For the Portland Timbers, the 2011 Major League Soccer season was their introduction to the professional league. The Timbers produced some truly remarkable moments and, in the end, almost made it to the playoffs.
The Timbers finished the season with a 11-14-9 record in the MLS (9-5-3 home, 2-9-6 away) and finished just four points short of the last playoff spot.
However, four games into the new 2012 MLS regular season, the Timbers haven’t had the best of starts. After winning their first home game against Philadelphia 3-1, the Timbers drew one and lost two games.
These results have left the team with four points and in sixth place in the Western Conference. But the regular season is 36 games long, and there are still plenty of games to recover and push for a playoff spot. The top eight teams in the league qualify for the playoffs.
“It’s still early in the season,” second-year Timbers head coach John Spencer said in a statement. “Of course, we would have liked to win a couple more games, but we haven’t. All we can do is look forward to the next game coming up.”
In their first game of the regular season, the Timbers came back from a goal down in the second half and won their match against Philadelphia Union 3–1.
“Going into the second half, we played some Timbers football with energy and passion,” Spencer said after the game. “It was tremendous response.”
This emphatic victory brought back memories of the unbeaten home run in 2011 that went on until May.
“These moments are the ones you remember when you are done playing,” team captain and 2011 MLS All-Star Jack Jewsbury said. “The atmosphere was unbelievable.”
The Timbers supporters have cemented their place as some of the most vocal and enthusiastic fans in the MLS and have made the Jeld-Wen Field one of the most fearsome places to come and play. Season tickets were sold out before the start of the 2012 league.
However, just like last season, the Timbers’ away form needs improvement. They took to the road for their next two league games but were unable to register a win.
Portland drew at FC Dallas (1-1) and lost to New England (1-0).
“The players need to believe in themselves,” Spencer said. “If they believe in themselves as much as I do, we will get to the playoffs this year. Plain and simple.”
“There is only one question mark hanging over the team—can they play away from Jeld-Wen?” Spencer said. “If that’s the only question mark after 12 months of being an expansion team, that’s not bad.”
Last Saturday, Portland returned to the Jeld-Wen Field to face one of the league’s favorites, Real Salt Lake. The Timbers were in the lead until the 88th minute, but then their lead evaporated quickly.
Salt Lake scored two goals in the last two minutes and overturned a 2–1 deficit to win the game 3–2. The Timbers were no longer unbeaten at home.
“It’s a loss at home against one of the best teams in the country for the last three, four years,” Spencer said in a statement. “We came out and played with energy again. I felt we dominated the game most of the [second] half.”
So far this season, midfielder Darlington Nagbe leads the team with three goals, while Jewsbury and midfielder Eric Alexander have contributed two assists each. Troy Perkins has been a steady presence in the Timbers goal.
The Timbers will look forward to a return to their winning ways with a home game against Chivas USA on Saturday.