The Portland Timbers Slow And Slower Start To 2019

After leading the Portland Timbers to their second-ever trip to the MLS Cup in his first season overseeing the team, everyone had to be wondering: what would head coach Giovanni Savarese do for an encore?

However, it’s sufficient to say that the team was, unfortunately, not able to pick up where they left off last year, as the Timbers have come out of the gate in the 2019 season without a win in their first three games.

Playing in blizzard conditions in their first game of the season (in what would also end up being the coldest-ever game recorded in MLS history), the Timbers looked like they wouldn’t let the elements – or an early one-goal deficit bother them – as they scored two goals in the first half of their season opener against the Colorado Rapids. Diego Valeri was responsible for setting up both scores, with the first one coming off his own rebound from a penalty kick attempt, and Sebastián Blanco deftly redirecting Valeri’s corner kick for the second score. However, they couldn’t maintain said lead, giving up two goals of their own in the 2nd half, and the game ended in a 3-3 tie.

While most teams would want to start the season off with a win, the Timbers would probably settle for even another tie at this point, considering they would end up dropping their next two games after that.

In their next game against Los Angeles FC, Portland tied the game up at 1-1 in the 29th minute of the first half, with Jeremy Ebobisse tallying his first goal Valeri recording his second assist of the season. Sadly, that’s about the only thing that went right in that game. Los Angeles would score the next three goals in the game, leading to an ugly 4-1 defeat for the Timbers. That was a much different result than when the two teams played in LA last year, and finished with a scoreless draw.

Depending on your point of view, you could argue that their loss against FC Cincinnati a week later was just as ugly, if not as lopsided. At least against Los Angeles, the Timbers got on the scoreboard; against Cincinnati, the Timbers were shut out 3-0. The game was seemingly still in hand when Cincinnati had a 1-0 lead at the intermission, but after scoring two more goals in the 2nd half, it turned into another bad loss.

There are many who point to Portland’s slow start to 2019 and take solace what happened last year. The Timbers didn’t get a single win in their first five road contests of 2018, and yet managed to find themselves in the MLS Cup by seasons end. But such hopes would be fool’s gold for this season, as the Timbers are playing in an MLS-record 12 consecutive games on the road to start out the year. If they don’t pick up at least a handful of wins down that stretch, the span of time between now and June is going to feel that much longer.