Quotes: Portland Timbers vs. Cal FC
Portland Timbers Quotes
Head coach John Spencer
On the Timbers’ loss:
"There's no explaining it, to be honest with you. When you get 40-something shots on goal, and 39 of them go over the crossbar, you ain't going to win games. And just like the Vancouver game over the weekend, when you don't finish your chances you're not going to win games. Teams punish you and they punished us."
On the team’s chances to score:
"We had the chances to win the game. But there's no use talking about 'you had this, you had that,' you've got to score goals to win the game. I can feel the fan’s frustration, I can hear their frustrations. Obviously the players are very frustrated in the locker room. They know they never did well, never got the job done."
More thoughts:
"There's no excuses for tonight. No excuses whatsoever. We should come here, we should win the game. I don't think we should win the game easy, but I don't think we should lose the game. Not at all. Totally unacceptable. And there are no excuses."
Forward Kris Boyd
On if Cal FC did anything to bother the team:
"I don't think so. You're always going to have a chance in games, but I think when you see we've got 43 attempts on goal, we need to score. Simple as that."
On not advancing in the tournament:
"We had to take care of our team tonight. We didn't do that. They're going to the next round. I watched them a lot, but as I said, we're gutted and we're embarrassed to have lost the game."
On the team’s scoring chances:
"Everybody in the forward areas need to have a look at themselves, and we must score. When you have that many chances in a game, you've got to score goals. It's as simple as that. It's impossible to have that amount and not score. It's one of their nights."
Cal FC Quotes
Head coach Eric Wynalda
Thoughts on the match:
“Obviously, tonight wasn’t Portland’s night. They had their chances and it just didn’t work out for them. We kind of had a plan and that was to sustain a lot of pressure. We definitely are not fit enough to play with these guys, because we had to change our line up six times before tonight. Within our forward who scored the goal, we saw that it was the way to go. We only trained once this week, so all credit to us being able to pull out of here with a win, it’s pretty amazing.”
On his team’s game plan:
“At times we played great getting out of pressure, even with playing with one forward to start. I thought we did better when we put two forwards up front. We finished the game with five forwards at the end of the game, and our expectations with this group continue to surprise me. I don’t know how to describe it, they are just an amazing group of kids.”
On advancing in the tournament:
“We have limited resources and not the money [Sounders FC] do. Finding a place to train is something we look for because we’re right in the middle of something special, and we want to make sure we’re prepared.
On Cal FC’s style of play:
“We love to categorize ourselves as a possession team. My guys are young and they will take a lot from this game. They always try to step up what they can do and because of that they have come together very quickly.”
Forward Artur Aghasyan
On scoring the game-winning goal:
“Seriously I don’t remember, I just know I chipped it and there it was, in the back of the net.”
On continuing on in the U.S. Open Cup:
“This is a big deal for me. With our teamwork, we deserve to be where we are. We will continue to move along to where we want to go.”
On playing against the Timbers:
“This is a very good group. I found my game here and this is our opportunity to show big teams that we can do more.”
Notes:
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The 2012 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup marks the 99th edition of the tournament, which was first played in 1914. The 2012 tournament field includes 64 teams, the largest of the professional era (1996-present), and began May 15. Every winning team’s name is engraved on the base of the Dewar Challenge Trophy.
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The Timbers entered their first U.S. Open Cup tournament as an MLS side in 2012. All 16 U.S.-based MLS clubs entered the 2012 U.S. Open Cup in the third round.
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Of the 16 third-round matches in the 2012 U.S. Open Cup, four went into extra time and one was even decided on penalty kicks.
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Portland wore its retro-inspired third kits for Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup tilt against Cal FC. It was the second time this season in which the Timbers wore that kit, the other was for an MLS match against Real Salt Lake on March 31.
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Cal FC featured two players Wednesday with Timbers connections. Defender Mike Randolph played his rookie season with the second-division Timbers in 2006 and was a finalist for the USL First Division Rookie of the Year. Additionally, defender Jesus Gonzalez played the 2011 season with the Timbers’ development team, the Timbers U-23s, in the Premier Development League.
- Defenders Futty Danso (The Gambia) and Steve Purdy (El Salvador, midfielders Lovel Palmer (Jamaica) and Rodney Wallace (Costa Rica) and goalkeeper Jake Gleeson (New Zealand) are all currently away on national team duty and not available for the Timbers’ U.S. Open Cup match.
