Tonight the Portland Timbers rallied at University of Portland's Merlo Field to attempt recovery from the ignominious first playoff game last week in Vancouver BC in which the Whitecaps, once again, rubbed mud in our team's face. Portland, according to reports, gave up two early goals and looked staggered for the rest of the game, mounting almost no credible response. Tonight was different. The Timbers came to play and finished the match with a 1-0 win which was not enough to erase game one's impact but at least restored some of their dignity. The sad reality, though, was that Vancouver had to do next to nothing except stop Portland's attack which they did, through means fair and foul.
The best part of this evening, however, was watching young Al Hasani, our Ghanaian acquisition of a month ago, on the field. The kid is fast, very skilled with his feet, smart, disciplined and hard-working. If our new Technico, Gavin Wilkinson, can recruit this kind of talent from the less heralded (and expensive) arenas of the game, Timbers MLS could knock the socks off the league. When I first heard about this acquisition, I thought the youngster would not show until next year. My mistake. He was the most dynamic player on the field and that in itself was exciting.
So we're folding up the scarves in our household. Ready to look forward and not mourn this season's good and grim moments. Ever optimistic, I'm with Stephen Gerrard on this subject. "It doesn't matter who scores the goals as long as we win."
Rose City 'til I die.
