Match 4: Cleveland City Stars 0-0 Portland Timbers

By: Bob Kellett | May 9th, 2009

Bottom Line: The Portland Timbers traveled to Cleveland to face the expansion City Stars for the first time and came away with a 0-0 draw in front of 1,107 at Middlefield Cheese Stadium. In a game in which the Timbers controlled the run of play for 90 minutes, Portland (1-1-2, 5pts) was unable to beat Cleveland (0-3-1, 1pts) keeper Hunter Gilstrap, who made 11 saves. Steve Cronin picked up his first shutout in a Timbers uniform. He was not forced to make a save all evening. Portland outshot Cleveland 24-4. The Timbers were held scoreless for the third time in four games this season. They also haven’t given up a goal in 3 games. The Timbers and Cleveland will meet again in Portland in September in the final two games of the regular season for each club.

Timbers Lineup
Cronin
Thompson Knowles Keel Hayes
Farber (Nimo 74) Claesson McManus (Savage 85) Pore
Keita (Suzuki 70ish) Josten (McLaughlin 55)

Did you notice….

The Timbers dominated the game from the opening whistle until the end. I’d estimate they had possession 75% of the match. Cleveland managed no shots on goal and did not earn a corner kick all night. Just one of those games where domination did not translate until a goal. The Timbers threw everything at the Cleveland goal but just couldn’t crack it. This game was either going to be 0-0 or 4-0. Funny game, soccer.
If you didn’t know where this game was being played you might have thought the Timbers were the home team playing with a man advantage. They had the attacking initiative. Cleveland was in bunker mode, seemingly content to play for a scoreless draw — an acknowledgement that this Cleveland team is severely lacking in talent and incapable of stringing together passes.
The Timbers did an excellent job moving the ball side to side, using the whole field, especially with diagonal crosses. They had little pressure from Cleveland while on the ball so it gave them plenty of time to find their targets. I did feel that at times the Timbers lost patience in the final third, trying the long ball instead of building the attack.
Scot Thompson struggled with his first touch all night. He had a ton of room on the right side but somehow felt the need to rush his every move.
Keita continues to create excellent chances but the bottom line is that he has scored zero goals in four games. I can’t help but think that if this was back in the day Alan Gordon or McKinley Tennyson would have scored three goals each against Cleveland. Keita’s finishing, or lack thereof, is starting to worry me.
Coming off a good outing against Carolina, George Josten sure didn’t show much in this one.
Brian Farber only has one speed: fast.
Farber’s replacement, Alex Nimo, showed his first signs of life this season. He had a couple of near chances.
The biggest threat to the Timbers backline was boredom.
That was a very well officiated game. The blue shirt was barely present. Only one yellow card the whole match.
Timbers defender Takuro Nishimura did not make the trip. He was back in Japan getting his work visa straightened out.
Do you think Cleveland coach Rod Underwood is proud to have played ten behind the ball all evening at home?
Can’t say I feel much love towards Cleveland’s home, Middlefield Cheese Stadium. Watching soccer played on a suburban high school football field leaves a lot to be desired. The narrow pitch makes for bunched soccer. The Green Army, which was pretty ok from what I saw of them last year in the Second Division, were barely present. Pity they don’t have a better place to watch their team. Pity the crowd numbers don’t point to a bright future for the City Stars.
Cleveland’s USL announcers were the eternal optimist. Watching their team getting dominated, they kept on finding all kinds of silver linings. Next time I am having a bad day I want them to be nearby to tell me how great my shit smells.
First time all year I got to listen to the pregame show on 95.5 The Game. John Strong and Andy McNamara are doing a top notch job covering the team. Think back to a few years ago when you had to climb on top of a mountain with tin foil on your head just to pick up a weak signaled station with Jews for Christ as the pregame show. We’ve come a long way.

Final thoughts: Frustrating. The Timbers controlled this game for 90 minutes and were clearly the superior team. They just couldn’t finish. A road point is usually acceptable, but in this case the club left two points on the pitch. Cleveland is as bad a team as you are going to see in the USL First Division all season. Plenty of other teams are going to go into their cheese maze and pick up three points. Mark this one as a missed opportunity.

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