If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best
By: Bob Kellett | July 2nd, 2008
They’re better than Preston North End, Toronto FC and Gonzaga University combined
The hype machine for Thursday’s must-win, play-all-the-starters exhibition against Monarcas Morelia is in full gear with Portland Timbers boss Gavin Wilkinson declaring that the Mexican club is so good that they make the California Victory look like a sixth grade junior varsity squad. While I can’t blame the coach for a bit of promotional hyperbole, I do wonder how sincere he is about letting his team open things up a bit.
“We still don’t have that final punch,” he says. “We need to be more creative in the final third and try to get our players to express themselves in terms of taking shots.
“We need to take more risks in front of the opposing goal; that’s the place for it, that’s part of the game.”
It is part of the game that hasn’t been apparent since the defensive-minded Wilkinson took the helm. It is a part of the game he seems to actively discourage. How often have we seen a Timbers player under Wilkinson take on the defenders while in the attacking third? Maybe a little bit of that Morelia magic will wear off on Portland during the next week. If that fails, we could always kidnap a couple of their strikers.
Bye-bye Burse
Ray Burse was in goal for FC Dallas Tuesday night in their 2-1 US Open Cup victory over Miami FC. Burse made two saves in the game and by all indications he is in Dallas to stay. Even if the Timbers do have the opportunity to get him back for a few games, I say now is the time to cut ties with him. It doesn’t do the team any good to have a player shuttling in and out. Either go out and get a starting keeper or commit to the guys you have. This month period with only a handful of league games would seem like an ideal time to get this settled, right? Why hasn’t this been settled already?
Something doesn’t feel right
I like Bryan Jordan and I like the needed speed and athleticism he has brought to the Timbers in the four games he has played this season and I’d like to see him stay with the Timbers the rest of the season. What I don’t like is how the Timbers and Galaxy are gaming the system. It just doesn’t seem fair for a club to be able to bring a guy in on loan for a game here or a game there.
The most funniest thing I’ve read all week
Courtesy of the Cary News:
Carolina (4-4-5) got the win over the Timbers, ironically, by doing what Portland does best — counterattack.
That’s like saying what I do best is type grammatically correct sentences.
Photo: Estadio Morelos, home of Monarcas Morelia
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Comments | Add your comment
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I’m still pissed off about the team’s emphasis on these friendlies at the expense of actual competitions; especially after seeing the US Open Cup results last night (three USL teams went through, including D-2 Baltimore).
Does it matter at all that we won the match vs Juventus? Will it matter at all if we score 3 goals vs Monarcas? Ugh. This team depresses me. The biggest game we have coming up is a week from tomorrow vs Puerto Rico. Tomorrow I will be watching the match and it may as well be some random game on the tube, the outcome of which matters naught to me. Ugh.
Posted from
United States
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I think it has just come down to trying to impress MLS. Friendlies are a good way to draw big attendance numbers. Even though it hasn’t been in the media that much, I think that Merritt is pushing MLS so hard(behind the scenes) that is affecting what are priorities are on the field. If and when MLS to PDX is announced, I’d expect priorities of the club on the field to resume to winning the league.
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United States -
Not MLS. The emphasis is on impressing local forces. MLS knows exactly what Portland brings to the table. The job now is to convince Portland what MLS brings to the table. 10K plus — including people from the outlying areas, including many hispanics — will make a lot of downtown interests take notice.
Posted from
United States -
If the Timbers play their second team and get beat 8-0 will the downtown interests take note and demand that we bring an MLS team to the city so that we can avoid future embarrassments?
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United States -
Is that the only goal for the team? To bring MLS here? I want the Timbers to be in MLS, but they aren’t yet. I don’t love the Timbers because of some potential future in the top flight; I love them because they are my home team right now, and I want them to succeed, right now. I think it’s a mistake to hurt the current team in favor of a potential, hoped-for future; and I see the team making that mistake this season with the emphasis on exhibitions over competitions.
That said, this is my only real complaint about the FO, and I do think Paulson is moving the club in the right direction. I can abide a losing team as long as they’re losing because they suck, not because they don’t care.
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United States -
I’m not speaking for anyone but me. This is my read of why they have booked so many exhibitions and why they talk them up as they do.
We can’t win *or* lose the league in July, of course. Barring injury, why not play against high-quality opposition?
Posted from
United States
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