It wasn't just that Tim Melia delivered Sporting Kansas City's first shutout since mid-July, their first road point since early August and an end to their three-match losing streak.
It was the way that Melia came up big, time and again – making a career-high seven saves in Wednesday night's scoreless away draw against Portland after conceding 10 goals over Sporting's previous three outings.
There were a few routine stops among the seven, and center back Kevin Ellis bailed out Melia with a goal-line clearance just before the hour mark, but the former league pool 'keeper had some highlight-reel moments as well.
Several of them came against Fanendo Adi, who might have had a brace – or more -- but for Melia's heroics.
Melia's kick-save on Adi in the 29th showed off the keeper's reflexes, as did his twisting dive in the 49th minute to deny Adi's snap header toward the lower left corner. But the latter play also showed Melia's strength and ball control: He had to reverse his momentum on the instant to even make the save, and he smothered the ball against the pitch to deny the Timbers any chance at a putback.
“I think he was man of the match,” manager Peter Vermes told reporters in a postmatch conference call. “You've got to say a lot about the back line as well in that they did a very good job of helping him a few times. But Tim was very good.”
Then again, Vermes said, Melia – who took the job from the now-departed Luis Marin in May and made it his own with seven clean sheets in his first 11 starts across all competitions – wasn't bad over the course of Sporting's losing streak.
“I don't think he needed to get down about anything,” Vermes said. “He's been excellent for us since he's come in. He's been a big reason why we sit in the position that we do. If you're talking about some of the goals that we've given up here recently, I would say that they're not his fault. I don't think there's any reason why he should be lacking confidence.
“Every team in this league gives up goals at times, but when you play as well as he's been playing, why wouldn't you be confident?”
That confidence can only grow as Melia gains match experience after years as a journeyman backup, Vermes said.
“I think he still has a lot of upside,” he said. “So from that point of view, it's great. His mentality is going to push him forward. He works hard, and he wants this. He doesn't want to let it go, and I think that's what's going to make him successful. He's still learning a lot, because he hasn't played a lot of games, but he's getting a feel for what he has to do in games, how he has to play.
“He gets better and better week after week, and so we've just got to make sure that he continues to grow.”
