Match 3: Portland Timbers 2-0 Seattle Sounders

By: Bob Kellett | April 26th, 2008

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The Bottom Line: The Portland Timbers made it three victories in a row at PGE Park to open the 2008 season with a 2-0 triumph over Northwest rival Seattle Sounders in front of 9,894 on a beautiful spring night in Portland. Takayuki Suzuki scored a brilliant goal in the 6th minute to give the Timbers the early lead. Portland withstood a consistent Seattle attack for most of the first half. In the second half, Suzuki found Miguel Guante with a pass just outside the box and the former University of Portland midfielder beat Seattle keeper Chris Eylander with a low shot to the corner to lift the Timbers to a 2-0 victory. Ray Burse picked up his second shutout in three games. The Timbers have not lost in 17 regular season home games. They are now eight points clear of the defending league champion Sounders.

Timbers Lineup:
Burse
S. Thompson Knowles J. Karalexis Griffin
Guante Poltl Gregor (Little 81) Higgins
Brown (Bagley 76) Suzuki (Olum 80)

Three Stars

1. Takayuki Suzuki - The Mighty Man from Japan had a huge effort. His goal was a thing of beauty. He took a long pass from Chris Brown, went against three Sounders defenders, and drilled a world-class goal to that beat Eylander to the left corner. You won’t see many players at this level capable of such a goal. He also had a cheeky little pass to set up Guante’s goal and he was big in the air all night.

2. Cameron Knowles - This guy has played just about every minute of every game since he has been in Portland. Tonight might have been one of his better games. He battled all night long with Sebastien Le Toux and Roger Levesque. Just a solid, solid game from a player who might be the Timbers most consistent player.

3. Ray Burse - He doesn’t always invoke confidence, but I thought he handled the pressure rather well tonight. The Sounders finished with 13 corners and Burse probably grabbed about 11 of them out of the air. His goal kicks leave something to be desired, but he had good command of the box tonight. Two shutouts in three games. Think he has learned that playing with Portland’s defense in front of him is going to lead to some impressive stats?

Did you notice….?

* The Timbers really struggled in the first half. The Suzuki goal happened so quickly and then there was a letdown that lasted for 30 minutes. Seattle dominated the possession. They dominated the chances. And the Timbers spent most of the time chasing the ball, something you don’t want to see from a team that is playing its second game in three night. The second half was a much better effort with more ball control and less north-south long ball. We’ve seen in all three games that the Timbers were better conditioned than their opponents. I didn’t expect that coming off a game on Thursday.

* Karalexis got the start in front of Justin Thompson, who is still working his way back into shape. Karalexis is wearing Lee Morrison’s jersey and it must be something about the #4 that makes players win a ton of balls in the air. Sure he got muscled off the ball by Le Toux a few times and he was out of position on a couple of occasions, but I thought the new guy played a very good game.

* Guante got the start based on his performance on Thursday. He was a non factor in the first half with the Timbers having little ball control and playing it to the right side with infrequency. He definitely was a presence in the second 45. He might be this year’s Bryan Jordan — a guy who wasn’t slotted to start but who might not ever play his way out of the starting unit.

* Seattle’s outside defenders make a lot of overlapping runs. For the most part the Timbers handled this well. I thought Seattle’s central midfield outplayed Gregor/Poltl and the Timbers were lucky that Treschuk and O’Brien didn’t score. They had a number of opportunities on balls that were punched out of the box into the center mid. Oh, and did you notice that at the end of the game Hugo Alcarez-Cuellar was slotted into a holding midfield position. That was an interesting move by Schmetzer.

* I like Olum coming on as a late game sub at forward. That role suits him better than being out wide right.

* Scot with one T doesn’t always play his finest games against Seattle, but he was solid tonight. Josh Gardner was attacking him all night and with a few exceptions Scot didn’t back down. He doesn’t always like physical play but tonight he mixed it up nicely.

* Hats off to the referee Colin Tait. For as many times as we have seen Timbers and Sounders games get out of hand, he had things under control from the start. Instead of handing out cards, he took the players aside and warned them. The result was one of the cleaner Cascadia Cup games I can remember. Portland ended up with 12 fouls and Seattle had 9 fouls. There were three cautions on the evening, all in the second half. Mr. Tait is welcome back any time.

* Is Arsene Oka alive? I thought I saw him warming up on Thursday, but did not see him tonight. The inactive players were: Troy Ready, Vardan Adzemian, Scott Bolkan, Oka, Tom Taylor, and Steve Reese.

* Was that an electric atmosphere or what? The North End was huge and kudos to Seattle for rustling up a bus of away supporters. The noise in the stadium was top notch. Hard to argue that this isn’t the best derby in the US when it is played at PGE Park. Too bad I entered the stadium to the sound of the Seattle fans chanting “Fuck Portland” while a few dozen six-year-olds were waiting beside them to enter the park. Poor form. If that happened in Seattle Timbers fans would be in Gitmo right now.

* Special thanks to Bruce Eaton of The 107 Report for giving me the opportunity to do color commentary for a half and play-by-play for a half. I am not sure if Bruce will ever post the audio, but the guy can flat out call a game. He is easily better than 75% of the announcers on USL Live. If Andy Mac ever loses his voice, the Timbers would be wise to let Bruce call a game (Update: Here’s his call on the Suzuki goal and mine on the Guante goal. I can’t wait to hit puberty so my voice isn’t so nasal). And for those wondering, the perspective from the press box is about the worst in the entire stadium. It is a mile away from the pitch and since we were down at the far south end it was tough to see the action in front of the North End. I only hope that my call of Guante’s goal was picked up by Seattle’s Spanish radio broadcast in the next booth over. I also managed to go 90 minutes without call anyone a cvnt because I have class (and because Levesque didn’t do anything stupid). Take that, 107 Report roundtable crew!

Attendance watch
I was predicting a little above 6,000 and I was clearly wrong. The announced attendance was 9,894 which means that after three games the Timbers are averaging 8,597. That is an excellent start to the season. After three games in 2007 the average was 5,522. The crowds always pick up later in the year too. There is something special going on here this year, my friends. Did anyone have a problem getting to the stadium with Bill Clinton across the street?

Final Thoughts: - Three wins from three games. An unsteady, yet excellent performance against one of the top teams in the USL First Division. Sure there is room for improvement, but Gavin Wilkinson has to be pleased with what he has seen so far this year. He has addressed the team’s greatest weakness from last season. Last season the forwards scored 11 goals. This year Suzuki and Brown already have combined for three. The attack is much more dangerous and the defense has largely picked up from where it left off. Seattle will improve as the season progresses, they always do, but this was a good message game from the Timbers. Now we can only hope that they can get a little sharper and maintain the fitness during the two weeks they have off until they play Rochester. I look forward to reading Brian Schmetzer’s excuses in the monring. What a time to be a Timbers fan!

Match Reports (I’ll update when I see them)
Portland Timbers
Nasty Challenge
They are happy in Japan
Seattle Sounders (doesn’t even mention Guante’s goal!)
The Oregonian
Soccer City USA
USL Soccer
Goal Seattle
Portland Tribune