Portland Timbers Quotes
Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter
On tonight’s game:
“It was a good performance out of our guys overall. It was a great soccer game; you’ve got two good teams, it was one of the biggest crowds they’ve had, I think. They threw everything at us, they gave us their best punch and we didn’t back down, we gave them a lot of punches, too. I thought it was a great soccer game and, overall, you can look at giving up a late goal as a negative, but we were down a goal as well. I think, in the end, no matter how you skin it I am happy with the performance and happy with the point.”
On Jorge Villafaña:
“I thought he was outstanding today. He defended well and gave up very little down his channel, and going forward he was a part of both goals. I thought across the board I got good performances out of pretty much every guy on both sides of the ball. One of the things I told them is if we play like we played tonight over the course of the next 16 games, we are going to be where we need to be, there is no doubt about it.”
On the referee not calling the penalty:
“It wasn’t a penalty. I watched it on the board he [Landon Donovan] is out of the box. I actually thought it was a PK, but then I watched the [replay] and he definitely got him just outside. It was a good call, a fair call. As coaches, we always complain about the refs, and certainly I’ve been guilty of that, we don’t credit them enough when they have a good game. So I am going to credit the referee, Jair Marrufo, today, because I thought he was outstanding the entire match. That is not an easy match to officiate. Every time we play the LA Galaxy it is an absolute battle. They are one of the best teams in the league. They had their big guns playing today. They came to play. They were up for it and I thought we matched them toe-to-toe. I thought it was a very even game and, in the end, it is probably a fair result. If we were a little bit higher in the table it would be a result we would be happy about. So I am not going to let where we are in the table taint the fact that it’s a good point against a very good team on the road with a big crowd. They gave us all they could handle, and we gave them all they could handle. In the end, it’s probably a fair result and a good soccer game and it’s great for the league.”
Portland Timbers defender Jorge Villafaña
On his goal:
“It is nice to help the team score and I am really happy that I got to score here in LA. My family and friends are here so I am really happy. We are really happy that we got at least a result here. We wanted the three points but we didn’t get them, but we are happy. We are going to try and work on what we need and try to build on this.”
On tonight’s result:
“We take it as a positive because it is a road game against a good team. We were down a goal and we came back from it. We tied the game. It shows that we can play against big clubs. Unfortunately today we didn’t get the win, but we were close.”
Portland Timbers midfielder Diego Valeri (Translated from Spanish)
On tonight’s game:
“I thought the game was weird. I thought they played well before they hit the post in the first half. We started to play better and created scoring opportunities. They got a goal in the second half. We started to play better. During the last minutes of the game they started to pressure us and they got the tie. This is a little bittersweet because we could have had three points but they are a good team and the good thing is we get a point.”
On getting a point on the road:
“We are happy with the point but with the way the game played out we are a little sad because we thought we could have walked away with the three points. We did what was necessary to get them. We have an important week coming up, we play Seattle in the US Open Cup and again in the regular season. We are going to go rest and think about those upcoming games.”
On his goal:
“I saw that [Fanendo] Adi was going to bring it down and I was already thinking of taking a hard strike at it. I was lucky that the ball headed towards the goal because sometimes those kicks go high but I wanted to hit it just right and was lucky that it went in.”
Portland Timbers midfielder Will Johnson
On the match:
“It’s a good performance by us; one point at the end of the day I think is probably a fair result. Obviously we’re disappointed that we didn’t close out the game. But the point keeps us in the race, and it doesn’t allow the Galaxy to get three points out of us so it’s more important on that front for me. We wanted to do in the second half what we did in the first half. We thought we kept a good shape, we attacked and we created chances. We limited them to just a couple of chances where they hit the post in the first half so coming out of half time we wanted to do the same thing. We knew they were going to push numbers and get a little more aggressive seeing how they’re home and had a big crowd and obviously they wanted to win the game. We knew that we were going to get chances on the counter, so we just wanted to be patient, keep a good shape, stay organized, work hard, make sure to limit their chances, and then when we got a chance we hit them on the break and we were fortunate to do that twice. But like I said, I think it’s probably a fair result.”
LA Galaxy Quotes
LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena
On the team giving up the lead:
“Hard game, I think we were sloppy throughout the game, the effort was not consistent over the 90 minutes, for us to have that kind of energy in the last 15 minutes to get an equalizer and not have that energy for the entire game is a little disappointing I think we lost our concentration a little bit, we did a real sloppy job in defending on a couple of crosses that cost us goals and to their credit they did a good job. I think the referee missed a few calls there; cards he didn’t do a good job in that regard, but maybe had no impact on the game; we were inconsistent tonight. However the effort to get a point out of the game was terrific, the team did a real good job there.”
On Baggio Husidic’s substitution:
“I don’t think Baggio [Husidic] opened up the game but he was a fresh player and he did his job; helped create a couple chances for us there for sure… He did a good job.”\
LA Galaxy midfielder Landon Donovan
On the game being a missed opportunity:
“I thought it was a pretty good game, I thought they played well… we have to give them credit. We can certainly do a better job in concentration. I thought we were much better against San Jose last week in that way but at the end of the day, probably a fair result and still good in the end to come back in the last 15 minutes and get a goal when you need to.”
On the game’s pace:
“Situations always change games. You see it in the World Cup constantly with teams, any time goals get scored, they change games and so we obviously were under pressure then to get a goal. I think it’s easy to say ‘we should have played like that the whole game.’ In all fairness we could have competed better most of the game, and it was disappointing.”
LA Galaxy forward Robbie Keane
On the team’s comeback:
“Of course when you’re playing, that’s the last thing you want to do. It’s about showing character and coming back, and we certainly did that, we showed some character to come back to the game, and we could almost win it in the end.”
On draw:
“When you’re playing at home, you want to get three points but they’re a good team. But when you go up when we did, you would hope and expect that we win the game. That wasn’t the case.”
Notes:
· The Timbers extended their road unbeaten streak to six consecutive matches in all competitions and five consecutive regular-season games, dating back to April 27.
· Portland is unbeaten in its last five regular-season matches against the LA Galaxy, earning a 2-0-3 record since 2013.
· With the draw, the Timbers have registered consecutive draws at the StubHub Center against the LA Galaxy dating back to last season.
· Defender Jorge Villafaña tallied his first goal for the Timbers on Friday night, giving Portland a 2-1 lead in the 70th minute.
· Defender Michael Harrington made his 195th career MLS appearance on Friday night. Harrington has made 46 career appearances for the Timbers.
· Midfielder Diego Valeri registered his 45th career MLS start on Friday night.
· Valeri has tallied a goal in both matches against the Galaxy this season, also scoring the game-tying goal in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time in a 1-1 draw against the Galaxy on May 11 at Providence Park.
· Valeri has recorded at least one point in seven of Portland’s last 10 regular-season matches dating back to May 3 and leads the club with 14 points (3g, 8a).
· Friday’s match marked Portland’s 120th regular-season match as an MLS club since 2011 and the first time the team has played on Independence Day in its MLS history.
· The Timbers have earned at least one point in nine of their last 11 regular-season matches, dating back to April 27.
· Portland has earned a result in five of eight road matches this season, compiling a 3-3-2 record away from home.
· The Timbers are tied for second in MLS with 30 goals in 18 matches.
· Midfielder Diego Chara received his fifth yellow card of the season on Friday night. He will miss Portland’s next regular-season match on Sunday, July 13, against Seattle Sounders FC due to caution accumulation.
