Men vs. Boys

Another kick up the backside delivered by a lifeless performance.

Phil Neville called this game “the worst performance” since he took charge of the Timbers. He didn’t stop there. He called it “one of the worst managerial performances of my career.” The Portland Timbers traveled to Toronto, lost 3-0, and failed to record a shot on target against a team with only one win at home prior to this game.

Recap

Toronto was desperate heading into this game, and their desperation resulted in the Reds winning 6 set pieces within the first 17 minutes. Their 4th set piece resulted in the opening goal, as Alonso Coello drove the ball through an open gap in Portland’s wall and past James Pantemis from a direct free-kick in the 11th minute. For the rest of the half, Toronto came close to finding a second goal (without a major shot on target outside of Maxime Dominguez’s saved effort in the 17th minute). The Timbers, meanwhile, were in Mudville. As they remained addicted to their slow, patient buildup from the back, they kept running into swarms of Toronto players clogging the middle and forcing turnovers. Because of their inability to progress the ball, keep the ball, and even threaten Toronto’s box, the 1-0 scoreline stood entering halftime. Portland headed to the locker room without taking a single first-half shot.

One minute into the second half, Kevin Kelsy took Portland’s first shot of the game. It was from about 30 yards out, but it took a deflection and went out for a corner kick. Portland’s energy seemed to return for the first 5 minutes of the second half, but the status quo returned after a poor Diego Chara giveaway led to a Ola Brynhildsen’s volley whistling wide of the near post in the 52nd minute. Four minutes later (11 minutes after the second half began), a David Ayala giveaway led to another Toronto corner kick. Coello’s delivery found Kosi Thompson at the far post, and Thompson’s header was hit directly into the ground. This presented a difficult opportunity for James Pantemis, who was able to get a hand to the loose ball and punch it away from his goal. However, it fell right in front of the goal line, and Tyrese Spicer had a free chance to smash the ball into a net occupied by at least two Portland players. 2-0 to Toronto, with both goals coming from set pieces. Portland’s best chance of the afternoon would come from a corner kick of their own, but Dario Zuparic’s inability to get a head on Santiago Moreno’s free kick led to the ball crashing into the unaware head of Finn Surman in the 61st minute. Goalkick. As the Timbers continued to give the ball away, Toronto’s 3rd goal arrived in second half stoppage time. Moreno’s inability to control a simple bouncing ball sent Derrick Etienne Jr. the other way, and the Haitian winger dribbled past Ayala in the box. His cross found the back of the net courtesy of Deandre Kerr’s hip. The Timbers finished the game with 5 shots, and none of them found the target.

A Team vs. Individuals

Let’s begin with Portland’s team selection.

This is what it looked like on the field.

This is not a 4-4-2. It’s a 4-2-2-2. There’s a major difference. Fory and Mosquera are tasked with providing the width AND defending the wide areas. That’s a ton of responsibility, and it usually bites the Timbers in the ass when the fullbacks are asked to do everything. But that wasn’t the biggest sin of this formation shift. Portland wanted to play quickly, with 1 and 2 touch passes allowing the team to rapidly progress the ball up the field. But that plan turned into slow, sluggish buildup. When the Timbers (rarely) tried to play quickly, they turned the ball over due to miscommunications, sloppy passing, and terrible first touches. That’s not formation-specific. That’s what this team is at their worst. More often than not, this is the version of the Timbers that fans often see. Repeated individual mistakes can be insurmountable. Toronto didn’t win this game because of their own individual brilliance. It was a combined team effort that forced those individual mistakes.

Toronto’s gameplan certainly made life difficult for Portland, but Portland’s own gameplan made it even tougher on themselves. With such a narrow shape in buildup, it was way too easy for the hosts to clog the midfield and force those costly turnovers. Today’s game is more evidence that the Timbers’ game model is broken. Formation doesn’t matter here, because Neville said so. “We’re not going to change the way we want to play,” Neville said on Friday. But when a team can be stopped by pure effort, maybe it’s time to acknowledge the flaws. Antony’s presence won’t fix this. Neither would Jonathan Rodriguez. Personnel is a contributing factor, sure, but there’s one simple change that the Timbers can make. And that change would help the team in all phases of the game.

In order to make a case, I must provide a problem that needs to be fixed. I’d like to suggest one of my own pet peeves that hasn’t been discussed yet. It’s the relationship between Portland’s inability to deal with midfield pressure combined with their inability to provide pressure from the midfield.

Because Portland’s style of play is still individualistic at its core, it often relies on both of Portland’s defensive midfielders to progress the ball. Teams can quickly solve for that by simply adding an extra man in the midfield and pressing higher. When the Timbers do progress the ball to the final third, they often lose it. All of a sudden, there are acres of space for opposition players to exploit. How many times did Coello carry the ball unmolested through the center of the pitch tonight? How many times did the Timbers receive a pass in the middle of the pitch and promptly turn it over due to heavy pressure? There is a solution to this problem. The Portland Timbers need a third central midfielder. They got their lunch eaten by Toronto’s midfield 3 of Coello, Matt Longstaff, and Maxime Dominguez. Ideally, this 3rd midfielder would be a ball-progression specialist who can also contribute on defense. The Timbers have that player. His name is David Da Costa. Portuguese Dave spent much of this game isolated on the left and swarmed everytime the ball entered his hemisphere. He needs to be put in a place to impact the game rather than relying on his teammates to find him. Because if tonight (and most of the season) is any example, most of their attempts to get him the ball are going to result in turnovers. And the cycle keeps repeating, over and over again until the sun explodes.

Neville’s insistence that the team is not going to change the way they play is utterly disappointing. Their hot start masked serious flaws that will only be exploited with the string of absences in attacking areas. Mentality and commitment can only go so far. When two strikers start up top, and they only combine for 44 touches, questions need to be asked. If the team is still building out from the back in the 80th minute despite 80 MINUTES OF FUTILITY, questions need to be asked. This Timbers team has been selectively direct, and it’s starting to cost them. When it becomes this easy for a bottom-feeding team to dominate an objectively superior opponent, questions need to be asked. Although the Timbers have a DP spot open, Neville’s desire to adapt will be just as important in determining how the rest of this season will go.

Player Ratings

James Pantemis: 6.5

You want to see something bewildering?

This goal was entirely preventable, but Pantemis went out of his way to make it easy for Alonso Coello. Let’s begin with the wall. Conventional wisdom dictates that the wall should be placed at the spot where the ball would have to travel the least amount of distance to find the back of the net. That doesn’t happen here. Pantemis placed the wall to protect the far post and left a giant gap in the wall to his near post. In real time, I thought that Coello shot was perfectly placed BETWEEN the wall, giving him more credit in my initial reaction. But once the replays began, and I saw this angle, I was utterly furious. Not only did Pantemis leave this open gap DARING Coello to test his near post, his initial movement once the whistle blew took him away from that near post. It became almost impossible for him to react in time because his momentum was taking him in the opposite direction of a shot that HE HIMSELF opened the avenue for. It makes no sense.

I can’t forgive this. Although Pantemis made 5 saves and I’m not faulting him for either of Portland’s two other concessions, it’s absolutely wild to me that Pantemis would set up his wall like this. In order to compete on the road, you can’t concede goals. And this counts as a gift for Toronto.

Juan Mosquera: 6.8

No player could hold their heads up high after this game, but Mosquera had a better outing compared to most. He had to act as Portland’s primary wide attacking threat while also managing his defensive responsibilities. However, a scenario unfolded in the 43rd minute that deserves some attention. Mosquera received the ball just inside of Toronto’s half, and tried to beat a defender with a dribble. That attempt failed, and led to another turnover. He completely ignored a relatively easy run from Omir Fernandez towards the sideline. That pass could have sprung a decent attack given the position of Toronto’s defense. Instead, Mosquera’s turnover led to an Ola Brynhildsen breakaway, a Dario Zuparic yellow card, and a free kick from the top of the box.

Finn Surman: 6.4

I don’t think that it’s too spicy to say that this was Finn Surman’s worst game in a Timbers shirt. Misplaced passes really weigh heavily on a rather pedestrian outing. No serious cause for concern, but definitely a bad night.

Dario Zuparic: 6.6

I thought Zuparic was better, but not by much. While he did misplay a few passes, they weren’t as bad as Surman’s. I thought his yellow card was earned and also the correct play.

Jimer Fory: 7.4

Easily the Man of the Match, Fory had one job: avoid a yellow card. But when he inadvertently took down Brynhildsen outside the box in the 68th minute, he entered the referee’s book. That booking will result in another suspension, and he will miss next weekend’s game against New England.

Outside of that booking, he was incredible. He totaled 14 defensive actions, including several great tackles on Theo Corbeanu. However, with so much on his plate in the attack, those tackles were absolutely necessary as Fory kept getting forward with the most regularity I have seen this year.

Diego Chara: 6.4

Chara was better than his midfield partner today, but not by a wide margin. I would’ve liked to see him take more shots from outside the box. Either way, I thought he was more impactful off the ball than on it.

David Ayala: 6.3

Ayala desperately needs someone to help him with ball progression. But this was a bad defensive game from the young Argentine. He routinely was unable to properly cover passing lanes and was caught in bad positions regularly. It didn’t help that he was a magnet for Toronto defenders whenever he got on the ball.

Omir Fernandez: 5.8

The good news: he exited the game in the 54th minute with an ankle injury but it isn’t too serious (according to Neville). And somehow, that’s good news. The bad news: he lost the ball a lot and gave away the free kick that turned into Toronto’s first goal. If it wasn’t for Santiago Moreno’s disciplinary problems (more on that later), he would’ve come off the bench in this game. I think it’s the best spot for him. He is a better player when being utilized as a super sub instead of a starter.

David Da Costa: 6.5

Consider this a “high” 6.5. I would’ve liked to see him try harder to get on the ball, because he was pretty solid whenever he got it. In addition, I liked some of his dead-ball deliveries. There’s immense pressure on the club’s lone DP, and his confusing role certainly didn’t help.

Kevin Kelsy: 6.5

This would have been a 6.6, but a needless yellow card necessitated a correction. At the very least, he was trying to make something happen. I'd like to refer you to the 60th minute, when the large Venezuelan picked up steam and carried the ball down the right wing before drawing a foul. That's positive! He wants to create for himself, but isn't at that level yet. So he relies on service. What can a striker do with no service?

Felipe Mora: 6.3

What can a striker do with no service? Mora is now goalless in his last 8 MLS games (9 across all competitions). No one on the team needs to find the back of the net more than Mora.

Santiago Moreno: 6.3

Moreno got his chance to play as a (quasi) number 10 tonight, but fell well short of expectations. That chance came from the bench due to his inability to return on time from a 5-day break. I don’t have a problem with this decision from Neville. Rules are rules, and every player should be expected to follow them. But entering the game and then giving the ball away from a relatively routine situation (which led to Toronto’s third goal) is ridiculous. With the current state of Portland’s attack, Moreno has to be a consistent producer. Aside from a couple decent combinations with Mosquera, he offered nothing.

Ian Smith: 6.8

Smith is somehow credited with an own goal on Toronto’s 3rd, but it looked like the ball hit Kerr’s hip. So I won’t count that. Meanwhile, his crosses from the left side always look dangerous. If only someone could get on the end of them.

Gage Guerra: HUSTLE

Guerra wants to be a striker, but was deployed on the right wing for his MLS debut. You can’t fault his effort. His 90th-minute shot may have been blocked, but at least it was something. I’m very interested to see how he can earn more minutes. He looks like a player that can stretch the field, and the Timbers desperately need a player like that right now.

Cristhian Paredes: 6.1

Paredes’ first touch is among the worst on the team. That says a lot. I think it’s what keeps him from being a true 8. He was largely anonymous outside of a couple giveaways.

Coach Rating: 1

I feel like I’ve given a pretty thorough “coach rating” above, but there’s one more thing I want to touch on.

Phil Neville’s Timbers emphasize passes to feet. Usually that requires a player to receive the ball under pressure, escape the pressure, and progress the ball through either carrying or passing. It’s a 3-step process to every pass. Step two kept failing repeatedly during tonight’s game. Through my own observations and what people have told me, this is the fastest Timbers team in their MLS history. Why in the WORLD is all that speed being wasted on constant passes to feet instead of passes into space? When every pass into central areas is immediately met with heavy pressure, why isn’t there a concerted effort to switch up the game plan? Portland’s most threatening moments have come on the counterattack, but their own indecision handicaps them. Would you like an example?

*Apple TV won’t let me clip it or take screenshots, but go to the 40th minute of the match replay and watch a potential counterattack fizzle out and end with Mosquera hitting Chara with a cross.*

There isn’t a support runner for Fernandez, half of Toronto’s team is defending their own box before the ball even gets to him, Ayala’s pass is hit behind, and Mosquera tops it off by hitting Chara with a cross. What a comedy of errors.

The Timbers need to pass the ball into space more often. They need an extra central midfielder to help win second balls (another area where they got dominated tonight). They need to start playing like a team again. The way that they played at the start of the season has gotten them as far as they can go. It’s time to adapt.

Table Time

The Portland Timbers entered tonight’s game holding onto 4th place in the West and 9th place in the Shield. That is where they will end the weekend despite this result. But the gap is closing, and now only 4 points separate themselves from 9th-place Austin. Yikes.

Final Whistle

A game like this should be setting off alarms on Morrison Street. I can’t think of a single positive thing to take away. Maybe some threatening Ian Smith crosses? He’ll be playing next week, so I guess I can choose those.

The immediate comparison that tonight's result brings to mind is both of Portland's other dreadful road losses this year (Nashville and San Jose). In those games, both opposition teams were struggling. But each of those sides can look back at those results and pinpoint them as the day that the system finally worked. BJ Callaghan's Nashville have climbed to 3rd place in the East. Bruce Arena's San Jose have only lost once since that 4-1 victory against the Timbers on May 3rd. Maybe Robin Fraser's Toronto will begin a run of their own and use the Timbers like a springboard too. Tonight's Toronto team certainly wasn't the Toronto that has left me bored and uninspired throughout 2025. And they did it without both of their "best" (highest-paid) players.

The East Coast has never been kind to the Portland Timbers, but they entered tonight’s game as favorites. They are never in that position, and tonight’s game was very winnable. But then the opening whistle blew, and the Timbers’ unique brand of sloppiness and ineptitude was on full display. This isn’t a result that you think about when the season ends, but it is one that should prompt some serious thinking about what this team actually is. Are they as good as their record says they are? Have they been overperforming all season? How do they continue to build on their strong start and keep their spot in the top four? The first two questions have been answered: no and yes. The third is still open-ended.

This is a result that will bring overreactions from all corners of the Timbers fandom. And yeah, I've been pretty reactionary too. But this isn't a "sky is falling" result. It is the first time that the Timbers have been held without a shot on goal since the 5-0 Houston loss in 2023 that was the last straw for Giovanni Savarese's managerial tenure. But it's the end of June, and there are 15 league games left in the regular season.

It's too easy to point at Evander’s continued heroics in Cincinnati and begin to wonder. Such exercises are completely pointless. It's too easy to assume that the season is going to collapse based on another East Coast faceplant (the Timbers are 1-2-9 on East Coast road trips since the start of 2022, thanks to Adam Susman for that excellent stat). It's too easy to look at the continued struggles of the team and assume that they'll never be fixed. Sometimes it all breaks at once. Set pieces doomed the Timbers tonight; an area where they've been vastly improved throughout 2025.

Complacency applies to everybody. You might be a guaranteed starter, but you have to return from vacation on time. You might have an idea about how soccer should be played, but the players available for selection might not work with the thoughts in your head. This Timbers team has been a work in progress throughout the entire season. The silver lining is how many points they've been able to stack along the way. It's around this time of year that the frauds begin to get exposed. The Timbers have been overachieving with one hand tied behind their back.

There’s a specific phrase that Neville has now used twice in his post-game press conferences. He referred to the 4-1 defeat in San Jose as a “kick up the backside.” That phrase made another appearance tonight: “I think that was another massive, massive kick up the backside for that group of players. Unacceptable.” I don’t think it’s out of line to say that the metaphorical “kick up the backside” should apply to the coaching staff too.

No, none of them are in any danger of losing their jobs. I think it’s ludicrous to suggest such a thing. But this is a result that demands another club in the bag. Right now, the Timbers only have two: patient buildup combined with quick transitions. When a team is having trouble scoring goals (and progressing the ball) structural changes need to be made. The essence of coaching is putting the players in the best position to succeed individually and as a group. Neither of those criteria were met tonight. It’s time for this team to learn how to be sustainably good again. That’s what the real “kick up the backside” is.

The head coach described tonight’s game as “men vs. boys.” That also applies to the coach’s box, where Robin Fraser ran circles around him from the opening whistle with a depleted team. As the Timbers continued to try their trusted gameplan and got nowhere with it, the insanity began to creep in. With every midfield turnover, that insanity level grew. Without another club in the bag, these performances will continue. Neville has to solve for the individual spark that Antony has provided. He also has to solve Portland's continued issues with ball progression. In addition, he has to help the front office identify the players who can instantly impact this team for the better. The ones who can step right in and fix the issues that keep this team from being sustainably good. Consistent performances from the team’s best players should help. Tonight, Portland’s most consistent players (Ayala, Surman, and Pantemis) all performed below their level. That doesn’t happen often. But those three players aren’t going to win games on their own. The collective spirit which led the team to their best start in their MLS history is fading. And it’s on the coaching staff to bring it back through tangible tactical tweaks.

And that's the beauty of the sport: the work never stops. With so much to work on from this game, the possibilities are endless. My suggestion? Working on a better pressing structure to solve for the ball progression issue. Now they have another home game on the docket, and a chance to eat some wonderful saltines next week to clear their palate from tonight's horror show. And given who's going to be on the opposite sideline, saltines are the perfect snack for the week. Grab your timecards. It's back to work on Monday. The climb continues.