With a 2-0 victory over Chivas USA in Tuesday’s U.S. Open Cup play-in round in the books, the Timbers return to MLS regular-season action Saturday as they take on the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium.
The Timbers are searching for their first MLS win of 2011 but the team has made vast improvements since the 3-1 loss to the defending-champion Rapids in Colorado on March 19th. In the victory against Chivas USA, the Timbers not only showed their ability to score, but also their ability to dominate possession as they outshot the opposition by a 13-3 margin, which gave the team plenty of momentum.
“We’ve got a good locker room,” midfielder and captain Jack Jewsbury said.
The guys have their heads on straight so it was definitely nice to get that first ‘W.’”
The upcoming match against New England provides the Timbers with a perfect opportunity to keep the momentum going and to get their first win of the young season after an 0-2-0 start.
“I think other people were more frustrated than me,” head coach John Spencer said.
When you’re a coach and you’re part of a coaching staff you look at and analyze a performance. We realize we’re creating chances. Our forwards have had good looks at goal, [but] we’ve just not had that little bit of luck in front of the goal to put them away.”
Putting goals away in front of the net wasn’t a problem on Tuesday night for the Timbers as Jewsbury and defender Eric Brunner scored two minutes apart. If the chances keep coming, a similar result in New England is well within reach.
“I have the ultimate faith in the forwards we’ve got here,” Spencer said.
If we keep creating chances for them we’ll score goals.”
