Byron Alvarez back with the Portland Timbers

By: Bob Kellett | July 22nd, 2008

That exhibition game against Tigres was a tryout after all and Byron Alvarez evidently passed the test. The Portland Timbers announced Tuesday that they have signed the club’s all-time leading goal scorer for the final 11 games of the 2008 season. The irony being that Alvarez is being brought in to help save the season and perhaps the job of Gavin Wilkinson, the former teammate turned coach who didn’t re-sign him in 2006.

Of course, this signing isn’t about saving a team that has won just twice in the past 16 games nor is it about bailing out a team that has scored just 15 goals in 19 games. No, it is about adding depth. Seriously. Just ask the boss.

“Byron is an experienced player and adds more depth to our squad as we make our playoff run” said Gavin Wilkinson, Timbers head coach and general manager. “He is a proven goal-scorer in this league and we expect him to continue to help produce results like he did in our exhibition match against Tigres.”

I’m sure newly acquired forward Jamil Walker, who asked to be traded from the Carolina Railhawks due to lack of playing time, is happy about this additional depth at his position.

Alvarez is a fan favorite and you know what you are going to get when he shows up to play. He’ll put in the effort, he’ll be whistled for even more fouls than Takayuki Suzuki, and he might even have some goals left in his well-traveled, 29-year-old body. He might even add a little bit of life to a locker room that has seemed especially lifeless of late.

I don’t expect him to save the season, however. That’s asking too much. This team has too many shortcomings in too many areas for one guy to fix. It just seems like this entire season has been about players being brought in to provide a fix. It’s all been reactionary instead of tactical.

Maybe Alvarez is the piece that has been missing. I sure would love that to be the case. But at this point I don’t even know who he should be paired with at forward. Suzuki? Olum? Another player brought in 20 games into the season?

Help a blogger out and tell me how this is going to all play out.

Photo: Soccer City USA