BEAVERTON, Ore. – Portland Timbers fans weren’t the only ones thrilled by Diego Valeri’s return.
There was perhaps nobody happier to have the Argentine playmaker back from his ACL injury than teammate Fanendo Adi. And we saw why Saturday in Portland’s 3-1 loss to the Houston Dynamo, with Valeri – playing in just his third game this season – feeding Adi on a perfectly-weighted through ball for the big striker’s first goal in seven games, a stretch that resulted in him coming off the bench in two matches.
It was a setback in the win-loss column, but getting their Designated Player back on a goalscoring track and re-establishing the chemistry between Portland’s two most important attacking players was at least one bright spot for the Timbers going forward.
“He puts a lot of work in for me,” Adi said of Valeri after the team’s training session Tuesday at the team facility. “Basically he’s the one who makes the passes for me more comfortable. He sees me when I make a run, and we’ve played together, we’ve trained together, so I actually know when he gets the ball what to do and he knows what he expects for me to do as well. And we have a good chemistry together.”
Nobody assisted on more of Adi’s nine goals last season more than Valeri (three). And while a player of Valeri’s playmaking caliber opens things up for all of the Timbers’ attacking players, his ability to play in to the striker position is one of the attributes that sets him apart, head coach Caleb Porter said.
“He’s a guy that’s one of, I think, the best killer passers in the league,” Porter said. “You saw on the goal that Adi scored, his ability to pick up a ball in between the lines and just spring him in, and he’s very good at doing that. We have no one on the team that is quite like him in that regard of setting guys up and popping guys through the backline. He’s a very good passer. He sees it, and he can technically weight it and play it.”
The play in question came in the 48th minute, with the Timbers trailing 1-0, when Valeri ran onto a free ball at midfield on a goalward run. Before the defense could even pick him up, Valeri slipped a through ball past his mark and between two defenders at the top of the box. Adi ran onto it, and beat Dynamo goalkeeper Tyler Deric to the top shelf for the goal.
That kind of effective penetration was something Porter had hoped to see more of after a punchless first half on a steamy night at BBVA Compass Stadium, and now something he hopes all his attackers can emulate heading into their next match Saturday at Toronto FC (5 pm ET; TSN in Canada, MLS LIVE in US).
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“So I think we’ll get more of that, him playing Adi in, Maxi [Urruti] when he’s in the game, even Rodney [Wallace] in behind,” Porter said.
And, of course, finding the back of the net again is something Adi said will only help his confidence, considering the streaky nature of the striker position.
“I think it means a lot,” he said. “Of course, I’ve gone through some games without a goal, and it’s important to score a goal. For me my game has always been to work hard, and sometimes you don’t get the goals but luckily we got a goal. Even though we lost, it’s a big thing for me.”
Dan Itel covers the Timbers for MLSsoccer.com.
