New Year, Same Results

What is wrong with the Portland Timbers? Four games into the season and they are rock bottom of the western conference with a disappointing 4 points. Only Fenando Adi has been able to get on the scoresheet and in the final minutes of games they have blown chance after chance to come away with points. It is beginning to feel an awful lot like last season when the Timbers had to wait until May 3rd to claim their first victory of the season.

The injuries have been a huge factor for the team. Diego Valeri is still out with a torn ACL, Will Johnson is out with a broken leg, Ben Zemanski out for the season with a torn ACL and Jack Jewsbury was sidelined this weekend with a concussion. These three injures leave a big hole in the center of the Timbers midfield. George Fochive has looked promising but he is not at the level of the injured veterans he is filling in for. Fochive's central partner Diego Chara has been at his usual level, running all over the pitch, getting stuck in as well as gathering his customary yellow card.

In Valeri's absence Darlington Nagbe has taken a more central role. It has been a delight to see Nagbe torment defenders, linking up with Rodney Wallace, Adi and new boy Dairon Asprilla. On Saturday Nagbe was deployed out on the right wing with a forward partnership of Adi and Maxi Urruti tested. However, it was Urruti's exit in the second half that was the game changer. Nagbe was able to play more central and the speed and trickery of Asprilla was just what the Timbers needed. Nagbe was a main contributor to the 82nd minute equalizer. His drive down the center of the field then playing Wallace into the the box, Wallace then centered the ball just out of Vancouver's David Ousted's reach for Adi to slot home the rebound. Plays such as these are occuring more and more, Nagbe and Wallace linking up and Adi finishing inside the box. Unfortunately that was not the final goal of the match. Vancouver took the lead in the 90th minute because of sloppy play from the Timbers defense. A miscommunication between center backs Nat Borchers and Liam Ridgewell gifted the Whitecaps with all three points.

Late goals have been ever-present for the Timbers this season. A late goal against the L.A. Galaxy cost the Timbers three points at Providence Park on March 15 when Alan Gordon was able to out jump his man to head home an equalized deep in stoppage-time. Against Vancouver the Timbers had two opportunities to kill off the game claim all 3 points late. Asprilla had a header bounce just inches over the cross bar and a fine save from Ousted denied Adi a second goal.

The Timbers have lacked that killer instinct late in games. Blame it on the injuries or new players failing to jell together quickly enough, something needs to change quickly. Missing out on the play-offs by a single point to none other than the Vancouver Whitecaps has left a bad taste in the organization's as well as all the fans mouths and one cannot help but feel like this past weekend was a big opportunity wasted for the boys in green.

Eliminating Racism

Between 2012 and 2014 there were 219 incidents of racism in Russia alone. That stat was part of a study done by the leading anti racism group called FARE, which is Football Against Racism in Europe. Racism has put a black eye not only on the game of soccer but the European culture as a whole. (Personification) (Ethos)

Thankfully here in the great US of A we do not experience such nonsense at sporting events. According Andrei Markovits writer for the Harvard International Review, in America our violence related to sports is in celebration and not because of racial hatred, political views or religious reasons. Examples of racism include but are not limited to bananas being thrown at black players; racist words being exchanged between players as well as countless racist banners being displayed at games all across Europe. (Culturetype)

Organizations such as FARE and programs like Stand Up Speak Up and FIFAs Say No To Racism are acting as the knight in shining armor attempting to destroy the evil that is racism

With the help of these programs and organizations I believe we can tackle racism. No I don’t think racism will end in the beautiful game but I believe it will help fight against this terrible crime.

Soccer has the nickname of “The Beautiful Game” but it is in danger of losing that nickname because of a few bad apples

Games are being interrupted by racist acts and are being suspended as well as cancelled.

Incidents such as monkey chants and Nazi references made by fans and players are ruining the game of soccer.

Not only are games being cancelled but also players are being suspended and banned for life like Giorgos Katidis.

The main targets of racism include black players, foreign players and players from the Caucasus region of Europe which is Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Russia and Turkey.

James M. Dorsey, writer of numerous articles related to soccer and soccer fans, is quoted as saying “The failure to acknowledge societal change is reflected in the fact that senior football management in Europe does not reflect the cultural and racial diversity of society in the sport itself. Football management remains dominated by white Christian males, some of whom have in recent years been embroiled in controversy over racist and discriminatory remarks.”

The remarks he speaks of include former Italy national team coach Arrigo Sacchi saying Italian soccer has too many colored players, Bordeaux coach Willy Sagnol saying African players lack intelligence and discipline and Former Spain national team coach Luis Aragones using inappropriate language about black players during a training session.

To eliminate racism from the game we must eliminate racism from society first and use sports as a platform to showcase the right way of behaving. (Logos)

To successfully eliminate racism from society I believe that we need to bring back the Stand Up Speak Up campaign, organized by Nike and FARE in 2003 that raised funds for 238 anti-racism projects.

I also believe there needs to be mandatory workshops for players, coaches and officials to raise awareness and give instructions on how to fight racism.

There also needs to be more interaction between fans and club officials. The term “team sport” does not only apply to the players on the field but as a whole culture.

Floris Müller wrote an article for soccer and society discussing “accidental racism”. In the piece Floris brings to light that racism is experience even between teammates, saying “It was possible for white team mates to express overt racism towards a black player on the opposing team without it immediately constituting, for them, an attack of the black player on their own team.” This issue would obviously be addressed at the workshops.

It will help for there to be more opportunities to teach about racism but there also needs to be stricter punishments. Clubs that are repeat offenders need to be banned from European competitions as well as a possibility of being relegated from their league. Fans should be given life bans as well. We cannot take this issue lightly anymore and need to be firm with consequences.

As a common fan and supporter there are ways we can make a difference.

FARE has created activities for fans, which include panel discussions, social media campaigns as well as assisting with organizing anti-discrimination charity matches.

Teams are also encouraged to participate in activities such as giving out anti-discrimination material at games, supportive TIFOS and sending players to visit schools to raise awareness.

UNITED is also a volunteer based organization that is taking on racism, fascism and nationalism.

The fight against racism has been going for years but hopefully there will be an end in the near future.

There are a number of programs fighting racism and now we need fans, players and officials to unite and end racism.

I believe Howard Webb, a member of the 2018 World Cup anti-discrimination committee said it best “we are passionate about football and want to take racism and discrimination out of the game, because it has no place in it.”