Preseason Camp Notes – Day 8: March 8, 2010
PORTLAND, Ore. – With a morning training session, the Portland Timbers kicked off Week 2 of preseason training camp Monday at the Nike campus in Beaverton, Ore. This week, the Timbers prepare for a preseason match against Northwest-rival Seattle on Thursday.
Week 2 opened with 20 players in camp – 18 signed players and two trialists. Joining camp on Monday was returning midfielder Brian Farber. He arrived over the weekend from California, where he has been playing professional indoor with the Stockton Cougars during the offseason. Defender StephenKeel, who joined camp last Friday, participated in his second full preseason training Monday.
With the start of the regular season now just five weeks away, training camp is progressing quickly.
“Guys are getting close and relationships are building,” said defender Ross Smith. “Things are coming together quickly and have been well organized this preseason. With the Seattle game coming up, the guys are preparing for that match and are starting to get into their weekly habits.”
Rivalry Week: On Thursday, the Timbers head north to face Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders FC in Seattle’s Community Shield match at Qwest Field at 6 p.m. The preseason exhibition between the two clubs is a fundraising event for several Northwest organizations.
Thursday’s match will mark the first time the Timbers have played at Qwest Field since the 2008 season, when Seattle was a member of the USL First Division. The two sides, whose rivalry dates back to 1975, last met in the third round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup at PGE Park on July 1, 2009.
The preseason contest against Seattle will be broadcast live on Freedom 970 AM, starting at 6 p.m.
Preseason Trip to Costa Rica postponed: The Timbers announced today that the club’s preseason trip to Costa Rica has been postponed. Scheduled to take place this week, the trip to Costa Rica will be re-scheduled for a future preseason. In its place, the Timbers will conduct training sessions Friday and over the weekend in Portland.
Weekend wrap up: Over the weekend, the Timbers played Oregon State University in a training game in Corvallis, Ore. Behind the scoring efforts of Doug DeMartin and RodrigoLopez, the Timbers recorded a 2-0 victory; rookie goalkeeper Matt Pyzdrowski earned the shutout.
“The team put in a very good week of work,” said Amos Magee, Timbers assistant coach. “While the legs were a little heavy on Saturday night, the effort and the mentality were right. Several of our young players stepped up and put in a good performance to set us off in the right direction.”
In the training match, several players took the field for the first time as members of the Timbers, including defender Quavas Kirk and midfielder Derek Gaudet. The training game against the Beavers also featured the Timbers’ two OSU alumni – defender Josh Cameron and Farber. Cameron played all 90 minutes, while Farber made an appearance in the second half.
