PORTLAND, Ore. – When Caleb Porter’s coaching career is over, he may want to think about starting a recovery group called Nick Rimando Anonymous.
At the very least, he’ll probably be glad never to have to deal with Real Salt Lake’s star goalkeeper ever again. Because in Porter’s short time leading the Portland Timbers, Rimando has stolen more than his fair share of points from the boys in green and gold.
Last year, in Portland’s second-to-last game of the regular season, Rimando turned in a six-save gem in a scoreless draw – and the Timbers ended up missing the playoffs by a point. Rimando also led RSL past Portland in the Western Conference Championship in 2013, Porter’s rookie year as an MLS coach.
And he was at it again Saturday night in the teams’ MLS regular-season opener at Providence Park, which also finished scoreless.
“I don’t know, it’s a lot, it’s a lot,” Porter said when asked how many points Rimando has taken from Portland.
This time around, Rimando’s five saves – of which a handful were of the usual highlight-reel variety – were all that stood in the way of what Porter thought should have been an easy three points for his team.
“You want three points, you’re never going to be happy at home if you don’t get three points, but ultimately I thought our performance was very, very good on both sides of the ball,” Porter said. “Sometimes you just don’t find a goal, and sometimes it’s because the other team just has a really good goalkeeper that makes a couple plays that you don’t know how he made.”
The stats back up Porter’s claim.
The Timbers outshot RSL 18-9. More telling was the fact that RSL had just two shots on target, both of which were cleaned up easily by goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey.
“We outplayed that team,” Porter said. “They know it. We know it. Everyone knows it. They got a point, so it’s a draw, and a good result for them. … But honestly, I thought our guys threw everything at them.”
Even more impressive for Portland was the fact that they did it with a makeshift lineup. Already missing midfielders Will Johnson, Diego Valeri and Ben Zemanski to long-term injuries, defensive midfielder Diego Chara was also held out due to a persistent preseason knock.
Portland went with veteran and backup right back Jack Jewsbury alongside second-year pro George Fochive in his first MLS start in their two defensive midfielder spots.
“I continue to tell you guys the same thing: The depth on this team is incredible,” Jewsbury said. “It was another example of that tonight, with George and the way he filled in there and played an extremely good game in his first MLS match.”
Outside of the 33-year-old Jewsbury, the Timbers' entire game day roster was remarkably young, with 9 of the 18 younger than 25, including six in the starting lineup. Porter did sound optimistic on Chara’s status, saying a he’s still recovering from a bruise sustained two weeks ago against the Vancouver Whitecaps and that his absence was a game-day decision.
“Yet we were still were able to, against one of the best possession teams in the league, we were able to control the game, able to create more chances, more shots and more corners, and that’s really promising,” Porter said.
Dan Itel covers the Timbers for MLSsoccer.com.
