Portland Timbers and Austin Aztex bluster to a draw.

The Portland Timbers ended up with a point last night at PGE Park in a tense match against the Aztex in a game that left folks in my section of the stands shaking their heads.   The Oregonian's match recap and the Timbers' own press release pointed to the strong play of several members of the team and the Timbers' dominance of the shot totals as evidence of the 'we was unlucky' flavor of the match.  Along with taking more shots,  our side defended well enough that Steve Cronin wasn't forced to make a single save in the match.   And thus the tie, on Bright Dike's crackerjack early shot,  seemed a decent outcome agains the team with the hottest offense in the league.


I'll give them all that.  And throw in that Mamadou Danso had an excellent game,  playing forward with skill and poise to set up the attack on a couple of occasions and saving a shot off the line that would have given Austin a go-ahead goal in the 63rd minute.  But that came just seven minutes after the Timbers gained a man advantage as Austin's Bernard was sent off after clipping an attacking Timber.   And looking at the Timber stats,  the team only outshot Austin by 4-2 in that half despite having the man advantage for over thirty minutes.  


What had people looking through their fingers with a certain anxiety was this.  When Austin went a man short,  their other ten players ramped up their game.  Austin controlled the ball for more minutes,  passed accurately,  and snookered attacks into the Portland box that had to be cleared, albeit by good defending rather than Cronin's goalkeeping.   And when Portland did have the ball?  The Timbers attack, with a man advantage,  seemed hurried and anxious when they had the option of using the free player to establish control over the game.  Poorly placed passes that ended up on the feet of Austin players and booming long balls were frequent.  It was a disappointing strategy.   And man to man,  Austin's players seemed a half step quicker, or at least more aggressive,  which kept them in the game.   And could have won it for them. 


As the clock ticked,  Austin indeed engaged in time-wasting tactics.  Shorthanded in an away game,  a tie would be a decent result for them.  But most significantly, Portland wasn't taking full advantage of the time it had. You can't score if you don't have the ball.  And our crew didn't have the ball as much as they should have considering the circumstances.   The newspaper quoted players as saying the game was "disappointing".   Yup.