The View from 10,000 Feet

By: Bob Kellett | April 1st, 2009

Zero. That is the precise number of minutes I have spent watching the Portland Timbers this preseason. Sad. Pathetic. I should be fired. Zero is also the precise number of goals that the Timbers have scored in 270 minutes of meaningless play. Kind of sad, kind of pathetic, and Gavin Wilkinson should be standing in the unemployment line behind me. Ok, the coach’s job is safe until 2011 when he will be given a gold watch, thanked for his decade of service to the club, and promptly sent to Oceania to scout for the MLS club, but I digress.

I normally don’t pay a whole lot of attention to the outcome of preseason games and with a whole buttload (scientific term) of new players on this year’s roster I am especially not concerned with wins and losses in March and April. However, when you have a team that is coming off a season in which it was shutout in almost half its games and you have a coach who has overseen a club that has scored the fewest combined goals over the past two seasons of any club in the league, any indication that the team might struggle to put the ball between the posts is a concern. Not global economic crisis concern, but still a concern.

When I look at this roster I see improvements in a number of areas. Assuming Steve Cronin stays healthy, the Timbers will be better in goal than last season. The backline has more depth than last year and better talent. The midfield might actually be able to string together a few passes and not take another decade off my life. The one area that I am not sold on is the forwards. It would be hard to imagine getting less productivity out of the position than the Timbers did last season, but I look at the five names on the roster and I see a lot of uncertainty. I think back to last season when the hope was that Takayuki Suzuki would do something he has never done: score goals. I remember the hope that Benjamin Totori would add that extra spark to produce some goals. I get the sense that Mandjou Keita is this year’s Totori, an unproven guy who is being viewed as a difference maker. I look at Jason McLaughlin and I think of Chris Bagley. I look at Suzuki and I see a guy who is rolling on the ground yelling at the referee.

It is way too early, of course, but a goal or two sometime in the next 270 minutes might ease the stomach.

Cha-cha-cha-changes
Of the 22 players listed on the roster, only 6 were here last season. That is what happens when you finish in last place. It also is the general nature of USL soccer. The last time there was such a massive turnover was the Agnello year. Just for the sake of nostalgia, check out the starting lineup in the opening match last year:

Burse
S. Thompson Knowles J. Thompson Griffin
Olum Poltl Gregor Higgins
Brown Suzuki

How many of those guys start against Vancouver on April 25? Probably just Scot Thompson, Cameron Knowles, and Suzuki.
The Global Game
One of the reasons for my absence has been a journey outside of the Republic of Portland. I recently was sitting in an airport in a city in South America situated at 10,000 feet and had the opportunity to watch the New England Revolution play Red Bull New York. It was horrible, horrible soccer played on crap turf. I was apologizing to my Spanish speaking friends for having them endure such a sorry display of the Beautiful Game. And then it dawned on me that in 2011 that horrible display on crap turf on a South American television could involve the Portland Timbers. That will truly be beautiful.

Travel Tip
For those looking for a cheap buzz – and my demographic research tells me that is most of this blog’s audience – drinking a beer at 10,000 feet is liking drinking three beers at sea level. The hangover is just as miserable, however.

Next up
The Timbers travel to Canada on Friday to get their exhibition groove on against the defending league champion Vancouver Whitecaps. After that, there are no scheduled games until the regular season kicks off in Vancouver on April 25. Something tells me there must be another unannounced preseason game or two. Anyone have the dirt on this?