MLSsoccer.com continue our look back at the 2014 season that was for all 19 clubs in Major League Soccer, starting with the Montreal Impact and ending with the MLS Cup-winning LA Galaxy. We'll also take a peek at the two new clubs coming in and pour one out for departed friends Chivas USA. You can find the 2014 Year in Review HERE, and the club-by-club history of MLS HERE.
2014 record: 12-9-13 (49 points); 61 GF / 52 GA (+9 GD)
The Portland Timbers came into the 2014 season with lofty ambitions. After finishing the previous year as Western Conference regular-season champions and advancing to the Conference Championship of the MLS Cup Playoffs in head coach Caleb Porter’s first season, the Timbers had their sights set on a Cup championship for 2014. The acquisition of two successful Argentine players in forward Gaston Fernandez and center back Norberto Paparatto in the offseason only added to the expectations.
They said it...
Owner Merritt Paulson:
“How on God’s green earth do you let a team like Toronto come back and get a result when you’ve got them two-nil at halftime? But again, there’s some real, real positives that I look at in the foundation of the team that’s being built. … Things didn’t go our way. There’s no question we made it hard on ourselves; we didn’t get a lot of luck. But this is a very exciting, very good team that is easily a playoff-caliber team. There’s no question in my mind this is a top-five team in the West.”
Head coach Caleb Porter:
“No matter what happens, these guys can hold their heads high. End the season on 49 points, that's a solid season. Normally that's enough to get you in. There's so many things to be pleased with: seven wins on the road is one of them and the three teams that are in around us, fighting for the fifth, fourth and third spots, we beat all three of those teams on the road, and the last stretch of the season we've been one of the best teams in the league. We've put up four shutouts in the last six games, we've been defending better, and everything we've needed to correct we've corrected.”
Center back Liam Ridgwell:
“We're very proud. Over the last three weeks or so, we've been fantastic and we [gave] ourselves the best opportunity to make the playoffs.”
But Portland cratered out of the gate, going winless in their first eight games while earning just five points. The summer months were more successful but still marked by inconsistencies, largely due to one of the league’s worst defenses. The struggles led to two Designated Player acquisitions, first in striker Fanendo Adi in May and then Premier League center back Liam Ridgewell in August.
Portland compiled a 12-6-8 record in the final 26 regular-season matches and were one of the hottest teams in the league over the final two months of the season, going 5-1-3 as they desperately pushed for the playoffs. But their start – and missteps down the stretch, namely squandering a 2-0 lead on the road in a 3-2 loss to Toronto FC on Sept. 27, a game in which they also lost captain Will Johnson for the rest of the season with a broken leg – ultimately cost them a return postseason trip.
For a team that, in March, had Supporters' Shield and MLS Cup aspirations, it was a bitter pill to swallow.
Crashing out of their inaugural foray into the CONCACAF Champions League with a 3-1 loss to Honduran side Olimpia on Oct. 21, in the process becoming the first team not to advance out of group play after winning their first three games, only added to their frustrations.
Best Moment of the Year
Real Salt Lake had developed into somewhat of a thorn in the Timbers’ side over the years. Portland went winless against RSL in their three regular-season matches in 2013, losing twice, and then were eliminated by them in the Conference Championship series. Heading into their June 7 meeting in Utah this year, Portland were carrying an 11-game winless streak against RSL, including a 1-0 loss in their first meeting of 2014. But on that night, Portland exorcised their RSL demons, posting a dominating, 3-1 win on an Adi brace and Johnson penalty kick. It was also their first-ever victory at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Worst Moment of the Year
The Timbers were in the midst of a hard charge toward the MLS Cup Playoffs despite their slow start to the season and were heading into their final match of September, against slumping Toronto FC, on a four-game unbeaten streak. And despite the devastating injury to their captain Johnson in the game’s opening minute, the Timbers jumped out to a 2-0 first-half lead. But they watched it wither away in an inexplicable second half and lost 3-2, a result they are surely still kicking themselves over after missing out on the playoffs by only a point.
Best Goal
Sure, all three of the Timbers' MLS Goal of the Year semifinalists are great for their individual skill, and it would be wrong to ignore Maximiliano Urruti’s game-winning strike at the death in the Timbers’ 3-2 victory over D.C. United on May 3. Not only was it dramatic, but it also got Portland’s season back on track with their first win in the ninth game of the year.
But... come on. Johnson's one-time, running, left-footed smash off a juggling Adi set-up against Vancouver on June 1 was simply a masterpiece.
Team MVP
Diego Valeri, and it’s no contest. The Argentine wizard’s second season in the Rose City was yet another revelation after he set team records for both goals (11) and assists (14). His assists total was second only to Landon Donovan for tops in MLS, and he was arguably the league's best player over the season's last four months. Unfortunately for him and the Timbers, Valeri suffered a torn ACL late in October, and will spend his entire offseason rehabbing. Don't expect to see him until at least April.
Best Move
When the Timbers signed Ridgewell on June 25 to a rare Designated Player contract for a defensive player, they had one of the league’s worst defenses. But in 15 games with the English Premier League veteran on the backline, that all changed. Portland finished with an 8-3-4 record with Ridgewell in the lineup and averaged 1.7 goals allowed per game.
Quotable
“When you have a lot of new pieces, you’re tinkering. Did I over tinker? Perhaps. But also, I only know what I know until I play guys and figure it out. But the key again is, I figured it out at the end of the year. … We’d be having a different conversation here if after the first eight games of the year we weren’t able to correct those mistakes because, one, we wouldn’t have been close [to the playoffs] and, two, I probably don’t have my job. Ultimately, the form at the end of the year should give everyone a lot of optimism.” -- Caleb Porter, on Portland’s struggles through the first eight games of the season
Three Offseason Needs
1.
Prevent slow start
: The Timbers infamously got off to a painfully slow start in 2014, and Porter admitted this postseason that the number of new offseason acquisitions took time to integrate to the team, ultimately costing them results. The Timbers and Porter will once again have a handful of new faces to get up to speed, including at goalkeeper after losing veteran
Donovan Ricketts
, at center back with the acquisition of
Nat Borchers
and at midfield as Valeri and Johnson recover from injuries.
2. Bide time: Have we mentioned those injuries? Portland will be without two of their most important players through most of the spring. Ben Zemanski is a good defensive option in place of Johnson but is a step down offensively. Portland have plenty of attacking depth in the final third, but replacing Valeri is no small feat. Fernandez may not return for a second season in green and gold, and newly signed Colombian forward Dairon Asprilla is somewhat of an unknown.
3. Rediscover Darlington Nagbe, version 2013: Nagbe’s production from 2013 to 2014 fell off a cliff, representing one of the biggest production drop-offs of any MLS player this past season. The Timbers' talented dynamo recorded a career-high nine goals and four assists in 2013, leading many to speculate he would get a US national team look upon gaining his citizenship in 2015. But this past season, Nagbe scored just once, although he bested his career assists number with seven.
