Quotes: Portland Timbers at Columbus Crew
Portland Timbers Quotes
Timbers head coach Caleb Porter
On makeup of team:
“This is a great group of guys. They’re disappointed, and obviously they should be because we lost, we haven’t lost in quite a while. But for me there’s no failure, there’s just feedback. The feedback I got today was very positive in a lot of ways, again reinforcing just how tough and strong this team is. We got better today, even though we lost. You can get better through losses just as much as you get better through positive results. But sometimes it takes feeling defeat to really stay sharp and stay hungry.”
On going down a goal early but fighting back despite going down a man:
“That was a rocky start and ultimately, that first 13 minutes cost us the game. Absolutely admirable for our guys to play 80-plus minutes down a man – we didn’t give up a goal and we had chances to level. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a team go that long down a man and not give up a goal; but we should have never been in that situation to begin with. We were down a goal prior to getting the red, so I thought overall our start to the game is what probably did us in. Yet, I think the next 80-plus minutes reinforced just how strong, tough and driven this team is. We had as much of the game as they did, even down a man. We had four or five chances that could’ve fell and earned us a point – but it’s not a bad thing to taste defeat, we haven’t in fifteen games. We’ve had a great run of results, and now that it’s midseason, it’s not all that bad to get bloodied and taste defeat. This team will respond positively from defeat, like good teams do, and I’m looking forward to seeing their response next week against the LA Galaxy next weekend at home.”
Timbers defender Jack Jewsbury
On tonight’s performance:
“We’re disappointed, as you’d expect, to come out of here with a loss. I think we kind of shot ourselves in the foot with how we started the game in the first 10, 15 minutes. We’re proud of the guys in terms of the way we battled back the last 75, 80 minutes a man down. To be quite honest, we had a lot of the ball and created a lot of chances for being a man down, and really, we kind of drove the game. From that aspect we’re going to hold our heads high from the way we responded to an early goal, but we definitely have to start better than we did today. Big game against LA next weekend, so we can’t hang our heads for too long.”
On pushing for the equalizer a man down:
“We came out of halftime wanting to create chances and we created enough to try and get that first one –but it didn’t fall for us. We had a couple really good clear chances in that second half and I’m sure we’d like to have them back, but at the end of the day, great fight by the guys and we’ve got to get back to work this week to play against LA.”
On keeping the Crew from scoring playing with 10 men:
“I think it was a wake-up call, going a man down and being disappointed in our start. I think we’re a team that likes to possess the ball, and whether we had 10 or 11 on the field, it’s not going to change much for us – we just lost a man in the attack. While that hurt us a little bit, at the end of the day it was a good fight and we were unfortunate not to get out of here [Crew Stadium] with a result.”
Timbers forward Darlington Nagbe
On Portland’s 15-match unbeaten streak coming to an end:
“I don't really think about the streak or that we lost the streak – I don’t think any of the guys were thinking about it. We’re just mad that we didn’t get the win and the chance to move up in the table.”
On the message at halftime:
“He [Caleb Porter] just told us to be positive. We went out there and kept the ball; even with a man down we still played our game. It was good, he told us we were going to get chances in the second half and we did, we just didn’t put them away. Overall, it was a good performance.”
Columbus Crew Quotes
Crew head coach Robert Warzycha
On the win:
“Home field advantage this year has not been very good to us. Maybe now this is a start for us. Today, even with a new lineup, we started the game very well. We scored a goal, got a penalty kick, and obviously the red card. The rest of the way, I don't think it was pretty, but it was effective. The defense played very well. We had some breakaways where the last pass was very important. But we did what we had to do to win.”
On possession statistics:
“I don't think I was disappointed, but we should have done a better job of moving the ball quicker and side to side to make them chase. But it's usually difficult to play a man up. You think you have an advantage and maybe you don't have to worry. And that's why sometimes the game looks like this. But it is what it is, we got three points and I don't want to judge anybody.”
Crew midfielder Wil Trapp
On what it meant to start his first MLS match:
“It’s awesome. It feels great. To get the three points is even more important.”
On ending Portland’s 15-match unbeaten streak:
“It’s kind of funny that it would come in this game against Caleb [Portler], especially at home. But when you get in the lines, you do not think about that stuff. To win the game is the most important thing.”
Crew goalkeeper Matt Lampson
On his 87th-minute save:
“Honestly, that is a save that I should make. Danny [O’Rourke] did very well to make the shot predictable for me. So if he does his job I’m going to do my job and that’s what ends up happening. When a goalkeeper makes a save like that, if fills the entire team with the confidence that we knew we were going to get out of here with a win. I was pretty confident after we scored; the way we played for 90 minutes you can play like that every game and get away with a one-nothing win. Incredible team effort, and defensive effort from everyone and I think a lot of people had the best game of the year they had this year.”
On making a tough save:
“That is one of the toughest things about being a goalkeeper; you can stand around for 88 minutes then have to make a big save. Coming out for a corner about 25 minutes into the game really got rid of my butterflies and from then on I had a lot of confidence. It felt good out there playing. The guys in front of me, the Chads [Marshall and Barson], Josh [Williams] and Danny [O’Rourke] did extremely well to make my job easier. I have to give credit to those guys first.”
Notes:
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The Timbers’ 15 match unbeaten streak is an MLS club record and is tied for the fourth-longest unbeaten streak in MLS history. The LA Galaxy assembled 15-match unbeaten streaks on two occasions, spanning the 1997-98 and 2009-10 seasons.
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Timbers head coach Caleb Porter owns the longest unbeaten streak by a first-year MLS head coach in the history of the league at 15 games. Portland’s unbeaten run is the longest in MLS this season.
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The road loss was the Timbers’ first of the 2013 campaign, and ended a road unbeaten streak at 10 games, dating back to Oct. 21, 2012. Portland had become just the second club in MLS history to assemble a road unbeaten streak of 10 or more games.
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The Timbers still have the fewest losses (2) this season in MLS.
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The Timbers had been able to come back to earn a point in each of the last four matches (1-0-3) in which they conceded the first goal.
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The Crew take the lead in the all-time MLS series against the Timbers with a 2-1-0 record. There have been just three combined goals in the series between the two clubs.
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Sunday’s match marked just the third time in 18 league games in which the Timbers were held scoreless.
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The 36 combined fouls between the two sides was the second-most combined fouls in a Timbers match this season. Portland and Seattle Sounders FC combined for 37 fouls on March 16.
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The red card issued to Pa Modou Kah in the 11th minute against the Crew was the second given to a Timbers player this season and the earliest given to the Timbers as an MLS club.
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Goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts made his 120th regular-season start in his MLS career and ranks among league leaders for active goalkeepers in starts.
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The goal in the fifth minute by Columbus’ Bernardo Anor snapped Ricketts’ individual shutout streak at 401 consecutive minutes (May 18-25; June 15-July 6) – a Timbers MLS record. The last goal Ricketts had allowed was on May 18 in the 54th minute at Vancouver.
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Ricketts’ 401-minute shutout streak is the third-longest in MLS this season and he owns two shutout streaks of 300 or more minutes in 2013.
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Anor’s strike was the second-quickest goal against the Timbers this season and ended the club’s run of consecutive shutout play at 283 minutes. It was also the first goal scored directly off a corner kick against Portland’s defense in 2013.
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Defender Michael Harrington returned to the Starting XI against Columbus after missing one game due to an ankle injury sustained against the Galaxy on June 19.
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Midfielder Michael Nanchoff made his first MLS appearance as a member of the Timbers, entering the match as a substitute in the 82nd minute.
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Timbers midfielder Will Johnson (Canada) and Rodney Wallace (Costa Rica) and forward Frederic Piquionne (Martinique) were unavailable for Sunday’s match due to national team duty for the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup.
- Earlier in the day, Will Johnson was named to the 2013 MLS All-Star Fan XI as one of the top vote-getters for the 2013 AT&T MLS All-Star Game by fans. It is the second All-Star selection of his MLS career.
