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It had been a glorious day in Portland and the weather predicted to reach even higher temperatures so I was pleased the fixture, first posted as a 3 p.m. kick off had been changed to 7 p.m. However when the game kicked off (15 minutes late) the temperature was 90 degrees and even as the game ended it was still 79.
For those not familiar with football (soccer) in the Pacific Northwest the current representatives are the Seattle Sounders, already a MLS (Major League Soccer) team who played Chelsea last Saturday and lost 2-0, the Vancouver Whitecaps who have been admitted to the MLS in 2011 and The Portland Timbers today's opponents who have been admitted in 2010 providing as I understand it they fix their stadium (only stands on two sides - does that remind you of anywhere else that has half a ground?) and it doubles as a baseball ground.
We decided to make a weekend of the trip to Portland especially as it was Pinot Noir Wine festival weekend in the famous Oregon Wine valley at Willamette just outside Portland.
The ground is very easy to find and with an excellent light rail system getting to the ground was a breeze. The game had been billed as the highlight of the season for the Timbers and I have received numerous emails about the game since I bought my tickets. For those not in the know the football season here runs from April to September so is essentially a summer sport. So our game was interspersed among their normal fixtures. The Timbers had gone for 17 games undefeated and Owen Coyle said afterwards that he knew they would prove to be tough opponents.
Football in the USA is gaining considerable support but I'm frustrated by match reports in my newspapers that never include team members and the only way it is possible to find out who played is to attend or watch the game on TV. This is odd as the details were posted on a large screen at the ground.
When I arrived both teams were warming up and I was interested to see that several of the numbers being worn by the Clarets were different numbers and it made me wonder if the squad numbers are going to change. Gudjonsson was wearing 20, Blake 10, McCann 8, Eckersley 15, Alexander 4, Duff 14, Eagles 21, and Mears 2. Timbers played in their strip of all black and the Clarets appeared in home colours. We kicked off facing the stand rather than the open end.
It started off in the heat at a fairly slow pace but it was soon evident that the Timbers were going to give Burnley a very good workout as they seemed determined to hang on to their unbeaten run. They were throwing everything at us and it was not against the run of play when they scored in the 13th minute. The scorer being George Josten their 22 year old striker.
He had already made some foraging runs and Jensen made a couple of saves. With most of the play being toward our goal we got back into the attack on 25 minutes when Steven Fletcher got into a tussle with Shaun Higgins that could have resulted in both having an early bath. They both got a yellow card.
There were few free kicks but we won one around 20 yards out in the 39th minute and Blake floated a great ball for Caldwell to rise to head home. It did silence the home crowd who had been encouraged throughout by Timber Joey who walks around the ground with an enormous chainsaw he fires up and revs up it seems with every attack. When they score he cuts the end off a huge tree trunk on a pedestal before the stands.
Half time came after an added minute of extra time and I hoped that the temperature would cool and that we would see a more encouraging second half. Interestingly the interval entertainment was a game of Rugby which had some people near me asking me if this was a different form of American football! They could not believe it was so "brutal".
Owen Coyle put out the same side in the second half and things seemed to start better with Fletcher having a shot on goal on the 47th minute and two minutes later we won a corner. We were certainly having more of the play when in the 58th minute we made a major substitution. Before the substitutions Alexander had been solid in the centre and Blake and Elliott had both made some nice interplays that sadly had often been cut out by a very solid defence.
We brought on Duff, Eckersley, Gudjonsson, Eagles, McDonald and Jordan in place of Carlisle, Mears, Alexander, Blake, McCann, and Kalvenes. We started to have a greater share of the play and there were several surging runs up the wing by Eagles who was causing their defence some problems. On 66 minutes we replaced Fletcher with Thompson and he had only been on for about 6 minutes when he scored, connecting to a ball across the park from the right by Eckersley who had been very impressive and continued to impress.
Their determination had not subsided and when they won a free kick just outside the area (for which Duff got a yellow card) their number 28 whose name was not in the program stroked home a ball that deceived Jensen into the corner of the net. The scores were equal and Timber Joey went wild.
We did not let this get to us and continued to make some good runs forward and it was from one of these from our "trialist" wearing number 7 brought a trip right on the edge of the area. Cameron Knowles who was the offending player got a yellow card for his troubles and persisted in disputing this with the ref who turned it to red and he had an early bath.
As normal time was coming to an end, Michael Duff and their attacker were heading for the corner, chasing the ball and both seemed to stumble where the artificial turf changed to soil (for the baseball home plate area). Michael was clearly immediately in pain and had to leave the field. Later he was strapped up and finding it difficult to walk. Edgar replaced him to play out added time.
We played out the game with two minutes of added stoppage time and then it was decided that there had to be a winner so we went to penalty shootouts. With Caldwell up first for us he did not convert and Jensen made a great save from their first attempt.
Eagles was next up and he converted and their goalie was next to score for them. Gudjonsson scored for us and Danso made it 2-2. McDonald converted for us and when Nimo had his shot saved by Jensen it was all up to Wade Elliott to convert which he did, sending us home victors 4-2 on penalties.
Owen Coyle came out and spoke to the fans and Paul Fletcher spent a while with us telling us that the team had to leave at 3 am on their coach to make their flight home. I spotted about 50 or so Burnley supporters in tops but there were many others who were not wearing the kit. Those I spoke to included some who had been to the training ground said how great the team had been and that they found time to stop and chat to everyone.
It would be unfair to select a man of the match in these circumstances but for me the new player who impressed me the most was Eckersley who seemed strong in defence and made some blistering runs down the wing.
A good workout against a side much stronger than the one in California on Tuesday and has no doubt continued to improve everyone's fitness levels. All the fans of both sides leaving the ground said they had enjoyed a good game, good for the non-partisan and that it had helped soccer in the area and at the end of the day that has to be good for the game. I am sure that we shall have created a few who will follow Burnley as we progress in the Premier League.
OFFICIAL STATS
Shots on Goal Portland 25 Burnley 9
Saves Portland 3 Burnley 5 (This means shots on target that did not result in goals)
Fouls Portland 10 Burnley 15
Corners Portland 4 Burnley 3
Yellow cards Portland 4 Burnley 3 (Fletcher, Carlisle, Duff)
Red Cards Portland 1 Burnley 0
Attendance, 9048
Referee: Ramon Hermandez
Assistant Referees Eduardo Irigoyen, and Desmond Miller
Fourth official: Ronald Lagraff
Our starting line up: Jensen, Mears, Kalvenes, Alexander, Carlisle, Caldwell, Trialist, McCann, Fletcher, Blake and Elliott.