Timbers win for Timber Jim

Brown scores as Portland prevails 1-0 in team mascot's final game

By Steve Brandon

LocalNewsDaily.com, Apr 18, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (3 Reader comments)

L.E. BASKOW / PORTLAND TRIBUNE

Timber Jim fires up the soccer faithful one last time. The longtime team mascot stepped down Thursday night, but not before helping Portland win its home and season opener 1-0 over Puerto Rico before 10,977 fans at PGE Park.

On a night when fans and friends said good-bye to mascot Timber Jim, it was like the Portland Timbers themselves had never left.

The Timbers picked up where they left off at home last regular season, handling Puerto Rico with ease in a 1-0 victory Thursday before 10,977 at PGE Park.

Chris Brown’s solid strike from 22 yards in the 71st minute continued the Magic on Morrison Street. Portland went unbeaten for the 15th straight regular-season home game in a row dating to April 21, 2007.

The Timbers haven’t lost before the local faithful in regular-season play since the end of the 2006 season. That was before the arrival last year of new coach/General Manager Gavin Wilkinson.

With all four starting defenders back from the 2007 squad, new goalie Ray Burse faced few challenges. He and Portland pitched a shutout — something that happened 14 times in 28 regular-season games a year ago.

The ’08 debut did nothing to shake the Timbers’ confidence. The team is shooting for a championship. Last year, Portland got to the semifinals before losing to Atlanta on penalty kicks.

This year’s forward line seems deeper, more experienced, more creative and better at finishing than last year’s combinations, which struggled except on set pieces off the foot of midfielder Andrew Gregor. And the defense should cause few worries, if Leonard Griffin, Scot Thompson, Cameron Knowles and Justin Thompson stay healthy.

“It’s a long season, and we’re not going to get ahead of ourselves, but Day One was a success,” defender Justin Thompson says. “And you combine the potent individual players we have — Taka (Suzuki), Chris Brown and Chris Bagley — with our defenders coming up at times (on the attack), it could be a very exciting year.”

The Timbers enjoyed a man advantage after Puerto Rico’s Taiwo Atieno was sent off in the 40th minute for elbowing Thompson in the head. Portland created some chances but couldn’t finish until Brown took a short roller from midfielder Tom Poltl and had the middle of the attacking third all to himself against a suddenly lackadaisical Islander defense.

“Sometimes it’s harder when a team has 10 guys,” Gregor says. “Teams sometimes play better when they’re down a man. We thought we could have got more past them, but we were pretty cautious in the way we played.

“We’re pleased. Not satisfied, but pleased.”

Brown, the former Jesuit High/University of Portland/Major League Soccer forward, is one of the Timbers’ key additions. He quickly proved his worth. On opening night, he was a frequent threat up front and got off eight shots. And he took advantage of the big opening the Islanders presented just when it was beginning to look as though Puerto Rico would manage a draw.

“I didn’t feel anyone around me, so I turned with the ball and started going forward,” Brown says. “And every time I took a touch they were backing off, so I took a couple more touches and they were still backing off.”

At just the right time, Brown fired. His contested shot stayed low, as planned, and found the left corner of the goal.

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