With Portland set to travel north to Canada for Sunday's MLS Decision Day presented by AT&T battle with Vancouver Whitecaps FC (1:30pm PT, ROOT SPORTS), some of the names have changed since the Timbers last saw them. The most obvious one is Carl Robinson, the former Vancouver head coach whose six-year tenure in charge of the team ended last month. Still on the edge of a playoff chase, Vancouver decided to change course.
On the field, though, the most important names have stayed the same, and when you’re preparing for the Whitecaps, that means your attention gets drawn to three people. No matter the plan, no matter how well you’re playing on a given day, the pure power of Alphonso Davies, Kei Kamara and Kendall Waston can be your downfall.
Kamara still a beast up top
The Timbers found this out the hard way on Aug. 11, falling 2-1 at home to Vancouver in a game that ended Portland’s 15-match unbeaten run. Against a team who, because of their style and defensive personnel, are more capable than many of protecting a lead, Kamara bested Larrys Mabiala in an early, aerial duel, heading into an empty goal from just inside the Timbers’ penalty area.
It was the perfect snapshot of 2018 Kei Kamara, somebody who has amassed 112 regular-season goals throughout his 12-year Major League Soccer career. Perhaps Kamara isn’t the same player who Peter Vermes could start at left wing and, for Sporting Kansas City from 2011-2013, count on to abuse a league’s worth of right backs, but a post-prime version of the Sierra Leone international (now 34 years old) is not that far off. In any moment, on any ball, Kamara can be as difficult a matchup as any striker in MLS.
His 14 goals this season say as much, as do the 50 goals he’s amassed since returning to North America from England in 2015. If Portland soccer needed any reminder, Kamara delivered one on two months ago.
Waston dominating the air
The main reason Vancouver’s August lead loomed so large was the Costa Rican international they have in central defense. Kendall Waston may not be the best central defender in MLS, but he’s one of the position’s stand out talents, and if you give Vancouver the opportunity to sit back, stay compact, and force you to loft passes into their penalty box, Waston will show you why he may be the league’s most dominant aerial force.
This year, Waston’s 5.5 clearances per game rank third in Major League Soccer. The 7.2 per game he accumulated last year led the league, while the 5.9 per game he collected in 2016 ranked second. Not all of those clearances came through the air, but a good number of them did, and the overall totals portray a Vancouver approach that’s willing to rely on its Costa Rican star.
As the Whitecaps’ record over the last three season hints, there are limits to that strategy. The team is set to miss the playoffs for the second time in three years and failed to advance out of the West’s semifinals last season. But if an opponent makes a mistakes, falls behind the Whitecaps, and allows them to play to their strengths, they’ll quickly find out why, despite their troubles, Vancouver can continue to cause teams problems. If you’re chasing a game, Waston can be a monster.
Davies: The $22-million man
The name that most often comes up on Talk Timbers is Gareth Bale. Whenever Timbers’ analyst Ross Smith, Talk Timbers host Tom Kolker and myself gravitate toward Alphonso Davies talk, we bring up the Southampton product, a player who has since gone on to Tottenham Hotspur and Real Madrid. In terms of style, athleticism and potential, Alphonso Davies is the North American Gareth Bale.
That’s why the Canadian international is off to Bayern Munich at the end of the season. As a farewell, though, he’ll get a final derby against the Timbers, with the yet-to-turn 18-year-old (Nov. 2 is soon, though) held out of the teams’ meeting on Aug. 11. In his absence, Portland didn’t have to account for a player who has becoming the most overwhelming wide threat in Major League Soccer.
Five-foot-eleven, strong, and as fast as any player in the league, Davies has spent his three years in MLS learning how to harness his unmatched physicality. Now – and particularly on BC Place’s fast turf – any space afforded Davies turns into a platform for disaster. Give him room in front of you, and he’ll have time to collect the ball and build up an unstoppable head of steam. Leave space behind, and Davies can play the ball ahead, challenge you to turn and keep up.
It’s not a one-man job. There’s a reason why Davies is bound for Europe. And even with the Whitecaps having nothing to play for, Davies’ talent means one moment’s indiscretion can land Portland in the loss column.
