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SBI MLS Season Preview: Portland Timbers

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By JOEY SAMUEL

The Portland Timbers are back for year two in Major League Soccer, and they are hoping a new star striker, along with another year of experience, can put them over the hump and into the playoffs.

Portland came close to making the playoffs in their debut season last year, finishing just four points shy of the tenth and final spot. They fared much better than fellow expansion team Vancouver, who finished last in the Western Conference. But Portland's sum of 40 goals on the year was only better than three other teams in the league.

They remedied that situation during the offseason by signing Scottish striker Kris Boyd to a Designated Player contract. The Timbers now hope that Boyd's goal-scoring pedigree from years of playing at a top level in Europe can give them the spark they need. That, combined with a defense that added a few pieces as well, could be enough to put the Timbers into the playoffs in their second year.

"I expected to make the playoffs last year," head coach John Spencer said. "You can't look back, not in this game. You can't look back over your shoulder, you've got to keep striding forward and hoping to improve."

Here is a closer look at the Portland Timbers ahead of the 2012 MLS season:

PORTLAND TIMBERS SEASON PREVIEW

2011 FINISH: 11-14-9, 42 points (sixth in Western Conference)

KEY ACQUISITIONS: F Kris Boyd, D Andrew Jean-Baptiste, D Hanyer Mosquera, M Charles Renken, M Franck Songo'o

KEY DEPARTURES: F Kenny Cooper, D Kevin Goldthwaite, M Peter Lowry, M Ryan Pore, F Spencer Thompson

Without question, the Portland Timbers' biggest problem throughout their inaugural MLS campaign was goal-scoring. Many of Portland's wins came with 1-0 scorelines, while their losses featured many more goals. They ended up scoring only 40 goals on the year (34 games played), and they allowed 48.

"There were a lot of question marks going into last year, as there always are with expansion teams," said captain Jack Jewsbury. "There weren't a whole lot of expectations; it's one of those things where if you can make a push towards the playoffs people are already happy with what you've done."

In year two, however, expectations will be much tougher for Portland, who can look to the Seattle Sounders and Philadelphia Union for examples as to where expansion teams can be after two seasons.

While the addition of Boyd would certainly seem as a step in the right direction to solve the goal-scoring issue, Portland also dealt away its leading goalscorer, Kenny Cooper, to the New York Red Bulls. Cooper scored eight goals throughout the season after returning from a two-year spell in Europe. But Portland felt he was surplus to requirements, and they shipped him away in exchange for a 2013 first-round SuperDraft pick and allocation money. Boyd will now fill his role.

"The guy's talent for scoring goals is undeniable," Spencer said of Boyd. "It's up to us to get him into the system. He will play in the penalty box, that's where he earns his money, that's where he scores his goals. With certain players we had last year, we had too many guys working in the wider areas. We had no goal threat through the middle and (Boyd) will certainly give us that goal threat."

So it remains to be seen how the addition of Boyd and the subtraction of Cooper will impact the Timbers' ability to score goals. Portland had also lined up the signing of another Designated Player, Jose Adolfo Valencia of Colombia. But he failed his physical, causing him to be placed on the disabled list.

His transfer fee and DP contract won't be on the books for 2012, but it's a huge loss for the Timbers. Valencia was a perfect example of the new "young DP" rule that MLS instituted for this year, but the son of former MetroStars striker Adolfo "El Tren" Valencia has been ruled out for six to 12 months.

Defense wasn't exactly a strong area for Portland either throughout the 2011 season. They gave up 48 goals on the year, more than any Western Conference team besides Vancouver. They responded during the offseason by drafting defender Andrew Jean-Baptiste of UConn with the eighth overall pick in this year's SuperDraft.

In addition, they signed Colombian defender Hanyer Mosquera, who Portland hopes can continue the strong pedigree of Colombian defenders in MLS like Jamison Olave, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, and Carlos Valdes.

Midfield, meanwhile, shouldn't be much of a problem for Portland. They have depth in numbers as players like Jack Jewsbury, Sal Zizzo, James Marcelin, Kalif Alhassan, Diego Chara, and Eric Alexander can be plugged in where Spencer needs them. Jewsbury will continue as the engine that keeps Portland going, and his set-piece abilities were the only reason that the Timbers didn't score even less goals throughout the year.

"This year, we've added some players, and now it's not a matter of staying around in the mix for the playoffs," said Jewsbury. "It's a matter of making the playoffs and making a push towards the title."

If Portland can avoid any more major injuries (they already started with Valencia), and Boyd can contribute to the point where he's in the running for the Golden Boot, then they will have a solid chance to make the playoffs. It won't be easy, especially with one more team entering the league. But they were only four points shy this year, and their additions may be enough to get them over the hump.

Comments

  1. Well he’s with an MLS team now instead of a Bundesliga youth team, so the mystery of how good he is will be solved soon enough.

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  2. It just lists guys who are no longer with the team, don’t take it so literally. This is like a repeat of “Must See Goal”…

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  3. whats the deal with Renken? i mean a few years ago this kid had a huge future ahead of him…now, nothing gets written about him. odd that a 19 yr old gets such back page treatment, unless of course those knee injuries have taken it out of him a bit. Anybody got the scoop?

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  4. I find the key losses in this article almost laughable:

    1. Kenny Cooper. Yes, I will accept this despite him under performing. If he breaks out in NY, we may rue the day.
    2. Kevin Golthwaite. Really? Sure we were forced to start him opening day due to injuries but the guy was a good part of the reason why our defense was awful last season when he did get spot minutes filling in for injury. Played a total of 190 minutes all year, looking out of his depth in most of it (albeit moments of good play) before career ending knee injury.
    3. Peter Lowry. Whaaaa? Same as Goldie … desperation time starter in first two games when we were injured like crazy. Unimpressive and after that rode the bench all year except for midseason sub against Columbus.
    4. Ryan Pore. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the scorer of the Sunflower Goal and the amazing USL player he was. Was out of his depth early season in MLS, loaned to USL Montreal who declined the option to keep him for their MLS team. Good luck to you Ryan, where ever you may end up. That said, and it made us all sad in Portland that it was true, but Ryan Pore wasn’t going to be a contributor to our MLS team.
    5. Spencer Thompson. You kidding me? Is this because you needed 5 names? Why not throw up Rodrigo Lopez’s name? Spencer never saw action beyond the reserve team and the USOC game we intentionally lost by playing the bottom 11.

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  5. Did he go hard? I didn’t notice.

    I agree with most of what he said and while there are things I still think our D needs to improve upon, it looked better in preseason than it did last season. Against MLS competition we gave up 3 preseason goals in 6 games (so 0.5 goals per game). I’d be ecstatic if we went all season giving up 17 goals (as would any MLS fan if their team could do this). It won’t happen. We were bad defensively at the start of last season and that came to bite us as the hot streak of 5 home wins faded into the summer slump. We had games won or drawn that we let one or two go in the waning moments for a draw or loss numerous times. Mosquera and Jean-Baptiste add depth in the center. The outside backs are still not great but the duo of Palmer and Chaballa are better than Rodney Wallace (who is more a midfielder) and Jeremy Hall (now gone), but there isn’t much to replace them should there be injuries.

    I doubt very much we give up 48 goals again this season with the changes and a year of experience. Are we good back there? No. But if we can keep the goals against under 40, I like our chances.

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  6. He’s back in Europe waiting for his visa, but he did have a slight MCL tweak, so wasn’t likely to play except for MAYBE sunday, even if he was here.

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  7. Is Songo’o hurt or working out immigration issues? He didn’t play the past few games. Which may be a factor in why he didn’t show up in articles, or might be under-estimated for the season.

    The one thing I’d say about Portland’s defense being suspect is that IMO a mediocre defense will sentence them to fighting for position through at least the summer. The most leaky playoff defense on GA was NYRB with 4 GA fewer than Portland. There are some teams like the Fire and DC who scored lots of goals (and allowed them too) and missed the playoffs. I think Portland needed work both sides of the ball but scoring a lot both directions is not necessarily a playoff qualification formula. Whereas I think a team with low 40s GF and GA like the Crew can still squeak in. Defense is arguably the bigger indicator of a postseason team.

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  8. I think Boyd, if he stays healthy, will be the impact signing on this squad. I think he gets comfortably into double digits. I haven’t seen any Portland pre-season games, so I have no idea whether this Mosquera fellow is the real deal. The rookie, unless he turns out to be an Omar Gonzalez-type star, doesn’t seem to me like an upgrade over the guys there currently. I agree with Jeremy – the defense still has question marks. But the offense looks good.

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  9. I was going to say – no mention of FRank Songo’o?

    My prediction? Songo’o is in top 5 assist leaders in MLS by season’s end. Still think the Timbers defense is suspect.

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  10. I see what you’re saying, but Rangers can, at times, be a pretty hihg-level team. And you don’t become SPL’s all-time leading scorer at age 26 by accident

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  11. We’re talking about a dude who had 31 goals in all competitions in Scotland as recently as 08/09. Who has made double digit appearances for the Scottish NT. Who just scored a goal 6 minutes into his preseason debut. I might worry he’d hurt a joint or muscle from inactivity but if fit and healthy I’d be leery of discounting this one, because a big physical poaching Scotsman with an actual history of production is probably not going to have the same transition issues that players used to softer-playing leagues struggle with.

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  12. “With certain players we had last year, we had too many guys working in the wider areas. We had no goal threat through the middle…”

    That has Kenny Cooper written all over it. I guess today is Coaches-take-a-pot-shot-at-former-players Day on SBI.

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