Timbers defender Scot Thompson will be providing a player notebook throughout the course of the season. Stay tuned for future entries.
So the walking wounded have returned home ... seems like we had to battle against the whole USL this road trip, including the refs. I've never had to make so many runs back on defense because of missed offsides or blatant miss calls. It's funny because we would dominate for patches, make a mistake and then get scored on and the goals came in buckets. Of course every player on the squad is playing with some type of injury, which didn't make matters any better.
The Charleston games were almost identical, in every sense of the word. We stomped on that squad the first twenty minutes of both games. I mean, running circles around their players. Unfortunately, in the first game, once they scored, it completely broke our momentum. In the second game however, their goal was a complete fluke, they took a shot from about 30 yds out in the middle of the park that went straight through my legs, screening Bayard in goal and found the right side of the net. All I could do was laugh at the goal, cause it was the only shot, only chance in our half and they scored.
Once again, in the second half we game out firing and scored quickly, giving ourselves the lead, but somehow, whether it be the ridiculous humidity or just an overall sense of relaxation, we took our foot off the pedal and allowed them to come back into the game.
It's funny how in both of those games, the first half was amazingly easy for me personally, and the second half I'm drenched in sweat, shorts falling off from the weight, finding myself running sprints all over the field trying to stop breakaways. But it wasn't like we played poorly either, you look at our squad and our ability to hold the ball and overall team speed and it's almost shocking how we don't stop that one breakaway or finish that one chance in the box.
And then of course the Atlanta game; tired, dehydrated, depleted and exhausted from traveling, we maybe had three or four clear chances to give ourselves the result we needed. Otherwise, one handball in the box where their forward basically cradled the ball down to the ground, turned and scored, and of course the three offsides goals which definitely left me in awe made up the box score for this abysmal match.
Finally, I regret to say it but I won't be playing in the USL First Division All-Star game. The reasons for me not participating are primarily for health reasons. I've been playing injured for the past month or so with a big toe I can barely bend, tendinitis on my ACL knee, and now a bruised quad from the 2nd Charleston game. All in all, my body wasn't having it and I want to represent Portland when I am at my best, no matter what an opportunity this might be.
BUT...nothing can turn a season around like a stomping on Seattle. A couple days rest, some good training this week, and we'll start another eight-game unbeaten streak with Seattle tasting our revenge.
