Quotes: Portland Timbers vs. Seattle Sounders FC
Portland Timbers Quotes
Head Coach John Spencer
On the overall result:
"I think it proved today that if you can't defend, you're not going to win games. I think offensively we did enough, but defensively if we keep leaking goals we're not going to win games."
On the penalty kick call on defender Eric Brunner and the defensive effort:
"I think it was 100 percent the correct call, penalty kick and a red card. I don't think there's any question in that. Goals are goals, regardless, and they got three points. I think it’s lack of concentration, lack of communication, and if you don't talk in this game and you don't mark runners you're going to get punished."
On Seattle forward Fredy Montero's free kick goal:
"I thought it was a great free kick. He put it exactly where he had to put it for it to be a goal because Troy Perkins got across quick. It was a tremendous piece of skill."
On a loss to Seattle hurting more than a normal loss:
"I think it does (hurt more). You get beat by your biggest rivals at home when you score two goals and you've got the lead twice, I wouldn't say it's unacceptable, but you've got to finish the game off. I think offensively as a team we played well, defensively when you give good players the opportunities and go to sleep you're going to get punished and we got punished."
On the crowd and atmosphere:
"I thought it was amazing. It's nothing short of amazing week in and week out. I thought the pre-game was a super show, obviously the fans put a lot of work and a lot of time into it and (I'm) just disappointed we couldn't give them something in return."
On the winless stretch:
"I think lack of confidence is the habit right now. You can't hang the back four (defenders) out to dry and say they've got to defend better, we've got to defend better as a team — as 11 guys. We've got to try and stem the tide and get back to winning ways."
Defender Eric Brunner
On his foul that led to a red card:
"The ball bounced a little bit and he kind of had position on it and I tried to reach around and I thought I got the ball first. But at the same time, we can't let him get behind us like that and make the referee make the decision."
On the defensive effort:
"We're giving up too many goals. As a defense and a collective unit we need to learn how to finish games. Games are going to be tight in this league and we need to do a better job closing them out."
Midfielder Jack Jewsbury
On the overall result:
"I think any time at home when you get the lead twice, you should be able to hold on for the three points. I think it's disappointing, obviously it's a big rivalry game, it would be disappointing in any game, but especially in this one, it hurts pretty bad. ... If you said we were going to have two goals you'd definitely think we'd be in here celebrating a victory. It's a tough one to swallow. There were some little mistakes that came back to haunt us and let them back into the game."
On being selected to the MLS All-Star First XI:
"That's an honor, but it's a little bittersweet today. We could've started a good (winning) streak here, it would've been nice."
On moving forward:
"We're disappointed with the way the game went, but we've got to learn from our mistakes. I know we keep saying that, but at the end of the day if we don't do that we're (still) going to be in this situation."
Seattle Sounders FC Quotes
Head Coach Sigi Schmid
Overall on the game:
“It’s a nice win. It’s a great advertisement for the sport. If you can’t come to a game like this and walk away saying, “Hey, this is pretty exciting, this is a lot of fun,” – you know, five goals in the second half... It’s what a derby game is all about. I thought Portland played with a lot of enthusiasm. They switched their style around a little bit by coming out in more-or-less a 4-3-3, or you could even call it a 4-5-1. We had to adjust to that; we caught it when we saw their lineup. But I thought the guys did a good job of that. Roger (Levesque) and Fredy (Montero) took turns on [Timbers midfielder James] Marcelin and I thought that was important for our game today.”
On Fredy Montero’s performance:
“It shows a lot of good character by our team to come back twice. Fredy has been putting in extra work this year on the free kicks and has gotten two pretty good free kicks for us in the last five games. That’s because of all the extra work he’s done. When you do extra work you get rewarded. The second goal he got was a great cross by Rosales. He picked him out. He was unlucky not to get a third off his header. I was very pleased with how he played and what his work rate was all about today.”
On the Timbers’ first goal:
“Obviously it’s early in the half. The switching ball I thought we were too far off of the guy, so the guy slips in behind Tyson (Wahl) and then the guy comes in. It looked like it went off Jeff Parke. So we ended up scoring five goals tonight actually. I thought we didn’t do well with balls that got switched across the field and that’s what really opened up Portland’s front.”
On [forward Lamar] Neagle drawing the penalty at the end:
“One of the reasons we wanted to get Neagle on there at the end is we felt we could get behind [Timbers defender Steve] Purdy with Neagle’s speed. I told Lamar to make sure he made runs off the ball, which he did. It was a good short-short-long combination. He ran hard behind and Brunner wasn’t left with a lot of choices, or else Lamar brings that ball down and buries it.”
On Hurtado’s injury:
“We’ll have to see. He hurt his knee but we think it’s just an MCL [sprain] or something like that. Anything I could say right now is just a guess.”
On environment compared to years’ past:
“Obviously they’re no longer in the USL; they’re in MLS now. The environment’s better because the stadium has fans on all sides of it now. You don’t have an open side like you had before. Certainly the environment’s good; it’s second-best in the league.”
On how the Portland-Seattle rivalry compares to other rivalries in U.S. sports:
“Being from Southern California, this is like UCLA-USC. This is Texas-Texas A&M. I think the college rivalries are sometimes more intense than the rivalries are at the pro level, with the exception of maybe Red Sox-Yankees. I think it’s very comparable to the best college rivalries that you see. For somebody who watched the game today, this is what we hope it would be like in every stadium we go to. Even the fans in other MLS cities who watched this game – imagine what it would be like if they could recreate this environment at every stadium in the league. It would shoot the game through the top. It would become must-see TV.”
Forward Fredy Montero
On the meaning of this game, individually and for the team:
“For me it was amazing so I feel very happy because I scored twice. The most important thing is the three points for the team, looking forward to the playoffs.”
On the header that would have been his third goal:
“When you haven’t scored in the last game, you are thinking to score just one. But now that I’ve scored two, I feel happy. Maybe next game I can score three goals.”
On whether he wanted to take the penalty kick:
“Sure, I felt confident, but Sigi (Schmid) said the penalty is for Ozzie. He’s the boss. I had to say, ‘Okay Ozzie. Let’s score the goal.’”
On extra work on free kicks:
“When the games are really close, I don’t have that many opportunities to score. Free kicks are a chance for me to score. I felt really happy because it was a great moment in the game for us. I think the team is looking forward to getting into first place.”
Forward Roger Levesque
On the environment:
“It’s as exciting an atmosphere as I’ve played in here in Portland. With the game going how it did – us going down a goal, fighting back, going down a goal, fighting back – I think it just kept building and building and creating that drama to the very end, when the good guys came out on top.”
On any tactical differences between the first and second halves:
“With them scoring that goal right [at the beginning of the second half], it forced us to come out and play. We knew we had to go at them. I think in the first half, both teams we were still feeling each other out. Both teams were getting a lot of players behind the ball defensively, so there wasn’t a whole lot of room to attack. But once they got that goal at the beginning of the second half, at that point it’s a battle. We’ve got to go, we’ve got to do something to get back into it. I think that’s why the second half opened up so much more.”
Goalkeeper Kasey Keller
On the game overall:
“It’s a team effort and the team is putting in the effort. We’re getting the rewards for it. Especially when go down as unlucky as we had on two occasions. At different times in the last three years, the team might have folded, but that’s not the case right now. The team knows that we’re capable of coming back. We’re capable of riding any kind of situation, and we can get results out of it.
On the atmosphere of JELD-WEN Field:
“It’s a great atmosphere here. It’s a great park. At some stage I wish them all the best of success, as long as they’re just one place below us. In this country, you want to see franchises like this with this kind of support be successful. It’s a great place to play a game. It kind of goes back to the decision of playing another year of these games and I’m just happy to have this one in the memory banks.”
Notes:
-
During halftime, it was announced on the ESPN broadcast that Portland’s Jack Jewsbury had been named to the 2011 AT&T MLS All-Star First XI in advance of the upcoming MLS All-Star Game at Red Bull Arena on Wednesday, July 27.
-
Sunday marked the 76th all-time matchup between the Timbers and Sounders. The Cascadia rivalry began in 1975 when the two clubs were members of the original North American Soccer League and has continued through the Western Soccer League, United Soccer Leagues and now MLS. Seattle also won the first match as NASL foes on May 2, 1975, at then-called Civic Stadium.
-
In the 76 meetings between Portland and Seattle, the Timbers are 27-40-9 all-time. The Timbers hold a lead in the all-time series against the Sounders in Portland at 19-17-2.
-
The Timbers have had 11 sell-out crowds overall (10 MLS, 1 Exhibition) at JELD-WEN Field in 2011. The exhibition against AFC Ajax also drew a capacity crowd.
-
With the win, Seattle takes the lead in the race for the Cascadia Cup – a fan-based derby between Portland, Seattle and Vancouver Whitecaps FC based upon the head-to-head record between the three Northwest clubs. Seattle now has five points, followed by Portland and Vancouver with one.
-
For the first time this season, the Timbers were handed a loss after scoring the game’s first goal. Prior to Sunday, the Timbers were a perfect 5-0-0 when scoring first against their opponent.
-
Portland’s James Marcelin made his fifth start of the season on Sunday; it was his first league start since April 23 at LA Galaxy.
-
The penalty kick conceded by the Timbers in the 83rd minute was the eighth goal allowed this season by the Timbers during the final 15 minutes of a match.
-
For the second time in four matches, the Timbers have been involved in a game in which five combined goals were scored in the second half – a season high. Five total goals were scored in the second half of the Timbers’ 3-3 draw against the New York Red Bulls on June 19 at JELD-WEN Field.
-
Perkins’ four saves against Seattle marked the fifth time this season in which he has recorded four or more saves in a game. He’s logged four or more saves in four of the team’s last six games.
-
Portland was out-shot by Seattle 14-11; it was just the second time at home this season in which the Timbers had been out-shot by their opponent. The other occasion was against the Columbus Crew on May 21 in the Timbers’ 1-0 win.
-
The Timbers fall to 1-3-0 overall in day matches and are now even at 2-2-0 in home games in which they enter halftime tied with their opponent. Additionally, Portland is now 2-2-0 against Western Conference opponents at JELD-WEN Field.
- Brunner is the first Timbers player to be issued a red card this season and becomes the first in the club’s MLS history to see a straight red. He will miss the Timbers’ next match against Chicago due to a one-game, league-imposed suspension for being ejected.
