Introducing Nevilleball: Timbers beat Colorado Rapids 4-1
A brace from Antony and a storybook comeback for Eryk Williamson make for a stunning start to Phil Neville's campaign.
The Portland Timbers are off to a blazing start.
Playing their first match of the season at home in Providence Park, with all the pomp and circumstance that included a massive tifo, blessing Timber Joey’s log and fireworks, the team showed great promise on both sides of the pitch in Phil Neville’s coaching debut marking the first win by a head coach in his first match with the team.
The starting lineup was mostly expected with the exception of absences from Maxime Crepeau, who’s in the process of getting his green card, and Evander who although was listed to play had been having issues with his left foot and left during warmups. The lineup is here:
GK Pantemis, D Mosquera, D McGraw, D K. Miller, D E. Miller, M Chara ©, M Williamson (Fogaça, 75), M Paredes (Zuparic, 90), F Antony (Ayala, 85), F Asprilla, F Moreno
Substitutes Not Used: GK Muse, D Araujo, F Ikoba
An excellent first half scoring display began in the 8th minute with a pass from Juan David Mosquera being placed right in front of Eryk Williamson who came quickly from the midfield. This was Williamson’s first goal since May 1st, 2021 and his first appearance since his ACL injury leaving him out for most of the 2023 season.
The second goal came from Antony in the 14th minute, undoubtedly the man of the match, who headed in a goal from a corner set piece taking advantage of a nice Cristhian Paredes cross into the penality box. The third came in the 31st minute from a Williamson pass through the midfield to a storming Antony, who curled his shot beautifully into the net. Despite an initial off-side ruling, and VAR check the goal ended up counting.
The fourth goal came in right before half time and was also an Antony involvement, who attempted to cross the ball to Santiago Moreno through the penalty box before defender Sam Vines deflected it into the net for an own goal.
The second half was Colorado’s chance for a come back as they had most of the possession and scoring opportunities. Backup goalkeeper James Pantemis played phenomenally and kept the Rapids to one goal, which was 54th minute header from Calvin Harris who received it in a corner set piece.
Showing the offensive focus that Neville had talked about in the preseason, the squad as a whole played up to and exceeded expectations. Santiago Moreno and Juan David Mosquera showed great chemistry on the right side, and newcomer Kamal Miller had a decent debut despite a foul and yellow card that gave the Rapids a dangerous free kick chance which they ended up bottling. Paredes also played a great game filling in for Evander in the midfield. Dairon Asprilla also worked well in the center-forward role.
The referees, despite being replacements, were okay, with the only real blunder being the initial offside to Antony’s second goal.
For a team that’s known for starting out rough and peaking by the end of the season, a fact that Phil Neville has touched upon in press conferences, this result is a great shift from expectations and shows a system that works even when key starters aren’t available. While the Rapids, who finished last in the Western Conference in a historically bad season and had probably played to expectations weren’t exactly a championship caliber squad, it still shows great signs for the rest of the season given the competitive parity of the MLS.
Timbers soccer has rebranded from its previous playing it safe mentality to an electric attacking style, and if the stars align, the Timbers keep at it, and the three year tradition of making it to the MLS Cup holds true, they just might have a shot. The expectation of a new DP forward makes it all the more exciting.
The Timbers play DC United Saturday, March 2nd at Providence Park with another 7:30pm kickoff time. The match is available to stream on Apple TV+ and on radio tuning into 750 The Game.
Ross, thanks for The North End - I enjoy what you're doing here.
The posts are journalistic - concise, accurate and you keep the editorial screeds to a minimum, which in this blogoverse is a definite breath of fresh air.
I'd personally prefer you go into more depth to flesh out this very nice framework a bit, but by all means keep it up... Thanks again!