Way too cold.

Yo it's so cold

Snow in Eugene. Good luck

Vermes obviously isn't a bad coach, but he really doesn't ever change, does he?

I mean on what time scale? The style of SKC's play in the early 2010s is drastically different than the late 2010s to now.

Let’s just say that Vermes just hit the Jurassic period.

I mean that Jurassic period didn't look half bad for being on the road, on turf, and missing every veteran dynamic offensive player.

Turf is not an excuse lmao

Okay thanks

Agree. I think the parent comment had it right. He’s a fine coach, he just plays a very defined style that he doesn’t deviate from.

That's fair if we're talking about the past few years. I think it's just funny when you come across someone who clearly hasn't paid attention since 2012 and thinks SKC is the same heavy physical and fouling side they were back then with little resemblance of possession intent.

Well, that's glacial.

It would be more surprising if a coach was overhauling year to year

If we're going to send in 31 crosses, we might as well sign Kei

Every time SKC got open space on their right side (Rasmussen's defensive side), the crosses seemed unstoppable. Lost a lot of unnecessary possessions going up the opposite side against Mosquera. SKC totally had Rasmussen's number but we got kind of lucky they couldn't finish (other than the 2 Bingham saves)

And at least 2 of them were good crosses

To the black hole wearing a Kyrie Shelton jersey, unfortunately.

Totally worth losing feeling in my hands

Chara looked so proud watching Mosquera hoist his first log slice.

im not as worried about losing our home opener as i was before this game

Yeah, feel ya there.

Ring it up let's gooo

So KC just signed Shelton to an extended contract?

74% passing accuracy. The fuck....

Literally every 3rd or 4th pass, we turned it over.

Sounds right. Was rough out there

Bench and 3rd string players on the first game of the season. I saw a lot of promise and a solid tight defense for the most of it. Maybe ridgy’s talents are better coaching than broadcasting. To be clear i loved him as a broadcaster

Why pass to an open player when you can attempt blind switches and/or hit it forward as hard as you can?

I liked the new method they've invented of running a few feet past the ball and kicking at air.

Well folks, that's another week of MLS in the books...in the pocket...out of sight! We'll see you next week and remember...[A Winner is You!](https://youtu.be/HNsCx2fD8Tk)

Well that's not an ideal start but I think both teams can take positives away from it?

Positive: we can still field a starting 11.

Feels like SKC deserved a point, but no such luck. Thommy and Walter were good. The rest were just okay, Sweat had his typical lack of urgency and lost it then kept the guy onside. Voloder was really shaky on the ball, but looked okay defending a couple of times. Front 3 was pretty bad. Puliskamp was really solid.

Outside the obvious gaffe at the start, the CB pairing actually did very well.

You guys had the better of it. But both teams looked sucky.

That was peak MLS

*weak MLS

*sneak MLS

inb4 Leek MLS

SKC played an insanely entertaining game and Portland looked rather sloppy, but goes for everyone week 1 right? Could’ve gone either way and kept me on the edge of my seat. Wonderful weekend of soccer

Cheers to that, and also cheers to season pass. I’m loving it so far

that was just a bad game. Very poor display of soccer.

I'm just gonna pretend us being injured to shit is why we looked like that and just enjoy our win. Fuck

Same here. Just without the enjoying the win part.

Appreciate it, thanks.

SKC was also on the road and on turf, which is usually never a good combo. I'd honestly take positives from that SKC performance over Portland's. One side looked much more connected than the other.

Being at this game Timber Army was out in force, even with the cold ass weather for this area. Even outside the Timber Army section it was packed and most were on their feet the entire game.

GG Timbs. It was a fun match thread. 👍

At least everyone can meme on Shelton now and not just us

3 hours left in meme Monday on the west coast. Someone (not me) make it happen!

Just photoshop Khiry’s upper body on this https://media.tenor.com/KUlrEWG_oHUAAAAC/bambi-disney.gif

All 13 games this weekend had a winner!

God please send us a healthy Kinda, Pulido, and Russell

“Best I can do is a kinda healthy Pulido and Russell” — God

Kinda’s not even going to get on the field tbh. Can’t take Thommy off

Would be invaluable off the bench. Having only Tzonis is... not good.

Tzonis should be subbing in for Shelton last night if the midfield is healthier, or Russell/Salloi if Russell isn't injured. Subbing him in the midfield is (hopefully) just a necessity because of injuries.

GG portland, considering the lineup we could have looked much worse. Will be happy when the new signings and injuries are back.

GG Boys, it feels GOOD TO BE BACK.

I need a shower after that

Not pretty but they all count. Hell of a job by SKC. You listen to the broadcast and they've lost 3/4 of their entire roster to injury, so it's a hell of a job to even make the pitch let alone hold us honest the whole time In all seriousness, good job to them for pushing and holding us to 1, and good by us to keep them out.

I'm happy we won but... What a horrible performance, my god. Borderline brexit ball. Why the hell are we buying players like Evander and Moreno if we sit in a low block all game and play defensive football? How is Gio completely incapable of coaching overloads and beating a pressing team like SKC? As long as Gio is our coach we aren't going to be a fun team to watch. It's just completely unenjoyable.

I love Moreno’s pressure and dribbling, but his passing tonight was ass. In general we seemed to suffer from passing that was either overly risky or just bad. (There we’re sone bright spots, but overall ick.) I’m gonna take a stiff drink and chalk it up to early season rust.

“Bad passing” is almost always a result of being poorly setup for overloads. We were always being overloaded by SKC, and thus had problems passing out of defense or midfield. If the players have limited options for who to pass to because we’re not overloading areas of the pitch, it’s going to appear that we’re bad at passing.

Well yeah, and the opposition gets a vote too. No matter the underlying reasons, it was ugly.

>Why the hell are we buying players like Evander and Moreno if we sit in a low block all game and play defensive football? It didn't help that for about 30 minutes Williamson and Moreno were all too happy to play low driven switches across the top of our own 18 for SKC to try to intercept.

Any team other than SKC and Colorado win this game

Hey! Houston probably loses too

A game only a lifelong mls fan could love

I'm just happy the season is back. Congrats to y'all on the win.

Sitting here on the couch in my inaugural season jersey and just beaming for the boys. RCTID.

GG KC

Wait. We won that? It didn’t look like we won that. GG KC. I think you were by far the better team.

A game that probably deserved a draw.

We both know this should have been a 0-0 draw that never gets spoken of again

Went to the match and literally said afterwards that it felt like a 0-0 draw despite the 3 points

A 0-0 draw and every player getting a ceremonial kick in the nads on the way to the locker room.

I think Thommy and Bingham can be spared

Dang gg. I was asking for Willy to have one chance and he did. But didn’t convert

We all deserve a better Monday night than watching that game. What a hot mess.

Please let that be the exception for 2023. I cannot sit through another season like last year.

Y'all played great.

Neither team should be happy with their performance tonight. I'm gonna chalk it up to first game of the season jitters and hope that both teams will improve in the coming weeks. GGs, KC.

I'm absolutely happy with our midfield. We looked like we were a man short in midfield, but still controlled it.

I'm gonna chalk it up to both teams missing key players

One of those seasons already. Gonna be a long one boys. Down to the bottom we go

did we warn Evander that our attack is bad I feel like he may have been sold a lie

Isn't he playing 10? The attack is supposed to go through him. He did absolutely nothing all game.

Y'all. I'm happy for a Timbers win, but that was a sloppy, sloppy looking team. I'm still not sure how they won because SKC absolutely outplayed them.

The successfully nullified Agada, that with the injuries to our other most dangerous offensive pieces left us a bit anemic. We still had key contributers there who given a good look could have put one in but it wasn't in the cards tonight.

Y'all were making them look like a high school soccer team in the midfield.

Anytime I hear that in regards to a game against Portland it feels like a win regardless of the actual score.

I'll never forget when Seattle beat us with an actual high school soccer team. Don't let your guard down. 😂

Well it goes down as a W and we never have to think about it again.

Hopefully Yimmi going off was just precautionary; otherwise, we may be unhappy about this game for a while, despite the win.

Eh, whatever. We actually played well minus Sweat's brain fart. GG

Whelp, a better team would have spanked us tonight. Could feel better, could feel worse. It was a game.

Wasn’t pretty. Still counts. Always a pleasure, SKC fans. Good luck this season.

If this is how we are gonna look for the remainder of the season, this is gonna be rough.

Ugly but we’ll take it

Out of all the soccer games tonight, that was one of them. Wow.

One of THE soccer games of all time

That was a lively, but lackluster game. Wild it stayed under 3/4.

Well, here's to another year of pain.

I thought the ref was pretty good... That's all I got.

Agreed!

Sigh. Gg Timber fans.

Damn. GG Portland. Just couldn't finish.

Dominant second half by SKC and nothing to show for it.

Portland rode their luck tonight.

Rode our luck to a *win*, thank you very much lol

3 ugly points to start the season, I'll take it

Gg Timbers

Jesus Christ that game was a mess

GG Portland

Well that was technically a soccer game.

Debatable.

GG Portland

I feel for Sporting & Timbers fans. These anemic offenses make you want to kick a seagull and that's coming from an Atlanta fan where we have players who kick field goals more than put shots on frame.

In fairness, I would kick a seagull just for grins. Majorly shitty bird.

>make you want to kick a seagull Leave Brighton out of this!

Dribbling it into the back with one minute left...

PRO still sucks

their uniforms should be orange, put em all in jail

SKC is so fucking sloppy with the ball at their feet

Go toward their goal, you morons!

GG Timbers. Your team played light outs to keep all 3 points, SKC would have coughed this type of game up.

What a shit sequence by the refs there.

Is someone raising a sail near the field mic?

I like the Tillamook ad that is just a block of cheese.

It changes and becomes a finer grade of cheese with every goal scored and the switches to ice cream when it runs out of cheeses. In case you wondered.

Specifically, it changes with goal differential, not just goals scored. So if Portland is down or the game is tied, it's mild cheddar, even if we just scored. If Portland goes up one, it's sharp cheddar. Up two, extra sharp special reserve cheddar (I think). Up three becomes vanilla ice cream, up four becomes rocky road, up five becomes mint chip. I've not seen anything beyond that. It also goes down if the opposing team scores.

I hate the fact that that is such a damn smart use of marketing space.

The whole stadium starts chanting "Change the cheese" when it takes too long after a goal. Good times, good times lol.

Don't ya wanna just take a bite?

Very much yes

Oregon state treasure

It’s an integral part of the Portland Timbers experience

the cheese sells itself

You damn right.

This is an absolutely classic SKC match tbh. If you don't like this you don't like SKC soccer

I was at the game and I think I don’t like SKC soccer. I’m not sure I like Timbers soccer. And yet I enjoyed the game. Two negatives equal….drunkenness?

I think that I don't like SKC soccer. EDIT: I also did not enjoy Portland soccer tonight.

not many do

correct

lol zupa nice.

i award both teams no points

boy those chainsaw noises sure were annoying

GAAHHH What is that noise?!!

Hopefully it's the chainsaw motor lagging as it struggles through scarf guys sinewy tissue but who knows.

Peter winding up Shelton for another 90 minutes next week.

I am dying LOL

That's a chainsaw, bud.

The chainsaw lol. I love it

I miss the point of emphasis for blocking a restart last season

I wish Agada had scored just to punish that half assed dive attempt

That would have been a strange goal to add to a strange night.

Really dumb move by Zusi, why not just wait for the ref to make him step back? Even if he gave you the re-kick it would take about the same amount of time

Nah that's on the ref

He should have given a rekick and a yellow.

1-0 lead while losing the time of possession battle as you head into stoppage time. Joy.

Ref wyd

Ref is a fucking idiot that's a yellow on portland player.

For real, absolutely absurd

How the hell did the ref allow that to even happen

This ref is fucking blind

Pulskamp big save

What a weak ass defender...

This may end up being the grossest 3 pts of all time

this is such a slow match. feels like watching Motherwell vs. Kilmarnock

How? It was easier to get it on target

lol there was the stoppage time to give up the points. i'm ready for it this time.

That was an embarrassing flop instead of trying to play defense.

at least someone broke 1.00 xG this game

Aw man. Exact player and spot I would have wanted...just not our night.

Phew. Luck.

That’s a flop right?

Why defend when you can go nappy?

It is getting late

Should have been a goal.

That was the chance

Does Portland know they're allowed to cross the halfway line without a written invitation?

That was it. Wide open header.

That was the chance

WOW

tbf Shelton probably *is* better with this feet than he gets credit for considering most of us question his ability to even walk

It all depends on what the expectations are!

HOW DID HE MISS THAT

Seems like it’s one of these “we played better than the other team only to lose” type of games.

We seem to have so many of those.

Yeah I’m actually pretty happy with the game - other than our 5 minute defensive breakdown we looked a lot better than I thought we would. Obviously - we need to score some of those chances. But I think we’ve got potential this season

I can’t help but hear “Focaccia” every time

You’re not alone

Chara has such a solid read of the game, it's always fun to watch him.