Three games in seven days bring challenges that transcend a normal week’s preparation. Balance becomes a major theme, as does flexibility. As results pile up and obstacles start to surface, you have to adjust to what the soccer delivers to you.
Part of what’s been delivered to the Portland Timbers ahead of this Saturday's visit from the Montréal Impact (8pm PT, FOX 12 PLUS) are expectations – a type of good news, bad news scenario for Giovanni Savarese and his charges.
Good news: Timbers fandom totally believes that the swoon that marked the season’s start is in the distant past. You are a good team, your results have shown. Portland soccer has begun to believe in you.
The bad news? That belief means you have to win games like Montréal at home.
No matter the Impact’s past success in Portland (1-0-1), no matter the potency of one of the league’s most exciting talents, certain games come with certain expectations. For the same reason an educated fanbase can contextualize draws in Atlanta and Los Angeles, so too do they expect three points against Montreal.
How does that happen? What are the challenges? Welcome, friends, to this weekend’s KeyBank Scouting Report:
1. The minutes racking up
Since last Saturday, the Timbers have flown to Los Angeles, played a hot-weather game, spent five days out of their own beds around a second road game, all before flying home to prepare for a short-rest game on Saturday, with one training session to do so.
They’re not the only ones dealing with obstacles. Montréal will have them, too. They played Vancouver in cup competition on Wednesday, four days after hosting the San Jose Earthquakes. The Impact may not have had to balance travel and life away from home, but they have their own workloads to monitor for their coming game at Providence Park.
The Timbers rolled over six starters from Sunday’s MLS game into Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup engagement. Two (Sebastián Blanco and Zarek Valentin) were pulled before reaching the full 90, while one (Jeff Attinella) was in goal. Another is ineligible for play on Saturday (Diego Chara, suspended for yellow-card accumulation), while Andy Polo was the first player substituted in the weekend game against LAFC.
Only Julio Cascante, among Portland’s field players, went the full 180 minutes during the games in LA, but with Liam Ridgewell’s return looming, that may have been the plan. Regardless, with two games on short rest within the same week, Portland’s staff will have to make sure players like Blanco, Polo and Valentin – players who didn’t play 180 minutes, but may have expended a similar amount of energy – are in the right place come Saturday’s kickoff.
2. Keeping tabs on Nacho
This is where the loss of Chara may really hurt, but only if he was likely to play in his defensive midfielder’s role. As we’ve seen throughout the last month, Chara has often been pushed into a box-to-box position, leaving the sitter’s place in midfield for Lawrence Olum. It seems likely the Kenyan utility man will get the call in Chara’s absence, but when assessing the effect of that loss, we should remember: It’s unclear where, exactly, Chara was likely to line up.
With that out of the way, let’s look at Montréal; or, more specifically, let’s look at how the Impact are going to beat you. For years, that’s come down to Ignacio Piatti, and that’s no different now. The Argentine attacker has 10 goals in 19 appearances this season. No other Montréal player has more than four.
Given Piatti has assisted on eight of the 16 goals he hasn’t scored, he is likely to be crucial to whatever other threats Montréal can muster, meaning containing him could be a make-or-break endeavor. If Piatti has a bad day, the Impact are likely to follow; if he breaks through, Portland will be left trying to keep up.
Were Chara playing, you could rely on his speed and intelligence to keep tabs on the Impact’s greatest threat, particularly since so much of Piatti’s potential comes in transition. Without Chara, though, Portland’s scheme could prove more important. What risks are you willing to take with your attacking shape? What resources are you devoting to tracking Piatti? How much freedom can you really afford to give Olum, Larrys Mabiala, and the rest of your rearguard?
3. Don’t expect any gifts
We mentioned this in Know Your Opponent, but given how important it will be, it’s worth diving into a little bit more: While the Impact started their 2018 campaign 3-10-0, giving up 29 goals along the way, their last nine games in all competitions have produced six wins, seven clean sheets, and a rise to sixth in the Eastern Conference.
The Impact have only won twice in 11 tries way from Stade Saputo this year, so perhaps they’re a different team away from home, but separating the Jekyll from this Hyde will be puncturing that defense. With nine goals in their last six games, Portland’s attack is starting to sniff its potential, but having been a modest goal-producing team all season, there’s a danger the Timbers might not have the firepower to break through a stiffening Montréal.
In truth, we don’t really have a good idea, yet, of how much firepower the Timbers have. Samuel Armenteros has just assumed a starting role. Diego Valeri’s and Blanco’s tasks continue to evolve. Polo may yet have more to contribute, going forward, and as the team tries to expand its attacking approach, players like Cristhian Paredes may find themselves on the scoresheet more often.
If they find themselves there on Saturday, though, it is unlikely to be because of the Impact’s kindness. Even if we don’t know, for sure, what Portland’s firepower will eventually entail, some of that firepower will have to come through against Montréal.
