BEAVERTON, Ore. – In navigating the Portland Timbers attacking woes through the first three months of the season, head coach Caleb Porter said at one point said he was “looking for the hot hand” when it came to his lineup selection.
And while Wednesday’s 1-0 victory over D.C. United may not have been an offensive explosion, Porter might have found the hot hand he was looking for in rotating in five new players for the second of a stretch of three games in a week. Two mostly reserve players – Gaston Fernandez and Maximiliano Urruti – teamed up for Portland’s fifth-minute goal that proved to be the game winner.
So with the Timbers facing their final game of the toughest stretch of the season on the road Saturday against the Colorado Rapids – not only is it their third game this week but also Portland’s sixth road match in their last eight games – does Porter ride the hot hand or go back to his rested starters?
“That was always going to be what I was going to look at,” Porter said at the team training facility Friday before the team departed for Denver. “I think on the third game it’s about looking at the situation, who’s in form, how are guys’ legs. I won’t make my decision on the lineup until tomorrow.
“I want to see where guys are at, how they feel after they travel. … And then what’s the right move in terms of psychology, in terms of form, that’s always going to be a factor as well. So do you go with a fresh guy who’s maybe not in form versus a guy who’s maybe not as fresh but is in form?”
For Urruti, Portland’s second-choice striker behind Fanendo Adi, it was his second goal in his sixth start this season. It was the performance of Fernandez, a touted signing ahead of the 2014 season who scored seven goals in that campaign but has received limited playing time off the bench this year, that was perhaps the most pleasing.
He was making his first start of the year, and his whipped-in cross to Urruti to set up an easy tap-in goal was the Argentine’s first notch on the scoresheet of the season.
With playmaker Diego Valeri out for a second consecutive game with a sprained ankle, Fernandez could get another chance to impress. Midfielder Will Johnson, who made his first start of the season against D.C. following a lengthy recovery from a broken ankle, is unlikely to play as he works his way back into full fitness, and midfielder Diego Chara is also out on a one-game suspension for caution accumulation.
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“I was pleased with Gaston, that was his first start of the year, and I think you saw he was hungry and he played a great ball on the first goal, helped us win the game,” Porter said. “I thought he really had a solid game, and when he gets the opportunity again I’m confident that he’ll do well again.”
What’s certain is the Timbers will be hard pressed to find another result. They came into the D.C. game with the second lowest points-per-game average in the league and now sit three points ahead of Colorado in eighth place in the Western Conference with 16 points from 13 games. But another win could vault them above the red line, depending on other results.
“It’s been a tough stretch,” Porter said. “This is the end of that stretch, six of eight on the road. If we can get three points, that’s 13 points in that stretch and that’s not bad.”
Dan Itel covers the Timbers for MLSsoccer.com.
