PORTLAND, Ore. – If there was one feeling that encapsulated the Portland Timbers’ scoreless draw Saturday night against the Vancouver Whitecaps, Caleb Porter summed it up concisely in his postgame comments.
And it had everything to do with the return of Argentine playmaker Diego Valeri following his rehab from an ACL injury that cost him the first two months of the season.
“Couldn’t have come at a better time,” Porter said. “We’re struggling to score goals.”
Portland have been shut out in their last two matches and have just one goal in their last four following a 3-1 victory over FC Dallas on April 12. And Valeri, who came on in the 52nd minute to a raucous reception from the Providence Park crowd, translates to instant offense for the Timbers.
He’s recorded double-digit goals and assists totals in each of his two seasons in the Rose City – making the Timbers one of the league’s highest-scoring teams both years. This year, however, has been a different story, with just seven goals from nine games for the club.
“How would Seattle do without Clint Dempsey?” Porter said. “… You look at every week, it’s kind of interesting, I look at the score of a game and then I look at the box score. And a lot of times I don’t even need to look at the box score because I know who’s going to be on it. And you’re going to start to see Valeri on that box score.”
Saturday offered more of the same for Portland, despite Valeri’s effect on the game in the late action.
Midfielder/forward Darlington Nagbe, who has mostly manned Valeri’s position in the attacking midfielder role in his absence, clanged a 31st-minute penalty kick attempt off the bar. And Maximiliano Urruti, starting up top in place of Designated Player Fanendo Adi for the second straight game, skied an open header three minutes later right in front of goal.
“They’re a tough team to break down, and I thought possession-wise, build-up-wise we were very good,” Porter said of Vancouver’s counter-attacking approach to the game that conceded the Timbers the bulk of possession. “And I thought we created enough to score; you’re not going to create a ton when a team sits like they did, but we created enough to score. Obviously the PK and obviously a few other moments … when we were in possession to score. We probably could have created more, but our final ball at times could have been better.”
Even Valeri had a chance he probably would have liked back, a sliding shot in the box that he pushed wide in the 78th minute.
“I tried to help the team for 45 minutes, and we couldn’t find the three points but the feeling is good because we played well and we know the way to get points is this,” Valeri said after the match.
And the feeling of gratitude shown by the fans for the return of their best player was mutual.
“I want to tell thanks to the people, to our supporters because they made me feel like home again,” he said. “Hopefully it will be a great season, and our goal is to get a trophy for them.”
Dan Itel covers the Timbers for MLSsoccer.com.
