Portland Timbers Quotes
Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter
On his approach at halftime…
“I think that’s irrelevant because the game was basically over. First half was unacceptable. So I will start off by apologizing to the supporters because that performance, the mistakes we made, giving up a goal three minutes in and then compound it by making two more mistakes to be down 3-0 at halftime. Obviously the guys played with pride in that second half, but the game is over, 3-0, you don’t see teams win games down 3-0 very often in the world.”
On if the team wasn’t ready to play…
“I don’t think it had anything to do with being ready to play, it was just when a mistake is made that costs your team a goal three minutes in obviously the whole game changes. It’s a pattern that we’ve given up the first goal from mistakes. Mistakes on the ball and mistakes defensively.”
On what needs to change defensively and if he has the personnel to solve the issues…
“We have to. Obviously we’ve got a game here coming up, so we will see.”
On if the performance by the midfield without Darlington Nagbe shows how special of a player he is…
“Hard to tell when you make mistakes and give up goals. I mean it’s impossible to win games. It’s impossible to judge really even if we played well in the front because when you are down 3-0, the game is over. To be honest with you I felt bad for some of the guys because they gave everything they had from start to finish, but the mistakes meant that we were never in the game and that’s the fourth time now that’s happened. And it’s unacceptable and it will be corrected. I don’t know how it happened. I don’t know why it happened. I don’t know why we made those mistakes. I don’t know why were so opened up defensively. We talked about playing direct early in the game and we didn’t do that. We’ve got two days to sort it and I’ve got to look at everything. I’ve got to figure out lineup, system, personnel. We can’t overreact; obviously it’s one game, but the pattern of us giving up goals is a pattern that needs to change because it’s unacceptable; I’m not going to accept it and that performance in the first half is not going to be something that’s going to happen again on my watch and I apologize to the fans.”
On if not having as many players to rotate and having to deal with injuries was a factor…
“It doesn’t matter. You have to figure it out. You have to manage it. No one cares the reasons, the excuses, it’s all about getting results and getting the job done. You build your team to have depth, to manage injuries and you never like it when it happens, but it’s happened. So we have to manage it. We made positive steps forward in the last game and we took steps backward today. But I think it’s really simple what happened. We made mistakes really early in the game that led directly to goals and it’s simple mistakes that should never happen at this level. We make a mistake three minutes in, we get caught on the ball and then it’s a quick counter and we don’t manage that situation and you’re down 1-0. Sometimes those happen, but it shouldn’t happen three minutes in. It definitely shouldn’t happen again because the first two mistakes were the same mistake where we were caught on the ball. It's a bad play out of us and it can’t happen and it won’t happen moving forward because we are going to correct it.”
On if he thinks the team still has that hunger he talked about during preseason…
“I don’t think anything today has to do with not having hunger. Like I said, it’s mistakes. It’s really difficult to lump the entire team’s mentality into a few situations that led to us being in a hole. That sends a funk in the whole team because guys know that it’s nearly impossible to come back.”
Portland Timbers midfielder Diego Valeri
On approach to second half after going down…
“We knew that it would be very hard to get back into the game, but you know you have 45 minutes to play and we tried to push the game and we tried to score as soon as possible, and I think we had opportunities to score at least one more goal, but it was a very hard game to come back from. They, obviously, defended with 11 guys trying to counter every time. We tried to push the game and create. I think we did well in the second half as a team. We need to restart because we have a game on Saturday.”
On learning from the match…
“It’s hard to scout now right after the game. We’ll see tomorrow how we fix our mistakes and try to work in the positive things, because that’s soccer.”
Portland Timbers defender Chris Klute
On moving on from the match …
“We need to start the game better. We’ve conceded the first goal in four games, so that’s something we definitely need to correct. It’s a long season, so we have to move forward and fight until the end.”
On approach at halftime…
“You never want to go down 3-0 in the first half. We brought it in, tried to keep everyone’s head in and try to get the first goal, and the second will come.”
FC Dallas Quotes
FC Dallas head coach Óscar Pareja
On getting a win at Providence Park…
“This place is difficult. It has been a challenge for us. We played against a very good team but we have a group of players today that came out very sharp, especially in the first 45 minutes. They accomplished the game plan so we’re very happy. In the second half, obviously Portland’s reaction complicated things. We had a chance to score probably two goals more before Portland’s goal. I have to give the credit to these guys that hold on to the result. They deserve the points that we take home tonight.”
On the importance of the road win...
“We have had three games away this year. We went to Houston and obviously had a bad experience but also we went to D.C. United, a difficult place to play against a very good team, also and we beat them 3-0. Tonight’s performance just shows that it was not a coincidence but we have to keep building on that part. We’re far from being what we want. It’s a team that always wants more. We take the experiences out of every game but today we’re pleased. We’ll take three points out of a top place again.”
FC Dallas goalkeeper Chris Seitz
On the win…
“We had two results at home that didn’t necessarily go the way we wanted them to go and we were hungry and we knew we need to make up for it here. Obviously you see the start that we had and the pressure we put on them early and it obviously paid dividends.”
On the atmosphere at Providence Park...
“It’s always very loud and passionate and who doesn’t want to pay in that atmosphere? We knew we had a tough task ahead of us and we knew that we needed to really put on a perfect game to come out of here with points. The guys put a hell of a first half together and the second half I think we showed our maturity a little bit and what we learned last year in the playoffs.”
Notes:
- Forward Darren Mattocks recorded his first goal since joining the Timbers on March 14.
- Mattocks’ finish marked his 20th goal in MLS play, moving him into a tie with Deshorn Brown for the sixth-most goals scored by a Jamaican-born player in MLS history.
- Chris Klute made a career-high nine tackles during Wednesday’s match – the most by a Timber this season and the fourth-most by any MLS player in 2016.
- The Timbers have scored seven second-half goals this season, which is the second most in MLS, trailing only the LA Galaxy (8).
- Diego Valeri led Portland with five shots in Wednesday’s match, marking the 16th game in which he has taken five or more shots since joining Portland in 2013.
- Portland is one of five MLS teams to record a goal in each game so far this season.
