The Portland Timbers brought their three-game loosing streak to an end Sunday night at Jeld-Wen Field in a dramatic 3-3 draw with the New York Red Bulls. After an explosive second half that saw the Timbers rally from a 1-0 deficit to take the lead, New York forward Dwayne De Rosario scored the equalizer on a penalty kick in stoppage time.
From the Portland perspective, the match started inauspiciously. The Timbers came on looking energetic but sloppy and not especially determined. Head Coach John Spencer said after the game, "I thought the first half started a little bit tentative... we gave them a little bit too much respect." In the event, the Timbers paid for their lack of assertiveness by conceding a fifth minute goal to the Red Bulls on a pass from De Rosario to midfielder Austin Da Luz who easily knocked it in from the penalty spot.
The rest of the first half was largely uneventful with only five shots combined, and though the Red Bulls at times seemed to struggle with Jeld-Wen's often maligned field turf, they maintained their composure and looked every bit the MLS Eastern Conference leaders that they are. This despite the fact that they played without several key players who were away on CONCACAF Gold Cup duty, or, like forward Luke Rodgers, out with injuries. Timbers supporters may have been forgiven for indulging in a bit of pessimism as the half approached, though if members of the Timbers Army were inclined to do so, it was not apparent in the stadium-shaking volume of their chants and cheers.
At the half, Timbers defender David Horst, who injured his hip in a nasty collision with New York goalkeeper Greg Sutton in the 41st minute, was subbed out for Kevin Goldthwaite. Goldthwaite, a former Red Bull, appeared to provide a needed spark, and the explosive and fast-paced Timbers side that took the field in the second half played like an entirely different team.
Timbers team captain Jack Jewsbury inaugurated the madness in the 48th minute with a rocket slotted home inside the left post off of a headed rebound from about fifteen yards out. Less than two minutes later, a patented Jewsbury free kick combined with an Eric Brunner header to set up Goldthwaite, who tapped it in with the inside of his right foot from about six yards out, giving the Timbers the lead and inspiring the crowd to, as Coach Spencer would later say, "take the roof off the stadium."
It was the first time this season that the Timbers have come back to take the lead after trailing and was a welcome respite from their well-established habit of losing whenever they concede early points.
For their part, the Red Bulls fought back gamely but the Timbers continued to look the dominant side and repeatedly beat New York to the ball and down both wings, though at times their passing looked sloppy and seemingly on the edge of control.
Timbers forward Jorge Perlazza once again distinguished himself by repeatedly beating the opposing defenders down the field with his superior speed and relentless pace. As has been the case against many other teams, the Red Bulls defenders grew frustrated in their inability to corral Perlazza and in the 68th minute, as the Colombian beat him into the box once again, New York defender Stephen Keel scored an own goal in a sliding attempt at blocking a short pass intended for Timbers forward Kenny Cooper. Keel played two seasons for the Timbers in their USL incarnation, and the Timbers Army, always keen for such opportunities, rubbed it in by briefly chanting "Stephen Keel is one of us" at the top of their lungs.
However, as dominant as the Timbers looked, the Red Bulls are still one of the best offensive sides in all of MLS and regardless of his theoretical status as an elderly has-been, in forward Thierry Henry, they have one of the world's most accomplished players. In the 73rd minute Henry found the back of the net in a series of hard-to-follow events that touched off a brief melee between the sides. The goal was Henry's eighth of the season and, perhaps tellingly, ties him with Landon Donovan of the L.A. Galaxy for the most in MLS.
The latter part of the second half also saw a collection of yellow cards issued on either side as tensions mounted and tired refs became increasingly irritable. The Timbers continued to press effectively, but their one good shot, knocked home by Cooper in the 81st minute, was called back on grounds that he was offside, which he clearly was.
By the 90th minute, both sides were looking haggard after a long and hard-fought match. When Referee Ricardo Salazar called four plus minutes of stoppage play, every knowledgeable Timbers supporter in the house took a deep breath and buckled down for some very tense minutes, knowing as they must have, that their young expansion team is notorious for breaking down and conceding goals in the final minutes.
In the event, matters developed more confusingly than anyone could have anticipated. In yet another weird turn of MLS officiating, Timbers midfielder Adam Moffat, who'd been subbed in for Jeremy Hall in the 86th minute, received a yellow card for evidently shoving Henry, who in turn, received a red card and was sent off the field, though the two men seemed not to feel any animosity towards one another.
These oddities were immediately followed by De Rosario's successful penalty kick off of an inadvertent Rodney Wallace handball. The upshot was that the Timbers, perhaps in keeping with their status as an expansion side, went away with one point rather than the three that a more mature and well-composed side might have expected.
Other Notes, General Observations and Complaints:
It would be easy to be down on the Timbers for this loss. Here they were up two points and completely dominating the run of play as they entered the latter part of the second half, yet they still managed to concede two goals and snatch a tie out of the proverbial jaws of victory.
I would be deeply disappointed but for a few relevant points that bear mentioning here.
The first is that the New York Red Bulls are no joke. Even without a few of their best players (I'm looking at you, Juan Agudelo and Luke Rodgers, though there are others as well), they are easily one of the top sides in all of MLS. You may say that vying with Philly for the top of the MLS Eastern Conference is hardly grounds for bragging rights, and you'd be largely correct inasmuch as the Eastern Conference is much shallower than the relatively stacked Western Conference, but the fact remains that New York consistently fields what is probably the top one or two offensive sides in the league. Now granted, the Timbers had the advantage of playing at home, but the fact that they were able to so thoroughly dominate the Red Bulls in the second half tells us that when it comes to offense, the Timbers are for real. John Spencer is an aggressive fellow and his brand of soccer, although not loved by all, reflects that aspect of his personality in that the Timbers are primarily an attacking offensive side that favors --perhaps to a fault-- a good offense as being the best defense.
The second point is that for the first time, the Timbers, far from collapsing after conceding an early goal, to the contrary, got their shit together and whupped some serious ass after having played a pretty sorry first half. What that tells us is that they've developed the capacity and depth and strength of character, as a team, to bounce back from adversity. This is important inasmuch as it reflects a kind of development and depth that they haven't shown in the past. As Spencer said at the post-game presser, "from the 46th minute to the 90th minute, we ran them ragged. We outplayed them, we outran them, we were better than them in every department... In the second half I thought we were magnificent. We played the best team in the Eastern Conference off the field."
The third point to make is that the Portland supporters continue to set a new standard for MLS. The Timbers Army really is the biggest and best supporters group in Anglo North America and they really do make a difference and even teams like the New York Red Bulls freely admit that playing at Jeld-Wen is like nothing else in the league. While it would be great if the Timbers turn into a dominant side (and I believe that they will do so within the next season or two), so long as we have the best supporters culture in North America, win lose or draw, we, as Portlanders, win.
Final point: Unless I missed something egregious, Thierry Henry's red card is crap, and I say that as an Irish-American who will always hate the man for the infamous hand-ball he committed while playing for France against Ireland in the 2009 World Cup qualifier.
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