Timbers lose a pair of exhibition matches against Monarcas Morelia

By: Bob Kellett | July 7th, 2008

The Portland Timbers spent their Independence Day weekend losing to Monarcas Morelia 2-0 on Thursday in Portland and 3-1 on Sunday in Seattle. The Timbers will interrupt their crucial stretch of Mexican preseason futbol when they face the Puerto Rico Islanders on Thursday before taking on Tigres next Tuesday. What did we learn from this weekend? Same ol’, same ol’. On Thursday the Timbers struggled in the attack, were burned on a couple of defensive mistakes (someone needs to surgically remove Leonard Griffin’s head from his arse), and the crowd was far better than the play on the pitch. On Sunday, well, who knows? The team hasn’t offered any updates. There is a match report on Talk Timbers and talk of a Mystery Man goal scorer so that is intriguing. (UPDATE: Recap in Spanish) There is also talk of about 3,000 showing up in Seattle, which hardly seems like a crowd worth the effort of making the trip to burn out the starters in an unnecessary game.

I won’t harp on this again until he plays 90 against Tigres
Explain this one to me. Chris Brown was in great form in the first half against Hollywood United in a match that actually had meaning. He was pulled at halftime, presumably to save his 30-something body from wear and tear. The Timbers went on to lose. Against Moreila in a game that didn’t count, he played the full 90 while there were players three deep on the Timbers’ bench. Brown also played a full match against Juventus Primavera and probably played the entire game against Moreila in Seattle too. I can understand giving Brown a little run against a good team, but the full 90? I don’t get it. What’s there to gain from playing an injury-prone player so much in game that means nothing? Your answer: not a damn thing.

Attendance records here we come
Last year the Timbers drew 95,592 fans to PGE Park for the 14 regular season matches and 27,091 for the 3 exhibitions (excluding the October match against Toronto) for a total of 112,683. Through 9 regular season matches this year the Timbers have drawn 62,433 and another 20,067 for the 2 exhibitions for a total of 82,500. With 6 more regular season matches and a friendly against Tigres they need to average 4,311 per game to top last year’s record-breaking attendance numbers. That will happen.

The past five league games
Portland: 1-2-2, 6GF, 8GA
Puerto Rico: 3-2-0, 6GF, 5GA

The Mutha of all Road Trips
Check out Puerto Rico’s July schedule. They play six games, all on the road. Your standard Miami to Montreal to Portland to Charleston to Carolina to Minnesota road trip. That is brutal.

Still in third
And yet another weekend passed with the Timbers holding on to the third spot in the USL First Division table. The Timbers have held the third spot since late May despite going goes 2-5-2 in that time span. Every team in the league except Miami FC has at least a game in hand, but that doesn’t seem to matter much this year. The league is extremely mediocre with the second place team and last place team separated by just 9 points. The Timbers have given me no indication to think that they are poised to to go on a late season run, but if there ever were a year to overcome an average start with a late run to the top it is this one, odds be damned.

Photo: Allison Andrews/Soccer City USA