By Niall McCusker

Holding a 3-1 first leg lead the Timbers could go into this game with a tactical approach based on the old English hooligan terrace mantra:

‘Come and have go if you think you’re hard enough’

Dallas didn’t think they were quite hard enough, you didn’t have to be the touch line reporter to hear ‘tranquillo’ being shouted early and often from the Dallas bench. Certainly a calm approach is a good idea, you do not want to let Portland get an early goal to essentially kill the tie. But you also can’t let the visitors build their confidence and get too comfortable, which is what Dallas did.

The Texans were just a little too cautious and, credit to Portland, a little too respectful of the visitors ability to counter-attack. Then there was the question of what Portland offered them, the answer to that – not much.

Nagbe tracked Castillo back to the end line and hit him with a sliding tackle (one of the few seen from him in 5 seasons) in the second minute to set the tone. Then there were two fouls by Valeri in the first 4 minutes on Castillo and Diaz. Even Portland’s skillful attacking players were here to put the work in and complete the job.

Nominally in a more attacking set-up, having reverted to one holding midfielder, Portland actually again played a tight 4-4-1-1 when Dallas had the ball with Valeri often also dropping deep to defend. Home danger-man Castillo was double and even triple-teamed when he probed the left- wing.

But Portland also presented just enough attacking intent to keep the Texans on their guard. A couple of early breaks from Adi needed sharp defense and Asprilla got behind Hollingshead to the get th game’s first shot on target after 14 minutes.

So with no early Dallas onslaught, they needed two goals after halftime. Their plan was likely to keep probing but not really throw caution to the wind until about 20-30 minutes left in the game. Fanendo Adi was not on board with that idea, smashing home a crucial goal for the visitors in the 55th minute to give them a 4-1 aggregate lead.

Dallas immediately brought on Akindele for Ulloa and finally threw some numbers forward. It didn’t change the game right away but eventually with Barrios coming central with Akindele and later Perez, Dallas occupied Portland in front of their box allowing Diaz to at last find some room deep.

Two goals in five minutes brought them right back into the game.

But Portland did not panic and Valeri orchestrated a succession of excellent counter-attacking chances that his colleagues had the effrontery to miss. Deep in injury time Dallas somehow managed to have 5 attackers against Portland’s 4 defenders in the box. Paparatto blocked Perez’s first effort but it fell to him again only for Borchers to come up with an even better block.

Finally Melano finished one of Valeri’s passes to clinch the Western Conference for the visitors.

Here are the individual ratings:

Firstly it a funny game to rate since you are essentially gauging a second half performance from a team that has done the attacking work needed in the first. So players who would normally get chastised (at least by me) for sitting too deep (looking at Mr Nagbe) instead get praise for smart play.

Adam Larsen Kwarasey 7: The keeper had nothing to do for the first 20 minutes, but then made a superb reaction save from Texeira’s header. Despite being quite close to him it was a harder save than it looked to get his hand down to it.

Diaz served notice of his intent to drop free-kicks right in at the edge of the six yard box in the 50th minute, Kwarasey didn’t come for that one and also stayed out of the mix on the later set-piece that Perez headed in. Neither would have been an easy ball to claim, but Kwarasey is too pretty for a keeper, he needs some battle scars anyway.

Alvas Powell 7: He got beaten a number of times by Castillo, but the measure of success against the Colombian this season is merely not to get completely ripped apart. That didn’t happen and while Powell played his part he should thank his midfielders for the help and cover he received for most of the game.

There was no need for him to venture forward too much, but he did manage to get in a few good crosses and found Adi at the near post several times where the big man now likes to ‘post-up’ for him (OK so I don’t know what that means but people tell me that’s a basketball thing he does?). Not a bad idea from the Timbers to give Powell a clear option to take at the end of his attacking forays.

Nat Borchers 8: He rightly stole the headlines with his amazing block on Perez at the end, but mostly just had a quietly effective game organizing behind the more proactive Paparatto. In the first half he was alert to slide across on the occasions when Castillo got past Powell.

Norberto Paparatto 8.5: Should he have been closer to Texeira on his first-half header? Yes, he probably should. But other than that a tremendous game from the big Argentine. Dominant in the air as usual he also gave a clinic in sweeper play behind Villafana on the left side. The full-back was free to play a bit higher and get stuck into the tackle knowing that if the ball was played behind or bounced loose his central defender had his back. He also stepped out from his defensive line to make numerous interceptions. Sometimes his proactive tendencies can cross over into recklessness – but not in this game. If you like your center-halves to be ‘doers’ and not ‘pointers’ this guy is one you like. Ridgewell will likely come back for the final and Paparatto might be tempted to seek first team football elsewhere next season – but this game is another demonstration of why the Timbers should try hard to keep him.

I am not a big fans of statistics as a sole performance metric, but in addition to passing the ‘eye test’ Paparatto created this pretty map. (orange = recoveries, purple = clearances and blue = interceptions)

Jorge Villafana 7.5: Another solid game from prostamerika’s recently crowned Cascadian player of the year . Barrios does not get the plaudits Castillo does but is still a very dangerous player, Villafana got in some great tackles and blocks and once again prevented him from causing much trouble.

He was the closest player to Perez when he headed in the free-kick but I think he was supposed to be marking Akindele – whomever was tasked with Perez on that set-piece remains a mystery.

Diego Chara 8: A great outlet ball to Adi to unleash him on Portland’s first counter-attack after 6 minutes. Other than that he didn’t do much going forward, which is fair enough since he was helping out on both wings and also sharing the load in keeping Mauro Diaz in check as much as is possible.

He did a lot of tidying up in his own half but will have appreciated the sterling efforts of Valeri and Nagbe beside him. This was far from a formation were Chara was asked to all the defending in midfield.

He did give up the foul Dallas scored the free-kick from, carelessly handing-off Barrios a little too high after he had already won the ball. Amazingly that was his only foul of the game, he left the fouling to renowned hardman Diego Valeri who booted his way to five!

Dairon Asprilla (off in 69′) 6.5: He had another good battle with the talented Dallas left-back Hollingshead, but this time it was the defender who got the goal. Asprilla generally works hard on defense but should have been more alive to his run behind him.

He got in a few good crosses and played his part in the first goal slipping the ball to Valeri on the right side. Given that Valeri and Nagbe were playing quite deep both wingers could have done more to hold possession at times for Portland.

Darlington Nagbe 8.5: Mauro Diaz fully expected a Portland player to stick tight to him and get physical; harassing, tackling and otherwise spoiling his day at every opportunity. But he probably didn’t expect that player to be Nagbe.

That sliding tackle on Castillo at the start set the tone for his game. Diaz was stripped several times in the first half and one other highlight was a tackle on Barrios at the edge of his own box followed by a surging run into the attacking half to release Wallace. At the start of the second half Diaz had a yard head-start on a Dallas break, but Nagbe cut that down in few steps and muscled him off the ball. That was followed with a blocked clearance to start the sequence for Portland’s first goal. Portland had stepped up to play higher for a while and had a sustained period of pressure instead of the end to end and more scrappy fare of the first half.

Diaz continued to be foiled, with another sliding tackle from Nagbe in the 56th minute and a dispossession in the 64th. As Diaz started to get more room later in the half, Nagbe was the closest player to him as he delivered the ball for the first goal, he could have got tighter a little bit quicker, but overall a majestic defensive performance.

After Jewsbury came in Nagbe had license to go slightly higher and he linked well with Valeri at times but also lost a few balls as he seemed to tire slightly.

Diego Valeri 8.5: I think Valeri wanted to get to the MLS final. A crunching tackle on Castillo in the 2nd minute could have earned him an early yellow, especially when followed by a trip on Diaz two minutes later and then whacking Acosta in the air in the 8th minute. Fun times for Portland’s new enforcer.

He had a few nice lay-offs as he and Nagbe started to calm the game down when they could. But when Ulloa broke with a late run to the end-line right before half time Valeri was right there with a sliding block. When your shiny offensive toys are getting their shorts dirty on a wet day you have a fully committed team.

They say you have to earn the right to play your game. Having done that in the first half Valeri got himself an assist at the start of the second and when Dallas chased the third goal in the final 15 minutes he really got the chance to showcase his offense. Urruti, Wallace and Nagbe were all released with well timed through-balls but none had the good manners to give Valeri his second assist. Melano in injury time eventually obliged him.

Rodney Wallace (off in 93′) 7: The left winger was lively early on in Portland’s attacks, but could have done more to help them maintain possession in midfield. He continued to put work in all game but needed to play it a bit smarter at times, his blocked shot with 3 minutes to go came just when Portland did not need to give Dallas chances to counter.

Fanendo Adi (off in 85′) 8: The Nigerian started the game strongly, heading a Dallas corner out of his box and then sprinting the length of the field to join in a 4 on 3 counter, he was a little greedy in taking the shot at the end with open men around him. Another good run in the 6th minute onto a Chara ball had the visiting fans screaming for a penalty, but it was a great tackle by Acosta.

With Portland’s midfield sitting a bit deeper, at times he was isolated more than in recent games, but toward halftime he starting getting more ball to lay-off and created a shooting chance for Wallace. He had a couple of great flicks to Asprilla in Portland’s little purple patch at the start of the second half. Adi then lashed the ball into the net after shoving his marker to the ground – it would seem his integration into MLS is complete.

He continued to have a good game until it was rudely interrupted by an Acosta tackle that was probably worth more than a yellow card. His health will be vital if the Timbers are to complete their run in Columbus on Sunday.

Substitutes:

Jack Jewsbury (on in 69′) 6.5: As soon as Dallas scored their first goal Porter turned to the bench and said “Jack”.

They scored another soon after he came in but the ship was soon steadied and Jewsbury’s veteran presence along with Borchers, Paparatto and Valeri did not allow any panic to spread among the ranks.

Maxi Urruti (on in 85′): As soon as Adi could not continue Porter turned to the bench and said “F$%K!”.

Presumably he then said Maxi. Urruti was not on long enough for a rating but he did get two great chances, courtesy of Valeri, to add to his play-off goals tally. Sadly for him he was denied by a great Barrios tackle and then by his own heavy touch.

Lucas Melano (on in 93′): Much maligned (including here) for his finishing woes he finally demonstrated his killer instinct: exchanging passes with Valeri, bursting effortlessly past a defender and inviting Gonzales to take a seat with a nice dummy before flicking home from an acute angle. If he manages the same next week the Timbers faithful will forget he missed a single chance in the regular season.