It was all on the line for the Portland Timbers this week: the MLS Cup playoffs, the CONCACAF Champions League and the Cascadia Cup. But if you haven't been following the Portland Timbers this week, everything you need to know about how their season ended is best summed up here:
Will this miss come back to bite @TimbersFC?#VANvPOR #DecisionDay https://t.co/2n65MJzoL9
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) October 23, 2016
That is Fanendo Adi, the Timbers' top goal-scorer, firing a shot off the post and then Lucas Melano, the Timbers' most expensive player, missing an open goal on the last day of the MLS season. The Timbers ultimately could not find a single goal through the run of play on Sunday in Vancouver, despite 17 shots, and they lost the virtual must-win match against the Whitecaps.
The result meant they missed playoffs, but it was perhaps not even the worst part. The expected saving grace — the last shred of positivity the Timbers were supposed to walk away from 2016 with — was the regional Cascadia Cup. The Timbers needed only to avoid losing by three goals or more, which is a relatively generous bar in such a high-stakes game. But their defense was in shambles and 4-1 final result meant the Whitecaps snatched the Cascadia Cup from the Timbers' grip at the last possible moment.
As brutal as Sunday's Decision Day result was for the Timbers, it felt more inevitable than anything. The Timbers have had an abysmal record on the road and managed to finish 2016 without a single road win in MLS, the only team to do so. It was simply asking too much for the Timbers to sort out their identity crisis and find their form on the road in their 17th try.
Whereas the team got hot last year in the fall as playoffs approached and made a run to the MLS Cup, the 2016 Timbers started to run cold as playoffs got closer. Winning in October was the norm for the Timbers under coach Caleb Porter, but whether you want to call it MLS Cup fatigue or something else, the Timbers never looked poised for a postseason run this year.
A horrible Sunday for the Timbers was foreshadowed by a brutal Wednesday in Portland, when the Timbers saw their chances in a separate competition end. Hosting Saprissa and needing a win to advance in the CONCACAF Champions League, the Timbers fell short with a 1-1 tie. It was a valiant effort — Porter was forced to change formations and build a makeshift lineup due to absences — and yet there was nothing particularly surprising about the Timbers falling short.
"This one hurts as much as any result since I've been here, maybe ever," a clearly devastated Caleb Porter told reporters on Wednesday. But Sunday's disaster may have tested that — it wasn't close like the Saprissa game on Wednesday was, but it was a harsh way to end Portland's hopes to advance in a competition nonetheless.
The absences, to be fair, have been a big part of the Timbers' struggles. Going into Sunday, the Timbers were missing centerback Liam Ridgewell and midfielder Diego Chara, two key defensive pieces, and that was on top of the injuries that have caused a revolving door in the roster all season long. But you don't drop points in 17 games on the road based on absences alone, especially not when the Timbers finished the season going 12-3-2 at home largely with those same absences. Of course, pinpointing the cause for their road woes is easier said than done, and Porter is going to have plenty of time for introspection.
Adding some extra sting will surely be the surge from nemesis the Seattle Sounders to make it into the playoffs on Sunday and help push the Timbers below the red line. Long out of the Cascadia Cup running, the Sounders completed a stunning turnaround this season that took them from last place in the summer to the playoffs now, a credit to their interim coach Brian Schmetzer. The Timbers' other rival, the Whitecaps, get the Cascadia Cup, of course, while the Timbers end the season with nothing.
The Timbers have had bad weeks before, but this was a historically bad one — their worst single week ever of the MLS era. The offseason begins now and the Timbers will be eager to move on as quickly as possible.
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