FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Caleb Porter has not has much of an opportunity to reassemble the bulk of the Portland Timbers' 2015 MLS Cup-winning crew this year, thanks mainly to injuries. But he is discovering other positive aspects of his team as a growing list of healing bodies return to full speed.
Even after conceding the tying goal just one minute from full time in Wednesday's 1-1 draw at New England, the Timbers – who traveled east without two of their three Designated Players – offered no excuses as they defended capably and pocketed a road point.
“In this early part of this year we’ve had to manage some things,” said Porter. “When you look at the fact that we had [only] five guys in the lineup today, to start the game, that were in the [2015] championship game, that kind of gives you a sense of where we’re at. We have some guys out. It’s MLS, other teams have guys out.”
One big body that they got back into the mix was Darlington Nagbe, who returned after sitting out the last two games following an ankle injury suffered in the hard challenge of Nigel de Jong back on April 10.
Nagbe made his presence known as well, setting up the lone Timbers strike with a nice touch on a cross to Jack Barmby, who volleyed home his first career MLS goal.
While Porter was happy to have Nagbe back in the mix, he's also eager to welcome back a few other pivotal performers soon, possibly even in time for Sunday's visit by Toronto FC.
“I thought he was very good,” said the Timbers coach of Nagbe. “He was lively. Looking forward to hopefully having [Liam Ridgewell] and [Diego] Valeri back in the next game.”
The ending left something to be desired as two points slipped away when the Revs leveled on a Jermaine Taylor own goal. Yet the Timbers were content to dwell on the positives of a second straight draw away from Providence Park, after suffering losses in their first two road games of the season.
“We’re making progress and we’ll continue to get better,” said Porter. “We took steps forward defensively today. That’s a real positive.
“We’ll take the point. We’ll take the positives.”
