wore their red third kits for the first time during a game that counts. They managed to make it 90 minutes without one getting ripped. That is a new team record.

* There looked to be about 250 people in the stands at kickoff. Rochester has gone from being one of the premier franchises in this league to one that is just shell of what it used to be. It is a shame to see a beautiful new stadium so empty and so devoid of life — cheerleaders, canned music and corner streamers not withstanding.

* Rochester’s announcers sound like they should be calling hockey games. And what was that obsession with Leonard Griffin’s shoes all about?

Final Thoughts: – Based on the way the Timbers played this weekend they are fortunate to come away with three points. The team did have slightly better possession tonight and played better than they did in Montreal, but boy is it frustrating watching the backline spray it around, the midfield unable to find the forwards and the forwards unable to break free due to lack of speed. For a brief second after Thompson’s goal it looked like they would steal another point, but honestly even with a goal disallowed for what appeared to be no reason, this team didn’t deserve a point. Rochester has played like crap all season and they weren’t great tonight, but they were the better team. The fact that Portland has one point from two games against the Rhinos is a concern. The quality of play, or lack thereof, we saw for most of this weekend’s 180 minutes is an even greater concern. Let’s hope the injuries heal and the team has a good week of training before taking on Minnesota on Thursday.

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

Rhinos cut down Timbers for first win (Democrat and Chronicle)

Timbers fall 2-1 at Rochester (Portland Tribune)

Timbers fight back but fall 2-1 to Rochester (The Oregonian)

Match Review: Timbers v. Rhinos 6/1 (Nasty Challenge)

Game stats (USL Live)

Photo: Allison Andrews/Soccer City USA