Even Timbers' defense has had better days

After subpar showing at Rochester, back line regroups for Minnesota and the battle for first place

By Steve Brandon

The Portland Tribune, Jun 4, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

The Portland Timbers have had their ups and downs this season. Even their vaunted defense suffered a downer on Sunday.

“Very rarely are all four of us on the back line off our game,” defender Justin Thompson says, “but we were all pretty poor in Rochester. For the first time in a long time, I’d say the back four let the team down.”

The result was a 2-1 loss to a Rhino team that hadn’t won a game.

And in a two-minute span late in the match, Thompson and the Timbers went from high to low, emotionally.

Thompson scored in the 78th minute to pull Portland even at 1-1.

In the 80th minute, Rochester retaliated with the game winner.

“They scored on a broken play,” Thompson says. “I went to the sideline and put a heavy tackle on (former Timber) Luke Kreamalmeyer. It threw him, me and the ball out of bounds, but the ball popped right up to (Rochester midfielder) John Ball, who was following the play. While I was out of position, he took a very quick throw-in into the box, to where I probably would have been. Their big striker (6-3 Matthew Delicate) got in front of (Portland defender) Cameron Knowles and laid off a nice ball to (Johnny) Menyongar,” who was able to beat goalie Jordan James and change the outcome.

“It was quite devastating,” Thompson says. “We had the wind and, after I scored, we felt like we could go on and win the game.”

Now the Timbers face what Thompson calls “a great test for us” — two games in three nights, starting with Minnesota at PGE Park at 7 p.m. Thursday and finishing in Vancouver at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Of course, playing anyone would classify as a great test for the Timbers at the moment.

“We haven’t been playing to our potential,” Thompson says. “I don’t want to make excuses. We still need a little bit of work.”

And yet, Thompson says things aren’t as bad as they might appear.

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