Heading into Sunday’s MLS Cup Final between the Portland Timbers and the Columbus Crew SC, focus on individual players has centered around those scoring and creating goals. However, perhaps one of the most important players in Sunday’s game, is flying under the radar. That is Portland left-back Jorge Villafaña.
Going up against Columbus Crew SC right winger Ethan Finlay on Sunday will be just the latest in a string of dangers wingers Villafaña has been tasked with shut down, and it will be another big challenge. To the casual observer, Villafaña may be a bit of an unknown, but to those paying attention, there is little doubt Jorge Villafaña will be key to Portland’s MLS Cup chances.
Jorge Villafaña is used to taking on monumental challenges and coming out ahead. After all, he did spend seven years with Chivas USA. Throughout these playoffs he’s been tasked with stopping the likes of Graham Zusi, Cristian Techera, Michael Barrios, and Fabian Castillo. Through five games, these players combined for zero goals and zero assists.
Particularly impressive was Villafaña’s work during the Western Conference Finals against FC Dallas. Barrios and Castillo came into the series in great form, having combined to give FC Dallas one of the most feared attacks in the Major League Soccer. Throughout the season, they routinely used their pace down the wings to rip teams to shreds on the counter attack, especially teams whose fullbacks found themselves caught too far forward in attack.
Villafaña compiled 28 defensive actions against Dallas over the 180 minutes of the Conference Finals. While the work of Diego Chara and Darlington Nagbe in the middle seriously limited Mauro Diaz’s ability to spray passes for Castillo and Barrios to run on to, Villafaña defended them well throughout.
Perhaps most impressive was how smart of a series Villafaña played. Matched against two of the paciest wingers in MLS, Villafaña, who is not the most athletic or fast player on the pitch, used tactical acuity and positional awareness to make sure he didn’t get beat down the wing.
However, Villafaña also didn’t let his focus on not getting beat by Barrios or Castillo stop him from getting forward on a regular basis.
Portland was able to contain the FC Dallas attack not only because they were solid defensively, but because their offensive pressure forced Dallas’ best attackers to come so far back defensively that they weren’t as effective on the break.
On Sunday, Villafaña will face a different type of challenge, but it will be just as dangerous as the one he faced in Dallas. Against the Columbus Crew, Villafaña will be lined up against Crew right-winger Ethan Finlay. Finlay was among the league leaders in MLS this year in goals, with 12, and assists, with thirteen. Two of the top five goal/assist combinations in MLS this year were Finlay to Kamara, which happened six times, and Kamara to Finlay, which happened four times.
As Stumptown Footy pointed out this week, while the Crew love to cross the ball into the box to Kamara, they’re also great at packing the middle and having one player slip out wide and find space, as you can see here.
When the Timbers and Crew played in September, Villafaña and the Timbers effectively shut Finlay down on wing, limiting him to 2 attempted crosses, both unsuccessful. In fact, Columbus’ only goal that night came from a corner kick. The Crew attempted 26 crosses in that matchup and connected on only two of them, one on a corner.
While getting caught too high up the pitch against the counter-attack is certainly something Villafaña and the Timbers will need to be well aware of against the Crew, they’ll need to apply high pressure out wide even when the defense is back to avoid giving up goals like this one that Kamara scored against the Philadelphia Union.
Notice how quickly Crew right back Harrison Afful is able to get that cross off? He doesn’t have a ton of space, but it’s enough. Sure, the cross isn’t great (it’s not awful) but it does the job. Villafaña, and Alvas Powell on the other side, will need to limit the space they give the Crew wingers and fullbacks to prevent quality crosses that the Crew use to create high percentage chances.
It will undoubtedly take a team effort if the Timbers are going to contain the dangerous Crew attack. Slowing down the likes of Kamara, Finlay, Federico Higuain, Justin Meram won’t be easy. But, Villafaña has been one of the most consistent performers on both ends of the pitch for the Timbers this year, forcing opposing wingers to defend more than they’re used to, and shutting them down on the defensive end. Another quality performance from the Portland left-back would go a long way to helping the Timbers lift the 2015 MLS Cup.
Main Photo: Steven Dykes, Getty Images
