Portland Timbers Analyses
Portland Timbers Combination Play vs. San Jose Earthquakes
Since finishing my Master's degree, I have started watching the Portland Timbers again. I attended the Timbers vs. San Jose match (2025) and was pleasantly surprised by how often they tried to attack through combinations.​
The Timbers did not follow positional logic in attack. Their players often vacated space that more positional teams would require to be occupied in favor of moving closer to the ball to combine, with Santiago Moreno standing out in this aspect. Moreno was constantly floating around the final third with the intent to combine with his teammates. This can be seen in the Timbers pass network from the match as well as the plot of his passes.
Pass network created by Catalina Bush
Moreno was always trying to get the ball off his teammates all across the final third. He tended to want the ball played to his feet, but he was also willing to make runs in behind. His movement is worth paying attention to in all of the clips shown.
​With their less positional style, the Ti​mbers often tried to use combination play to try to create chances. However, many of the attempts failed because of poor touches or because the players weren’t on the same page.
​In addition, the Timbers would play inside diagonal passes to break through San Jose’s midfield line or to try to create chances or combine with teammates. The diagonal balls helped allow the Timbers to attempt to play through central combinations.
Timbers attempted combinations
This is how they scored. A diagonal ball into a central combination.
​Mosquera got the ball out wide at the top of the box, played a diagonal ball to Mora and kept running for a one-two. Mora played him back behind the defensive line where he had the space to finish.
However​, they did not stick to this style the entire game. For much of the second half, they didn’t try as many of these diagonal passes or combinations to try to create chances, instead relying on longer passes and crosses, despite being a man up. ​The Timbers would've greatly benefited from a little more patience. Many of their crosses happened when they had the numbers to possess in the final third and the ability to bring the ball back and control the game when they were up a goal and a man.
Santiago Moreno movement examples
Timbers inside diagonal passes
Timbers goal
Portland ended up snatching a draw from the jaws of victory. They failed to settle the game down and capitalize on their man advantage. They allowed San Jose to possess the ball too much, and in the 94th minute, their keeper spilled a long-distance shot and San Jose scored the rebound.
​In conclusion, Portland’s apositional tactics led to fluid movement in search of the ball, diagonal passes, and good attempts at central combinations, but they strayed away from what was working for too long and were too impatient, allowing San Jose to equalize while a man down.
Santiago Moreno Dribbling Analysis
After watching a few of Portland's matches, I had noticed a large disparity in Santiago Moreno's ability to dribble past defenders on the right side of the field and his ability on the left. In the match against San Jose I attended, he started on the right and was dispossessed 8 different times and successfully completed 1/6 attempted dribbles according to Opta data, but when he filled in on the left for the injured Antony on the left a few weeks later against New England Revolution, he succeeded in 5/8 dribble attempts.
I looked at two metrics. The first being dribble success rate. This was split into vertical thirds to differentiate his dribbling ability on the right side of the field, the middle, and the left. The second metric was Dispossessions per Pass Received (DpPR). I used this metric because I wanted to analyze where Moreno tended to get dispossessed, but since he has played on the right much more than on the left, using the raw number in each vertical third would give a biased result. Dividing the number of times he's been dispossessed in each region by the number of times he's received the ball in that region gives a more useful result.
​Santiago Moreno Take-Ons:
Take-On Success Rate in the Right Third: 31.5% (17/54)
Take-On Success Rate in the Middle Third: 27.3% (6/22)
Take-On Success Rate in the Left Third: 61.1% (11/18)
Santiago Moreno Dispossessions per Pass Received (DpPR):
DpPR in the Right Third: 0.053 (20/380)
DpPR in the Middle Third: 0.034 (6/176)
DpPR in the Left Third: 0.047 (4/86)
Moreno seems to be a much better dribbler when he's in the left third of the field compared to the right, having a success rate for take-ons being nearly twice has high. Although it could make sense for a player like Moreno, who wants to cut in onto his strong foot to have a better success rate on the side that allows them to do just that, I wouldn't expect that such a massive difference is normal among these players.
In addition, he is dispossessed less per pass he receives on the left than on the right, although not by much. In the right third, his DpPR is 0.053, which means he is dispossessed 5.3 times for every 100 passes he receives in the right third, and on the left his DpPR is 0.047, or about 4.7 dispossessions for every 100 passes received.
Despite the vast difference in dribbling success, I don't believe that the left is where he should play. I detailed his movement in my analysis of the Portland Timbers vs. San Jose Earthquakes match, and I think that his movement and attempts to combine with his teammates are more valuable than him simply being able to take on defenders. In the match against the Revolution, where he played more on the left, he was much more static off the ball and tended to try to stay wide and hold the width, which is likely what the coaches wanted from him, instead of trying to be the protagonist and finding the ball and combining. If the Timbers switch to wanting width to be held on the right instead of the left or abandon the idea of having a player constantly holding the width altogether, than he may be given the freedom on the left as he has on the right to move and find the ball to initiate combination play.