Whitecaps felled by Timbers

Tonight the Whitecaps suffered their first loss of the season. It was a tough game to try to judge their performances on as while they were facing their stiffest competition thus far they also had to battle what appeared to be one of the worst pitches I've seen in a good long time. Martin Nash didn't have his strongest game of the season turning the ball over frequently in the first half. The fullbacks appeared to have great difficulty judging the bounce of the ball off the turf at PGE, and Marlon James always seemed to be a step behind the man marking him (as demonstrated first by his brutal shove from behind on his check then later his yellow card on a poor tackle).
2009 Rookie of the year Marcus Haber was virtually invisible through no fault of his own but by poor service from his midfielders. When he did get the ball on the one occasion it seemed as though he wasn't quite comfortable on the ball after having spent the first 3/4s of the game running around without getting any touches. The two bright spots in this match were Jay Nolly's incredible saves to keep the 'Caps in the game and Jonny Steele's debut and instant impact on the game in the second half. He drew a free kick on the edge of the Portland box less then 2 minutes after coming on.
It was a great game to watch back and forth. It was extremely physical with by my count 7 yellow cards between the two clubs and red for Portland to put them a man down. Strangely enough the referee for this match (and one of his linesman) did not make it to the game and were stuck in Los Angeles. A local ref was brought in last minute. He called a rather fair game. I had been expecting a little home cooking but he did well. Upward and onward I suppose.
The Whitecaps play defending USL D1 Champions L'Impact du Montreal on Wednesday at 7:30pm. This will be Montreal's Second Game in the Nutrilite Canadian Championship. They lost on Wednesday in Toronto 2-0. More on that later...