There are ties that feel like a win, and there are ties that feel like a loss. ºüÀêÊÓƵ City SC’s 4-4 tie with the Portland Timbers on Saturday night felt like a catastrophe.
With a chance to record a breakthrough win on multiple fronts and breathe hope into its faint playoff hopes, City SC could not hold on to a two-goal second-half lead. It could not hold on to a one-goal lead with a man advantage with 15 minutes to play. At a point in the season where City SC was going to have start doing things it hadn’t done all season, it did exactly what it has been doing all season.
“Really don’t know what to say,†said a clearly frustrated interim coach John Hackworth. “It’s hard to imagine coming to a place like this and scoring four goals, being up and then just losing one vs. one defensive battles. Usually when you go to Portland, and if you could say, ‘Hey, you’re going to get a draw out of the game,’ you would take it. But it doesn’t feel that way. And that’s not what we had a chance to do. Definitely feel like we let two points slip there. Nobody to blame but ourselves. ... This is definitely an Achilles’ heel, our Achilles’ heel right now, because we’re giving up too many goals, and it’s very frustrating.â€
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“With the performance we had, it really stings, to be honest,†said forward Simon Becher, who scored a goal and set up another by getting fouled in the penalty area. “I feel like we should have walked away with three points, but going on the road and playing like that for 110 minutes almost really stings, especially when you work that hard and you put that much in the game.â€
At a point in the season when City SC needs wins to keep alive its playoff hopes, a tie is practically a loss. City SC came into the game probably needing seven wins in its final nine games and now probably needs seven wins in its final eight games. City SC started the night 10 points out of the last playoff spot and finished it in the same spot. And in City SC’s position, treading water is not a survival tactic.
City SC has given up four goals three times in its past five MLS games (four times in its past nine overall), and it could have been worse on Saturday. City SC’s expected goals allowed was 5.7, the highest total in club history by two goals. (The previous high for an opponent was 3.5 by Austin last season.) Portland thought it had tied the game in the 82nd minute, only to have VAR wipe out the goal for offside, but even after tying the game in the 99th minute, Portland came very close to scoring again and winning the whole thing.
“If you don’t win balls that are put into your box,†Hackworth said, “and you don’t jump for headers, you don’t stand guys up, and you don’t get a block, these are all critical moments in a game that are very preventable and should be executed at this level at a much higher level. ... Ball’s flighted in the box. You got to get a header on it. Second balls, we have to battle for those. We were very timid, and I didn’t like that. It didn’t feel good watching it from the side. Tried to make some substitutions to bring some life to it. Unfortunately, that didn’t work either.
“The one thing I like about our locker room right now is everyone is really, really upset. I don’t think there’s one person in there that isn’t feeling the exact same way I am. Roman (Burki) spoke very candidly about the fact that this just is not going to get us to where we want to go. We’re not going to be the team, no matter whether we’re scoring four goals or not. You’ve got to be able to defend your box, and unfortunately, we didn’t do that.â€
The tie will obscure another big performance by the team’s new attacking trio of Becher, Cedric Teuchert and Marcel Hartel. Becher scored one goal and set up another by getting fouled. Teuchert had a goal and an assist. Hartel became just the second player in MLS history to have three assists in his first MLS game, two on corner kicks. (The other to have three is Carlos Hermosillo of the Galaxy in 1998.) Goals from Eduard Lowen on a penalty kick and Nokkvi Thorisson in the run of play finished the scoring.
City SC’s problems are not new. When it gave up a goal to Portland three minutes after Lowen’s PK put them up 2-0, it was the third time in the past four games City SC had given up a goal within four minutes of scoring one of its own. When City SC couldn’t hold a second-half lead, it was the eighth time that had happened, at the cost of 18 points. With 18 more points, City SC would be in fourth place in the West, not 13th.
The team has dropped 13 points from games it led going into the 70th minute. It’s the second time it has lost a lead in stoppage time. The team has lost five points in games it has held two-goal leads.
Every time it looked like City SC was out of the woods, the team turned around and went back in. It looked as if City SC had gotten the last break it would need in the 93rd minute when Portland’s Felipe Mora, who scored two goals, got a red card for fouling Chris Durkin and then catching him in the head with his shoe after Durkin fell to the ground. But six minutes later, Hosei Kijima, who came on as a sub in the 69th minute, was called for a foul on Portland star Evander 5 yards from the top of the penalty area on the left side facing the goal. With a four-man City SC wall in front of him, he curved the ball over the wall and into the top left-hand corner of the goal to tie the game
“It’s pretty simple,†Hackworth said. “I don’t even know what to say. I’m anxious to go look at the game film. I do want to give Portland credit. I mean, they’re a really good team. They have some very dynamic attacking players. Evander hits a world-class free kick there. Not sure that was a foul. Doesn’t look like Hosei even touched him. But again, that’s on us. We have to do better in these areas because we can’t expect to go on the road and score four goals and give up four goals. That’s just unacceptable.â€
This was the kind of night it was: Burki made a couple of strong saves in the second half to keep City SC ahead, but he also fumbled two balls on Saturday. The first would have turned into a goal if not for a miracle block by Henry Kessler and the second one was scored on and trimmed City SC’s lead to 3-2.
“Roman made some unbelievable saves,†Hackworth said, “so I don’t want to fault him. But you expect Roman to hold the third goal for sure. It was a good shot. It was trailing away from a little bit, so it wasn’t easy, but 10 times out of 10 you expect him to hold that.â€
Kessler and Jannes Horn made their debuts for City SC. Kessler started and had a key block of what looked like a sure Portland goal in the first half and Horn came on as a substitute and got a yellow card 20 minutes into his MLS career, which may be some kind of a record.
Klauss and Rasmus Alm did not make the trip, but Hackworth said they are expected to be full participants at practice this week and should be available for selection for the game with the Los Angeles Galaxy.