Kristoffer Velde showed something new. Doing it again could save Portland's season.
Portland's star addition finally scored. Can that be enough for the Timbers season to survive another week?
Kristoffer Velde wanted that goal more than you did.
For two months, Portland’s star acquisition from the summer transfer window has been the best player on the Timbers roster. His energy is consistent from the opening whistle. He plays with passion, aggression and the match-to-match intensity that’s been lacking from the roster for much of the season’s second half — and his footprints have been all over the few goals that have found the back of the net. His pair of services to Felipe Mora in Portland’s 3-1 Wild Card win over RSL last week proved, yet again, crucial.
But it had been hard to call the addition of the designated player a roaring success because, up until he scored Portland’s lone goal in Sunday’s 2-1 Match 1 loss to San Diego, Velde had yet to find the back of the net.
So yes, Velde said, he felt some weight come off his shoulders when he finally potted his first goal as a Timber in the 36th minute.
“I think I had maybe 50 opportunities in the first nine games to score a goal,” the 26-year-old said. “Either it’s been a good save, or I’ve been inches away from scoring. So of course it’s a relief, and it was an important goal in the game.”
The goal got the Timbers back into the match after surviving a San Diego onslaught and kept Portland as the aggressor until its comeback bid was neutered in the 66th minute, when Jimer Fory picked up his second yellow card.
“That’s a normal type of game. When you play for Olympiacos, when you play Champions League Football, that’s a normal type of game,” manager Phil Neville said of Velde. “That’s not something out of the ordinary. Like for Finn (Surman) and for Ian Smith, Juan Mosquera — first playoff game — David Ayala — his first playoff game — that’s new to them. But for Kristoffer Velde, that’s the level he wants to play at. I think he’s producing moments at the big moment…He’s hungry for the fight.”
Well, the Timbers have a big one on their hands.
Sunday’s result was Portland’s second consecutive loss to San Diego — the Timbers dropped a 4-0 result to the expansion club two weeks ago — and it sets up a Saturday Match 2 at Providence Park with the season on the line. The Timbers have yet to beat San Diego; they drew the club on the road two months ago.
“I don’t think there’s much new,” Neville said when asked about preparing for a fourth match against the same club in one season. “You’re probably looking for something new to maybe change the momentum a little bit — they’ve got the better of us in the last two games, so we’re going to have to improve. We know we’re playing against the top side, a side that’s full of confidence, but also it’s a one-off game at Providence Park. I have a really good feeling about this group.”
At this point, there’s not a whole lot new for the Timbers to throw out there — as of publication, Neville wasn’t certain about the availability of Matias Rojas, Portland’s other transfer addition who has missed the last two matches.
But while Velde being a fulcrum in Portland’s offense wasn’t new on Sunday, seeing his name on the score sheet was. And if he’s finally turned the corner — turning those near-misses into balls in the back of the net — the Timbers have a puncher’s chance to make sure the final match at Providence Park this season isn’t the end of the 2025 road.
“There’s some players that haven’t been in these situations before, where there’s a lot of pressure and all eyes are on you,” Velde said. “Sunday was a big learning for some people, and we just need to prepare for the next game, because if we don’t do it now on Saturday, there’s no more chances to show.”
— Tyson Alger, The I-5 Corridor