PORTLAND, Ore. – Before the Portland Timbers take the field Saturday in their MLS season opener against Real Salt Lake, there’s still one big question left to answer now that preseason is over.
Who will fill injured team captain Will Johnson’s holding midfield spot – especially after expected replacement Ben Zemanski was lost to a torn ACL suffered a week ago in a preseason match against the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Will it be Jack Jewsbury, who manned that spot in his first two-plus seasons as the original MLS Timbers captain? Or might head coach Caleb Porter gamble and give second-year pro George Fochive or rookie Nick Besler a shot?
“They’re younger,” Porter said tersely when asked after a recent training session as to what Besler and Fochive could offer compared to Jewsbury.
When pushed, Porter didn't expand much further.
“There’s not a lot of difference,” Porter said. “Holding mid, a lot of times they’re pretty similar. They’re well-rounded players; they have to be or they’re not a holding mid.”
The best hint on how Porter might lean came in Saturday’s preseason game against Stabaek at Providence Park, the Timbers’ final tune up before their season opener.
Porter fielded a 4-3-3 lineup with Jewsbury and trialist Blair Gavin – presumably playing the box-to-box role of Diego Chara, who was battling soreness from the Vancouver game – behind attacking mid Darlington Nagbe, wingers Rodney Wallace and Dairon Asprilla and target forward Fanendo Adi.
It resulted in a 1-0 victory with an Adi goal on a cross from left back Jorge Villafana.
“I thought moving back to 4-3-3 to start the game with more true wingers gave us a little bit more penetration, and those front four guys are pretty dynamic,” Porter said. “We went more with our pace-power component, and we were able to get some pretty good width.”
Even before Zemanski’s injury, Porter lauded their depth at the central midfield position and the defensive nature of what he called the “diamond” former by new goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey, center backs Liam Ridgewell and Nat Borchers and the deepest defensive midfielder.
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But what Jewsbury, Fochive or Besler – and a healthy Zemanski – bring to the table is very different from Johnson. Both Johnson and Chara are players who like to get forward, whereas Jewsbury, who switched to right back under Porter in recent years, Fochive and Besler are more comfortable in defensive roles.
Jewsbury displayed those tendencies in the last preseason match, helping to cap a preseason during which Portland gave up just three goals – one of which was an own goal – in six games.
“I thought [Jewsbury] was very good,” Porter said. “For me, you can call it a triangle or a diamond if you want, goalkeeper and two center halves, Jack, kind of that diamond. … It’s a lot of experience there, and I think that showed. I felt very comfortable defensively and really have all preseason.”
Dan Itel covers the Timbers for MLSsoccer.com.
