Not a bad weekend for the Timbers

By: Bob Kellett | August 31st, 2008

The Portland Timbers began the Labor Day weekend in eighth place in the USL First Division table. They are now tied for ninth place. Nevertheless it was a pretty darned good weekend for the idle Timbers.

Atlanta, a team that is stalled on 32 points, lost its fifth straight game, falling at home to Rochester 1-0. The Silverbacks haven’t won in eight games and finish with road games against Seattle, Puerto Rico and Miami. Atlanta has won just once in 12 road games.

Montreal defeated last place Carolina. It was the Impact’s third straight win since losing to Portland on August 16. Montreal has won five of its past six and is arguably the hottest team in the league. They’re a lock for the playoffs.

Meanwhile, Carolina has four games left, three of them at home where they are .500 on the season. The final game is against the Timbers. That final game could have a lot of meaning for both sides.

The most interesting result came in Miami where the Thunder and Blues played a pair of games. Visiting Minnesota, a team that had won just one time in 11 road games entering the weekend came away with a win and a draw against Miami. I honestly thought the Thunder were going into the tank, but this weekend leaves them very much in the hunt. The Thunder don’t have an easy road ahead, however. They play a pair of road games next weekend in Montreal and Vancouver (who scheduled that trip?) before finishing the season at home against Charleston and Montreal.

Miami suffered the biggest blow, giving up major points at home. They play in Portland on Thursday and Seattle on Saturday before heading home to face Rochester and Atlanta. If they don’t get road results in the Pacific Northwest those final two home games will probably be irrelevant.

I still see the Timbers making the playoffs as a long shot. The team probably needs three wins in its last five games to get in. That’s asking a lot from a club that has won just six times in 25 games. Still, this league is ridiculous this season and this weekend did nothing to hurt Portland’s chances. The Timbers do have the most games left of all the contenders. There are five teams fighting for one spot. You could make a case for any one of those teams to make or miss the playoffs.

The game against Miami on Thursday is massive (in the sense that getting the 7th spot in an 11-team league where all the teams are still alive after 25 games is massive).

Remaining games

Atlanta (32 points)
at Seattle
at Puerto Rico
at Miami

The Timbers were 1-0-2 against Atlanta and hold the tiebreaker advantage.

Carolina (27 points)
Charleston
Rochester
at Charleston
Portland

The Timbers are 0-1-1 against Carolina and don’t hold the tiebreaker advantage at the moment.

Miami (28 points)
at Portland
at Seattle
Rochester
Atlanta

The Timbers are 0-1-1 against Miami and don’t hold the tiebreaker advantage at the moment.

Minnesota (31 points)
at Montreal
at Vancouver
Charleston
Montreal

The Timbers were 1-0-2 against Minnesota and hold the tiebreaker advantage

Portland (28 points)
Miami
at Rochester
at Montreal
Charleston
at Carolina