Looking for something to do Saturday night? Tune in to Portland Timbers vs. Colorado Rapids. You don’t even need to watch every player on the pitch, just watch Diego Valeri. He will almost certainly do something that will leave you shaking your head in absolute disbelief.
It took Diego Valeri less than 15 minutes to announce his arrival as one of the top attacking players in MLS, when he made his Portland Timbers debut last season in the opener against New York Red Bull. After falling behind early, Valeri orchestrated a valiant comeback in his first ever MLS game, the high point of which was this goal:
Last Sunday, Valeri had what was probably his most impressive performance in a Timbers jersey, in fact, one of the most comprehensive attacking displays in MLS this season, maybe ever. By the time Portland’s 3-3 draw with San Jose was complete, Valeri had amassed the following stat line:
- 2 primary assists
- 1 secondary (hockey) assist
- 9 shots, 7 on target
- 87% passing accuracy
- 13 chances created
Again, 13 chances created. Let that number sink in a moment. By comparison, the entire San Jose team created 7 chances in the same game. In their previous game against the Vancouver Whitecaps, a 3-0 Portland win, the teams COMBINED to create 17 chances, nine for Vancouver and eight for Portland. For the entire MLS season thus far, the Timbers have created 289 chances, or an average of 10.7 per game. Valeri had 13, in one game.
One would think that defenses might notice the fact that Valeri is such an important part of Portland’s attack and focus on shutting him down a bit more, that is easier said than done. Besides the obvious fact that Valeri is a player of immense skill, his positioning within Portland’s attack makes shutting him down incredibly difficult.
What makes shutting down Valeri so difficult is the fluidity of the three attacking players who play under the striker in Caleb Porter’s system. Portland tends to line up with either Fanendo Adi or Maximiliano Urruti as a lone striker, with Darlington Nagbe playing wide on the right and one of Rodney Wallace, Gaston Fernandez, or Steve Zakuani on the left, and Valeri in the number 10 role underneath the striker. Throughout the game the three playing under the striker interchange positions regularly, or combine to overload an area of the field. Take a look at where Fernandez, Valeri, and Nagbe popped up on the field in Sunday’s match against the Earthquakes:
Nagbe, starting wide on the right, had the majority of his touches in the central third of the field and even showed up wide left occasionally. Fernandez, starting wide left, also spent a significant amount of time in the center third, and showed up regularly in the box, almost as a second striker at times. Valeri meanwhile spent most of his time centrally, as would be expected of a central attacking midfielder. The continuous combining and switching of positions makes it hard for a team to man mark a player like Valeri, meaning an entire defense must be aware at all times of where he is, and as he showed Sunday, Valeri has an uncanny ability to find just enough space to make something happen.
While Valeri spent most of the match in the middle, he did spent a lot of time on the left as well. Here are all of his passes from Sunday:
He shows up frequently on the left side of the field, but his assists all come from the right. Darlington Nagbe’s ability to cut in from the right and create something in the middle of the field allows Valeri to find space on the right, as well as creating opportunities for Portland’s right back, in this case Alvas Powell, to bomb forward down the wing.
Portland’s first goal, assisted by Valeri, was scored by Powell, who overlapped Nagbe down the wing and finished a perfect ball from Valeri.
On the second goal, Nagbe receives the ball from Chara in the middle third. Because of his skill on the ball all three SJ defenders in the area are focused on him so that when he plays a first time ball out to Valeri on the wing, the Sam Cronin can’t close down the space in time. Valeri uses the space to put in a cross that probably should have been put in by Kalif Alhassan, but was instead scored by Liam Ridgewell.
Portland’s third goal was a perfect example of Valeri’s ability to create from anywhere. This time he comes deep to collect the ball from Chara, turns, and plays another perfect chip for Powell to run onto and assist Alhassan for the equalizer.
Look for more of the same from Valeri against Colorado. The Rapids are on a seven match losing streak and have been decimated by injuries, particularly at the back. While he probably won’t create 13 chances again, he’ll probably do something special. He may even do something like this:
