Portland Timbers Quotes
Timbers general manager/interim head coach Gavin Wilkinson
On what he told the team after the match:
“Just the fact that hopefully we’re getting our bad luck out of the way. There’s no questioning their work ethic, their character, their desire. I thought the fans were absolutely tremendous. I thought they added an awful lot tonight. And I thought our players responded very, very positively. We we’re very aggressive, going after it at the end of the game. I think we put them under a lot of pressure, we forced their keeper into some very, very good saves, and I can’t remember a save that Joe Bendik had to pull off, to be honest. I’m happy with the performance. The first 15 minutes, I thought we were very, very poor. And we got ourselves into the game, and there was no looking back.”
On how the team responded after giving up the goal:
“I thought they were more [ticked] off and annoyed. They felt that they’d been hard done by. They felt that they’ve probably dealt with enough of this, this season, and their response was a positive one. They didn’t sink into the game, they didn’t sit back. They didn’t feel sorry for themselves, they responded positively, and it just goes to show a lot about the guys. I think the fans we’re absolutely tremendous, and it’s the player’s way of showing them that they do truly care.”
On if the result is a sign of maturity and growth for the team:
“Especially where we’re at in the table right now, I think to have that sense of pride to play here, to have that urgency to come back from behind is very, very important. But I think you’ve seen it as of late. It’s Salt Lake, we’ve gone down 2-0, two free kicks, and we’ve climbed our way back into the game, and performed in the second half very well. So I think the group is maturing. I think it is developing. I do think we’ve got some bright players, some bright prospects, and it’s just another sign that we’re not far away.”
Timbers forward Bright Dike
On taking the result forward:
“Exactly. Just take how we played in that second half, and bring it to Seattle. And I think, hopefully, we get a good result if we play like that.”
On responding after giving up a goal:
“It’s just one of those plays where you feel like you’re hard done by, and you want to fight back what was done to you.”
On his goal:
“The ball was just loose in there, and I just dribbled around him and tried to hit a left foot on target. And luckily, it was in the back of the net. I just tried to hit it clean and on target.”
Timbers midfielder Jack Jewsbury
On the team’s play after the D.C. United goal:
“I thought our reaction after that was very good from the group. We continued to press, press and press until Bright [Dike] got the goal, and then had a few more chances. To not put our heads down and continue to fight was good tonight.”
On if this is a year of bad breaks:
“I don’t know. It seems to be going that way right now. But at the end of the day, we got three games left. We want to finish strong. We got a big one next weekend in Seattle. We all know what’s at stake there, and we want to finish things on a high note.”
On Dike’s performance as of late:
“He’s come in to make the most of an opportunity. He’s continued to put defenses under pressure. The goal tonight, it was just opportunistic, and I think that’s some of the things he does best. He makes the most of small things, and tonight he gets on the end of it, and gets us back in the game.”
D.C. United Quotes
D.C. United head coach Ben Olsen
Overall thoughts on the match:
“It’s always fun to come here, it really is. It’s such a great atmosphere and a great city; that’s first off. A tie is probably fair when all is said and done. It’s disappointing when you have the lead and give it up, and only get one point out of it. I thought we gave them a lot of their chances, which is disappointing. We have to find ways now to kill games off and we’ve done a pretty good job of that as of late, but it will help if we can find a way now to get the second [goal] when we do have the lead and teams are pushing. Things to work on, but overall, it’s a big point for us.”
On building off tonight’s result:
“It’s a long way and to come away with something is a positive especially with our road form this year. It hasn’t been stellar, but as of late we got a win and a tie on the road so, it’s something to build on. We’re in a heated race, some teams picked up some points on us, but in the standings it’s a huge point.”
On the handball called on Portland:
“I think it’s a handball. I still got to look at it, but I’m pretty sure when they look at it, they’ll agree with the call. With the emotions of the game, it wasn’t real obvious. I didn’t even see the handball, so I’m sure the fans didn’t see it either. I give credit to the linesman if it was, it’s a good cal and a tough call to make in this atmosphere.”
D.C. United forward Chris Pontius
Overall thoughts on the match:
“I think both teams had spurts where we had better of the play and created some chances, and I think in the end a 1-1 tie is something good for us, a point on the road in a tough place to play.”
On building on tonight’s result:
“It’s tight in the East right now, and Houston and Columbus picked up wins tonight, so we got to go to Toronto and get three points there and see things out the rest of the way. We control our own destiny, that’s what you want, so we’re in a position to do that.”
On the physicality of the match:
“Very physical. Every time you come play here it’s a tight field, so you know it’s going to be chippy and you prepare for that and you expect that. I thought they did a good job of winning some head balls and, me and Lio [Pajoy] are just trying to create as much havoc for them as possible, find good spots and hopefully make them make some decisions where we can force them out of their shape and get some looks on goal.”
D.C. United defender Brandon McDonald
Overall thoughts on the match:
“It was a tough one man. It’s not easy coming here and playing. They’re into the crowd; the crowd is like a 12th man for them, so for us it was a lot of hard work and a lot of battling. They got a lot of big boys front and back, so for us coming out, it’s a good road result, but some guys feel like we could have come out with a little bit more. We would have liked three points, but they came back and fought hard to salvage a goal. For us, it’s one of those things where we’d like to have three but we’ll take the road point.”
On Portland coming back to tie:
“They’ve got a good attack. That’s their game plan. When you look at film and how they play, I think they’re putting as many as they can forward. The 90 minutes that we battled, I looked up in the second half, and it was 90 minutes; I was like ‘where’d all the time go?’ For me, it was one of those things where it was battle, battle, constant battle.”
On the handball called on Portland:
“I didn’t see it. I was back there, I thought he was calling a foul, I didn’t know what happened and then I look at the assistant referee and he calls a handball. I didn’t see it, didn’t see it on the jumbo-tron and didn’t look. It’s their job to do what they’re here to do and they’re paid to do, so for me my job is to worry about me and go out and play.”
Referee Quotes (Questions submitted by pool reporter Geoffrey C. Arnold, The Oregonian)
Referee Michael Kennedy
Describe the play in which the penalty kick was awarded. Why the handball call?
Your first question was answered by your second question. The penalty kick was called due to No. 12 [David] Horst handling the ball.
Because No. 12 Horst handled the ball inside the penalty area.
What part of Horst’s arm handled the ball?
The underside of his upper arm.
Notes:
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Portland is unbeaten in its last five home matches, posting a 2-0-3 record in that span.
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The Timbers and D.C. United met for the lone time during the 2012 regular season. United leads the all-time MLS series with Portland 1-0-2.
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D.C United was the Timbers final regular-season match against an Eastern Conference opponent. The Timbers went unbeaten against Eastern Conference clubs (3-0-2) at JELD-WEN Field this season, and 3-3-4 overall in 2012.
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The Timbers backline held United to two shots on goal, matching a season-low by an opponent. The other Timbers opponents that were held to just a pair of shots on frame are Philadelphia (March 12), Sporting Kansas City (April 21) and Chivas USA (July 18).
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United attempted just three second-half shots and did not attempt a shot after scoring in the 60th minute.
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Timbers forward Bright Dike scored in a second straight game, notching his fourth goal in the last eight matches.
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Dike became the third player this season to score in consecutive games; forward Kris Boyd and midfielder Darlington Nagbe are the others to do so. He’s the sixth player in Timbers MLS history to score in back-to-back matches.
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Dike’s goal in the 79th minute snapped United’s run of shut out play at 320 minutes, which spanned four matches. United entered the match having shut out its last two opponents.
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The penalty kick awarded to United was the fifth awarded to a Timbers opponent this season.
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D.C. United had a five-match winning streak in games in which it score first entering Saturday’s contest. The Timbers are now 1-11-4 this season when allowing the first goal of a match.
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Timbers defender Hanyer Mosquera left the field with a strained right hamstring and was replaced by defender Futty Danso in the 25th minute. Danso made his first league appearance since July 21.
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Of the combined 22 starters for both clubs, eight are 24 years of age or younger – five for D.C. United and three for the Timbers. Of the eight, five were named to the MLSsoccer.com “24 Under 24,” in Portland’s Darlington Nagbe and United’s Nick DeLeon, Bill Hamid, Perry Kitchen and Andy Najar.
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Nagbe was college teammates with United defender Chris Korb and Kitchen at the University of Akron under coach Caleb Porter, who will become the Timbers head coach in 2013.
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Portland Homegrown Player Brent Richards came on as a substitute in second-half stoppage time, making his first league appearance since Aug. 5 against FC Dallas.
- In Cascadia Cup action Saturday, Seattle Sounders FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC played to a scoreless draw at BC Place in Vancouver, B.C. With the result, the Timbers (2-0-2, 8pts) have a two point lead in the Cascadia Cup standings over Seattle (1-1-3, 6pts). The Timbers visit Sounders FC on Oct. 7, with a chance to win the Cascadia Cup.
