BEAVERTON, Ore. – Last Sunday, the Portland Timbers opened the 2016 MLS regular season with a 2-1 victory over visiting Columbus Crew SC. It was the third match in a row against Crew SC by that same scoreline and included their 2015 MLS Cup victory over Columbus in December.
This week at training head coach Caleb Porter stressed the importance of continuing that run of form in the challenging 2016 campaign.
“It doesn't get any easier,” he said at training on Wednesday. “We talk about it every week. There's no easy games, not one [easy game] that we'll play all year in the Western Conference.”
This Sunday the Timbers travel to Avaya Stadium in San Jose, Calif. to take on an Earthquakes team intent on making the playoffs for the first time since the 2012 season (4 p.m. PT, FS1). According to Porter, both the team and the venue will provide a formidable test for his squad.
“[The Earthquakes are] a tough matchup because they're a very physical team,” Porter said. “They've got a lot of big, strong veteran players on their team and they're a good defensive team. [Head coach Dominic Kinnear is] a great coach, always has his team ready mentally. [Forward Chris Wondolowski is] one of the best strikers in the league.”
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The Timbers were among the league's best teams on the road last season—tying Vancouver Whitecaps FC with seven victories away from home—and Timbers defender Nat Borchers believes that same poise can be used to get results week-in and week-out.
“We knew last year we were a good team but to come out of that season with some silverware was a boost to our confidence for sure,” he said. “I think we know this year what we need to do to get wins based on our run last year, so moving forward that's going to give us an edge.”
Porter, too, believes that this year's Timbers team has the right mentality early in the season for both home and away, and critically, the ability to adapt to its opponent's style of play.
“We sometimes decide [games] with the ball,” Porter said. “We can do that as well as anybody in the league. If we want to keep the ball, it's not hard to keep the ball and we do that if we need to. But there's sometimes where we decide the game in other ways.”
Porter said that Sunday's win over the Crew proved that his team could play just this type of flexible soccer. Though Crew SC out-possessed the Timbers 60 to 40 percent, the Timbers outshot them 20-19 with an 8-4 advantage in shots on target. Portland absorbed the Columbus offense while working the counter attack to create.
“I was really pleased that our guys looked really tactically smart, organized and, mentality-wise, they understood what they needed to do to win the game and that's what it's about,” he said.
