Portland Timbers Quotes
Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter
Thoughts on the game…
“I thought we deserved something out of the game, at least a draw. But, credit to Vancouver for that second half and clawing back in to score two goals. The reason I felt we deserved something out of it is because we were up 1-0 at the start of the second half, in a great position and getting looks on counter attacks. We do a bit better on a couple of those chances that we had, which were very good opportunities, and the game is different. Obviously, we’d be up 2-0 and now the game is very difficult for Vancouver. But, at the very least, if you don’t score the second goal, we need to ride the game out. I thought their first goal changed things a little bit. It was kind of a broken play. A throw-in that deflected a little bit and squirted to Kudo. Credit to him, he took it well to put it to that near post at a tight angle. And then I thought they had a bit of momentum after that. I thought that goal turned things a little bit. Prior to that goal, I thought it was all us. And it looked like we were going to score a second goal and get 3 points. But, goals change games and the momentum turned and I thought the second goal was a little bit unfortunate as well. So, they get two goals and now it’s 2-1. I thought at the end that we made a good push and we had some very good chances to level. This is one of those games where when you watch the tape, you’ll see that we should’ve been up 2-0. We should’ve at the very least pulled a goal back to go 2-2, which is why I feel like we deserved something out of the game. But that’s the way it falls some games and we’ll have to put it behind us. Congratulations to Vancouver. They get a big three points. We’ll see them in a couple weeks, and hopefully we can get those three points back.”
On Jake Gleeson’s overall performance…
“Obviously when there’s a new goalkeeper he’s under the microscope a bit. He made some big saves last game and some big saves today as well. I actually thought his response is what you want to see. When you have a young goalkeeper, you want to see how they respond to mistakes, and I thought down 2-1 on a couple set pieces, he was outstanding and that’s what you want to see. The mistakes always get magnified, and there will be more mistakes. When you look at the best goalkeepers in this league, they make mistakes. Usually their mistakes lead to a goal. He knows he could’ve done better on it. He’s a good guy and he feels bad for that goal, but I liked his response and he’ll move on from it. He’ll continue to make saves, and there’ll be more mistakes down the road and the microscope will be less visible as time goes on.”
On if the possession trends was a tactical move…
“I think part of it is tactical and part of it is when you’re on the road you know the opponent is going to push. and, we’ve been very good in transition and, like I said, if we’re a little bit better on the counter and in that final third, when you look back, we had probably four five chances that should’ve been clear goals. So, we get those counters by absorbing a little bit, but I also do think that we can be better in our passing game as well. So, it’s a little bit of both. Tactical and us keeping the ball better at times."
On the team giving up a lot of shots…
“A lot of them were from distance, or not on frame so sometimes shots don’t always tell the story. I thought they got some good looks, certainly. Especially late when it was 2-1 and mostly on set pieces. So, yeah, I think we can step our line out a little higher at times. But, what I look at is the quality of chances and how their created, not just the shots.”
On how Vancouver’s progression since last season…
“Well, it’s not my team so it’s not my job to talk about them (Vancouver). But, I have a lot of respect for the club. I have a lot of respect for Carl. We’ve had some great battles with their team. Similar to us, they’re still figuring it out a little bit, developing that continuity and consistency, top lineup, top system. Gameplan-wise, the best way to approach home and away because that does change things. A lot of it too is just getting goals and getting confidence. We had a pretty good run, seven points in the last three games. We dropped points today, but hopefully we can get on another run and that’s what this league is about, getting on a run like last year for us. We got on a run, and we settled on a lineup. We made a few tweaks, but Carl has been able to figure things out over the long haul so I’m confident that he’ll do it again.”
On the atmosphere at BC Place…
“Yeah great game, great crowd. We always like coming here. Like I said, both teams want to win. It was an intense game at times but a lot of respect between the two teams.”
Portland Timbers defender Liam Ridgewell
Thoughts on the match…
“Yeah, obviously disappointed, being up a goal. We were obviously thinking that we can go and get a result that we wanted. But, that’s football. We didn’t put away our chances at the start of the second half, and we got punished for it. So, it’s a tough one to take but we have to try and quickly forget about it, as we have to go on the road again on Wednesday at Dallas.”
On how the team felt about the defensive performance…
“I think they (Vancouver) played very well. You know, let’s not take anything away from Vancouver. They played very well and slipped inside a lot and got a lot of shots away. I don’t think that they had too many clear opportunities, but they certainly did well and worked the ball very well. We were defending for a lot of the game, but I think we played very well. It’s just something to take on to Dallas.”
Portland Timbers forward Darren Mattocks
On the team’s reaction to the loss…
“We can’t get too down about it, obviously we would have loved to pick up three points, at least a tie away. You know, it’s unfortunate, I think we deserved something out of that game. But it’s a really quick turnaround, we’ve got to move forward, travelling tomorrow, going to Dallas.”
On whether it was strange playing his first game at BC Place as a visitor…
“Not really. I mean I enjoyed my four years playing in Vancouver and in general life takes you places that sometimes you don’t know. Obviously I have a lot of past teammates here and I really enjoy those guys, but for me, I am on the Timbers now and I’m happy to be here, so that’s good.”
Vancouver Whitecaps FC Quotes
Vancouver Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson
Thoughts on the match…
“I thought from the first minute to the last minute, I thought the intensity of the team, the effort, the application was spot on. And the football took care of itself today, I think we played some super stuff. We didn’t score enough from our chances. I said to them at halftime, it’s a good performance, but the result we’re on the wrong end of. Sometimes you’ve got to roll your sleeves up, pull your socks up, and get on with it. Don’t feel sorry for yourself, and the boys didn’t in the second half. We continued with the intensity and continued to create chances. I think it’s a little bit fortuitous the winning goal as it happened, but give Jake Gleeson a lot of credit. He made some wonderful saves again this week. So, I think we deserved to win.”
On his team’s second-half effort…
“I think we showed today what we can be. I think every man from one to eleven was very, very strong. That’s the standard I require from them. When they drop below that standard, me and my coaches we’ve got to be on these guys because they’re good players. They don’t mean to put in bad performances and not play to their level, but as long as they put the work in. And especially in derby games, we talked today [about the] great atmosphere, it’s a sell-out here, the MLS Cup champs who are a good team. They’re a very, very good team, they’ve got a Player of the Month (Adi) in the team, and we limited him to one chance maybe. And they got their noses in front, so maybe it was just our day.”
Vancouver Whitecaps defender Fraser Aird
On what Carl Robinson said at halftime:
“Just keep doing what we’re doing. I thought we created enough chances, didn’t take them, but I thought we created a lot more than they did. Unfortunate to give a goal away, but the manager said to just keep doing what we’re doing and if we show what we did in the first half then the ball will go in the back of the net and we’ll get a result. And it did.”
On defending Darren Mattocks and any extra motivation:
“Not really. It’s like playing every week. I’ve played against another good player again today in Darren. He did his best and I felt I’d done very well against him.”
Vancouver Whitecaps FC midfielder Christian Bolanos
On scoring three goals in three games…
“I’m happy because we win the game, it’s not because I scored three goals in three games. I’m happy because of the performance today, and we deserved to win the three points. I think we played very well today.”
On his goal…
“I tried to play the ball for Blas. He moved very good, so he didn’t touch the ball, but I think Blas made the problem for the goalkeeper. That’s why he’s thinking, ‘maybe Blas touch the ball’. So it was lucky, but it’s good. So this goal is 95 percent for Blas.”
Notes:
- Portland midfielder Darlington Nagbe recorded an assist against Vancouver for the fourth time in his career on Saturday. Nagbe’s four assists against Whitecaps FC ties his career high for the most assists against a single club, with Nagbe also recording four assists against the LA Galaxy since joining MLS in 2011.
- Nagbe has recorded an assist in consecutive road matches.
- Timbers forward Fanendo Adi has recorded a goal or an assist in four consecutive matches. Adi has also notched a goal or an assist in 10 of his last 13 regular-season games, recording 11 goals and three assists.
- Adi recorded his ninth-career assist since joining the Timbers in 2014, ranking as the seventh-most during the Timbers MLS era.
- Goalkeeper Jake Gleeson set a Timbers MLS team record for saves in a match, stopping 11 shots during Saturday’s match to surpass Donovan Ricketts and Troy Perkins’ previous single-game record for saves.
- With a goal in Saturday’s game, Timbers defender Nat Borchers has recorded a goal in eight consecutive MLS seasons.
- Borchers has scored four regular-season goals for Portland, placing him in a tie with Eric Brunner and Mamadou Danso for the most career-MLS goals by Timbers center backs.
- Borchers made his 31st consecutive start for Portland, including the regular season and playoffs, marking the longest current streak for a Timbers player.
