This is the fifth in a series of 20 short columns focused on the things I'm thinking about as we approach the 20th season of Major League Soccer. I'm going to dig into mostly non-obvious questions here – the tertiary stuff that can become bigger over time – rather than the giant storylines (e.g., How do the Red Bulls replace Henry? What if Ozzie's injury lingers? Is this THE year for TFC?).
You can find previous installments in my story archive HERE. Up next, we're off to the Rose City...
The 30th game of the 2014 regular season was a memorable one for the Portland Timbers. In a must-win game at Toronto FC, they managed to jump out to a 2-0 lead and to all the world it looked like they'd finally shook that bothersome habit of conceding weak, sloppy goals. They could practically smell the playoffs.
Then they conceded three weak, sloppy goals. They snatched a 3-2 defeat from the jaws of victory, melting down in spectacular fashion and – this is the big part – losing captain Will Johnson to a broken leg in the process.
Suddenly the playoffs seemed well out of reach. The Timbers would have to start tossing shutouts to even get close, and shutouts were not a team speciality. They managed only four in those first 30 games last season, and two of those were against Chivas RIP. You can decide for yourself how much those should count.
But something happened with Johnson out of the lineup: Portland finally found the midfield balance that had so often been missing. Ben Zemanski, a more natural destroyer who sits in at defensive midfield, offers only a fraction of what Johnson does going forward. But by playing a more simplified, limited role, he allowed the rest of Portland's attackers to go forward en masse while the defense had fewer runners to deal with out of midfield.
Portland conceded just once in those last four games, finishing out their season with back-to-back-to-back shutouts of San Jose, RSL and FC Dallas. They missed the playoffs by a point despite taking 10 of the last 12 on offer.
Zemanski's defensive presence up the gut was particularly telling against Dallas:
Chances are that Zemanski will once again be in the starting lineup as Portland try to combat the early-season absences of both Johnson and Diego Valeri.
My question, though, is this: If the shutouts and wins and points start piling up, will he stay there? The Timbers had only one consistently excellent patch last season, and it came with Zemanski in the lineup.
That's a tough thing to ignore no matter who's returning to full health.
