If you were starting to worry that the Timbers didn’t play exciting soccer anymore, you can toss all your cares aside, as they delivered their most entertaining performance of the year on Saturday. On top of that, they cemented themselves as a top-level MLS team by extending their win streak to five matches. After last week’s win over the more-than-struggling Seattle Sounders, I understood, and even shared, skepticism about this team.
Yes, they had won four straight already, but when a win streak includes a 3-2 nail-biter against Minnesota United and two ugly 1-0 slogs against the (currently) tenth and eleventh place teams in the West, it’s not hard to see that string of results as the outcome of benevolent scheduling.