By Niall McCusker

After an underwhelming home loss to play-off bound New York Red Bulls the Timbers went out and won quite convincingly on the road at another high flying Eastern Conference team. This week to week inconsistency is how many of the teams in the West are playing at the moment, which could make for some very interesting play-off results. Right now it is about getting there and the three points at Columbus were huge for Portland’s chances.

The visitors looked sharp from the start, earning a series of corners, but the home side got some joy down the wings and swung some dangerous crosses in the direction of the league’s top scorer Kei Kamara. It was just after Kamara had sent a header over the bar from one of these that Portland took a deserved lead, capitalizing on an Adi/Nagbe connection that had looked good from the start.

It was a rare chance for the Timbers to test out how they could manage a lead, but that didn’t last long as Kamara stole between Ridgewell and Wallace to expertly place a header just inside the bottom of the near post from a corner. Unlucky to not be ahead at the break, Portland started the second half looking like they wanted to recover the lead and soon did just that with Adi’s second goal. It was the type of pacey counter-attack that has been talked about by Portland all season – but rarely executed with such quality.

This time Portland did a solid job of controlling the game when ahead. They had periods of possession when they worked the home team and also used the counter effectively, but did not force it. They even milked the clock well in injury time showing some ruthlessness at the business end of the season.

Here are the individual ratings:

Adam Larsen Kwarasey 6: He didn’t have too many saves to make and it is hard to fault him much for the goal, he was probably expecting a flick-on from Kamara at the near post, who really did sneak that header in nicely.

Alvas Powell 5.5: Columbus’ two best chances (Kamara’s first half header and the disallowed goal in the second half) came from crosses from his wing. He can afford to get much closer to the crossers as he has the pace to recover if they try to go past him. He owes lineslady Kathryn Nesbitt on this one for spotting a slight deflection off Kamara’s thigh that put Finley offside.

That said, the start of the second half provided a good example of why he tucks in tight to his center backs, he cut out a nice through ball to Kamara that had evaded his less speedy colleagues.

Nat Borchers 6: He stuck tight to Kamara and limited his chances from open play quite well. A quiet, solid game from ‘an fear rua mor’.

Liam Ridgewell 5.5: On the Columbus goal one could talk about how the hybrid man-marking/zone system breaks down when the opponent targets the transitional areas. They did that quite nicely, runners to the near post essentially used the man already in that zone (Wallace) to screen their man markers (Ridgewell), so they had a running jump against a static defender. Meram shook Powell with a similar move in the second half to head just wide.

One could also credit Higuain for a nice delivery and Kamara for a great header. But one could also definitely fault a DP defender for not following his man, even into Wallace’s zone and challenging for the ball, even if has to go through his own player to do it.

The Englishman also had an off day on his long distribution in a game where Adi looked like winning most balls aimed at him, but he did take up some good positions to cut out crosses.

Jorge Villafana 6: The right back chose to close down very high up the field in the second minute leaving a huge gap for Finlay to exploit when Columbus broke the press. But after that he and his old wing partner Wallace shut down that avenue of attack quite well.

It was interesting to see him back taking the right side corners, so all Portland’s deliveries where in-swingers, even though Valeri had been taking great corners from both sides in recent games.

Jack Jewsbury 6.5: Higuain played very deep and the home side mainly attacked down the wings so a less disciplined operator could have been lured out of position. But Jewsbury sat in front of the back four all game, blocking any passing moves and covering on occasion for Powell when he ventured forward. The only time he and Chara were exposed was by a late Higuain run to the near post for a shot in the 35th minute. He also intercepted an errant Columbus pass to start the move that led to the opening goal.

Diego Chara 7: The Colombian played his part in sending the Columbusites home disappointed. “There can be only one demonym based on an historical figure of questionable morality” he cried as he put the Ohioans to the sword.

The wee man gets forward more when paired with Jewsbury, he started the counter for Portland’s second goal and should have got on the score-sheet himself late on. He still did his usual tracking runs, the best stopping a Kamara counter just before half-time.

Darlington Nagbe 8.5: Portland should play this guy every week, not that other Nagbe who sits deep and rarely get into his opponent’s penalty area. He needed to go with the velcro stripper shorts, if Will Trap had been left holding them as Nagbe advanced on goal, perhaps even Silviu Petrescu would have considered giving a penalty. Being in the penalty box with the ball is a key component in getting decisions though – so maybe Portland could consider doing more of that.

Adi and Nagbe had a series of nice interchanges even before their goal, the flicked assist by the latter was a thing of beauty and shows why he should spend more time in advanced positions. All too often instead of the ‘give-and-go’ Nagbe uses the ‘give-and-stay’ where he passes the ball but doesn’t make the run for the return – not in this game. For the next few weeks he should be attached to Adi by a 20 foot bungee cord in training so that this new found partnership can further develop.

Though that would have prevented him from making the excellent late tracking run into his own box to dispossess Cedric – 5 minutes to go while holding a lead is the time to play deep.

Diego Valeri (off in 87′) 7.5: It is a rare day when Valeri will get the lowest rating of the three attacking midfielders – that is not to say he played badly, he was very good, but finally the others stepped up to the mark in a game. The Argentine unleashed a couple of nice long range efforts in the first half, but Clark was equal to them in goal. In the second half Valeri measured a nice ball through to Wallace who provided the assist on the second goal. He also ran onto a Kwarasey clearance past a static defense and was denied a chance on goal in questionable fashion by Clark coming outside his penalty box.

His countryman Higuain played so deep in the ‘regista’ role that Valeri ended up marking him at times, which was a little weird.

Rodney Wallace (off in 81′) 8: A very solid eighty minutes from the Costa Rican – perhaps his best outing of the season. A turn and quick shot on fifteen minutes was more like the Wallace that chips in with five goals a season that the current more subdued version. He also won several good headers alongside Adi, like the one he teed up for Valeri to shoot.

He did get out-jumped by Kamara, who stole in unmolested on his blind side for their goal, but should have been offered more support by Ridgewell. Villafana will have been glad of his help in defending the left wing and his run for the assist on the second goal was excellent.

Fanendo Adi (off in 75′) 8.5: The Nigerian had 25 minutes to try to complete Portland’s first MLS hat-trick before being subbed out, but had to be content with another brace. He continued the excellent target play shown in his previous few starts and this time added some goals. The keeper was ‘megged with his left for the first and he applied a nice, instinctive finish with the outside of the right for his second – if only his headed attempts were as ruthless.

Substitutes:

Lucas Melano (on in 75′) 5.5: A good substitute to make Portland’s counters even more dangerous for the last 15 minutes. He did well to set-up Chara for a shot, but should have done better a few minutes later when the roles were reversed.

Dairon Asprilla (on in 81′) 5: He didn’t get into the attack as much as he had in recent appearances from the bench – then again Portland didn’t need a goal this time.

George Fochive (on in 87′): He came in for a tiring Valeri, but did not go back and sit deep – instead he took Valeri’s position and closed down Columbus very quickly in their own half. This was very astute from the Portland bench as it prevented Higuain from picking pin-point passes to initiate late attacks. Fochive did take it to an extreme though and was lucky to see only yellow for his knee high lunge on the Argentine.

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