Portland Timbers Face Charleston Battery Thursday

By: Bob Kellett | September 10th, 2008

Another big game is on the horizon in the great race to finish somewhere between seventh and eleventh place in the USL First Division table. The Portland Timbers take on the Charleston Battery on Thursday evening at PGE Park. It is the final regular season home game for this 2008 squad, which is playing its fourth game in a week. The Timbers are coming off a dismal road trip, but they do enter the contest having won two in a row at home. Charleston has fallen upon hard times of late. The Battery are winless in their past seven league games and they have just one road win, way back in May, to their credit this season. Hard to believe but if the Battery stumble in their final three games they could miss out on the playoffs fun. Charleston did manage to eek out a draw in Portland in August and the Battery defeated the Timbers at home earlier in the season.

Speed: More than just something that keeps truckers awake
When I watched the Timbers play against Rochester and Montreal I was constantly struck by how the good guys looked like they were playing in slow motion and the bad guys were on fast forward. I don’t think it is any secret that this Timbers squad is greatly lacking in foot speed. This deficiency becomes even more apparent when they are playing on the tail end of back-to-back games or when they have played a bunch of games in a week. Watching Tom Poltl and Chris Brown - bless them for their heart and professionalism - in the center midfield was painful. When this team gets remade, and you know that it will, improving the speed in the midfield should be one of the priorities.

Portland vs Charleston, a history lesson
In Portland: 3-1-1, 5GF, 2GA
In Charleston: 1-4-0, 4GF, 8GA
All-time: 4-5-1, 9GF, 10GA

Sorry Agnello, your record is in jeopardy
Number of games the Timbers were shutout in a season

2006 - 13
2008 - 13*
2007 - 9
2003 - 8

* Two games remaining

Sorry Agnello, your record still stands
Fewest goals in a season

2006 - 24
2008 - 25*

*Two games remaining

Being Gavin Wilkinson
How bout that Miami game? Talk about a result when we needed one. Four goals, each one more amazing than the next. We were so good we could have beaten Zinho’s World Cup team. That’s just the type of game you need when you are making a playoff push and leading up to a championship run. What’s that you say? Rochester? Montreal? Two losses where the lads resorted to the unappetizing form they have displayed most of this season? It’s all about focusing on the positives, mate. I’m positive that we’ll rise to the occasion against Charleston thanks to the ingenuity of this never before seen lineup:

Harrison
S. Thompson Knowles Dunn Higgins
Olum Brown Poltl Griffin
Alvarez Bagley

Predict the attendance, win no prize
Fuck, this probably is the last time the Timbers will play in Portland until they play one of those unannounced meaningless scrimmages against a local college side in the snow in BFE in March. Everyone should attend this one. Everyone will. Future generations will talk about how they were there to watch the last Timbers team that failed to win the league. 19,999.

Match Previews

Timbers host regular-season home finale Thursday (Portland Timbers)

Crucial two-game road trip for Charleston (Charleston Battery)

A must-win for the Timbers (Portland Tribune)

Timbers begin final push with year’s fourth keeper (The Oregonian)

Photo: Allison Andrews/Soccer City USA