Portland Timbers Quotes
Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter
On today’s result after going down a man early…
“It doesn’t surprise me with the group that I have and the character that they have. We talked about it before the game that this game was going to be three points. We didn’t know how it would go. I said that because you never know in a soccer game how it’s going to go. There are PKs, there are goals that happen that you don’t expect; there are red cards. You never know how a soccer game is going to go, but the good teams are prepared for everything, and we were prepared for that scenario. We’ve won a game already being down a man. You never like it. It’s really rare when it happens to win, but you’ve just got to stay focused. I thought we won the game in that period after we had the red because until we got even numbers, a lot of teams would have given up the goal. If we give up a goal, it’s probably game over. I thought in that 25 minutes or so, after we had the red [card], the way that guys dug deep with the organization they had, that was what put us in a position to win the game. That says everything about the group and the character. I’ve said it time and again – I’m not surprised when they do things like this because I know I’ve got a really good group of guys that can overcome anything.”
On the importance of getting the win tonight…
“It was big because if we didn’t get the three points, or they got three points, that’s another team that starts to distance themselves. We’re feeling confident no matter what. We’re going to be in, but you start to see more teams get six, seven, eight points away and it makes it more difficult. But we talked about it before the game – we can’t do anything about the other games. All we can do is take care of business in this game. We can’t play the other games either. Everybody talks about all these other games and the results. We don’t get caught up in that because you’ll drive yourself insane trying to look at the other games and hope the teams lose. We can’t do anything about that, so all we do is stay locked on to the next game and that’s what we did today and that’s what we’re going to do for the next 10 games. We’re going to play at our level. We’re not going to play at our current reality where we sit in the table. A lot of teams do that. A lot of teams, and you see it right now, play based on what position they’re in right now and that’s usually the psychology that happens this time of the year. We have to fight that natural inclination because we’re a lot better team than where we sit. We showed it two games ago when we battered LA Galaxy. We battered them 19-8 [in shots], but soccer is funny sometimes. Everybody looks at the result and looks at the table and they think we’re not a good team. That’s not the case, and our guys don’t believe that. We know we’re better than we are and we played better today than we are in the table. And then you see other teams that are playing exactly where they are. Colorado is a good example. Why are they winning? They’re winning because they’ve won. I don’t think they’re any better than anybody else, but they’ve got confidence and they look at themselves in the mirror and they look at the table and they see where they’re at and that’s how they play. Other teams that are down below, the psychology is you start to play how you are and we’re going to keep playing like we’re one of the best teams in the league because we know we’re capable of being that.”
On preparing the team for the scenario of going down a man…
“We’ve been through it before and as a staff we always prepare for it because it happens in this game. You saw it was a really easy move to slide Jack Mac [McInerney], drop Darlington in next to Jack [Jewsbury], which he’s played that role before earlier in the year. At the end of last year, he kind of played in around the holding mid, so he’s used to that and he’s good at that. Jack Mac’s role changed a lot, obviously that’s not an ideal role for him, but you saw that he worked hard. He gave it everything, but we always basically put two lines of four. That’s the best way to manage and absorb down a man. Once we won the ball, we moved Jack Mac up and [Diego] Valeri in, so kind of a 4-3-2 once we won the ball and then a 4-4-1 once we defended.”
On building off of this result heading into the next two road matches…
“Yeah. Winning in sports is a lot about psychology and we talked about that before the game. It’s about individual psychology. It’s about a collective belief. Going back to what I said about Colorado, they’re winning because they have a lot of confidence right now and they don’t have that external pressure. I’m sure their coach is loose and the players are loose and they play well. Well, we were pretty loose today too going into the game, and a lot of teams aren’t. That’s why we have a really mentally tough team and a good group of guys that we don’t let the current reality of where we sit dictate how we play. So we’re going to go into next game and continue with that simple mindset and not think about what everybody else thinks about us because that doesn’t matter. What matters is what we think about ourselves.”
On how playing with 10 men changes what he can learn from this game…
“Well we were going to play 4-4-2 and that changed after 10 minutes, but that’s something you always have to be prepared for. That’s why we spend a couple of hours as a staff going through scenarios up a goal, even, down a goal and a red card, their subs, everything. We’ve got an intelligent group of guys that can manage it on the pitch. You saw they didn’t look really uncomfortable when we went down a man and then we went even, we still looked comfortable. What we can learn is that we can win games when go down a man. We’ve done it twice. I’m disappointed we didn’t get to see Jack Mac and [Fanendo] Adi play together more like they did last Wednesday.”
On what he saw from midfielder Diego Valeri…
“Big players, especially attacking players, come up with goals. You saw it this weekend with [Sebastian] Giovinco, which was a great example. Valeri is doing what the big players do on good teams. You come up with big goals and he’s done that for us time and again.”
Portland Timbers midfielder Jack Jewsbury
On what he saw in the goal he scored…
“It was later in the game, so it starts to open up at that point and we knew that when we were deep, if we could connect a couple of passes and get out on the counter, there were going to be chances to be had. Obviously, [Darlington Nagbe] got in a good spot and I just tried to trail the play a little bit. He spun the guy two or three times and was able to lay it off to me and to be honest with you I was just trying to pick the corner out. It was nice to see it hit the back of the net and get that second goal for sure.”
On how Diego Valeri’s goal changed the momentum of the match…
“It was huge. I think we were able to weather the storm in the first half, so we went into halftime reorganized and it was 10 on 10 at that point. The game changes at that point. The mentality of when you’re down a man and then all of a sudden it’s even again. We went into halftime and wanted to be on the front foot. We knew that they were still going to come at us. That’s just the way they play and there were going to be some openings and I think we were tremendous tonight on the counter and that’s where a lot of those goals came from. It was an absolute tremendous finish from Valeri and it breaks the game open for us. That’s what you need from big players and that’s why those guys are on the roster because they can do the special things, whether it’s that final ball that they play or a goal like tonight. He’s one of those special players and we’re just blessed to have him on our team, to be quite honest.”
Portland Timbers midfielder Diego Valeri
On the team fighting back for the win...
“It was a tough game. We’re down a man almost 30 minutes in the first half. I think we [had] a great second half, scoring three goals and fighting hard for the points.”
On scoring goals for the team...
“For me, I’m happy about that. Happy about the goals, but I’m very pleased with the team, with the performance of the team. We are in a good position to fight for the playoffs because that’s the goal.”
On playing Sporting Kansas City ...
“I think they have a great team. They play really well, they know what they want [and] they played really well today too in 10v10. They had their chances but I think we were more effective than them and we won the game. But they are a strong team. It’s always hard to play against them so I’m very happy about the result.”
Portland Timbers forward Fanendo Adi
On the team fighting back for the win...
“I think we did pretty well. We knew [Sporting] Kansas [City] is a very good team. They play really tight and we were able to cut that out. We got a red card in the game and some things happen. We kept our composure, we defended well and when they got a red card the game was balanced. I think we came out in the second half really focused and we got the first goal out the gate for us and then the second came. It was a very good and intense game.”
On scoring...
“It feels good to score. I’ve had to wait for a goal for a few games and as a striker it’s very important for us to score. I’m pleased to get a goal and to have created and to have battled through. The guys were very good defenders. They played two against one on me all the time so it was kind of tough, but I was lucky enough to get a goal.”
On what the win means for the team moving forward…
“I think the win has given us a lot of motivation knowing we could win against a very good team, like this, putting up three goals in the second half, that’s a massive win for us. We’ll take all the positivity out of the game and we’ll look on to next week.”
Portland Timbers defender Amobi Okugo
On being down a man early in the match...
“It was tough, especially so early in the game, but the backline, the midfield, even the forwards, [Fanendo] Adi and Jack [McInerney], they tracked back and absorbed the pressure until we went even. Even in the second half sometimes we had to absorb the pressure but I thought we handled the pressure well.”
On the mentality a team needs to stay steady...
“You see it with the veteran guys. When it comes down to crunch time, late in the season, the guys that have been there know the little things you have to do. The extra minutes that you might have to come into practice to take care of your body and taking advantage of your chances in the game, like [Diego] Valeri with his great volley in the game. Those are key moments that our leaders have stepped up and late in the season that’s what has to happen.”
Sporting Kansas City Quotes
Sporting Kansas City head coach Peter Vermes
General thoughts on the match…
“The game wasn’t a 3-0 game. Look, obviously they finished a couple chances there at the end of the game. What I would say is that we actually played better when we were 11 versus 11, than when we went up a man. We got too direct, which I thought let [Portland] off the hook too many times. I would say all three goals come from major mistakes on our part. That’s the way I look at it. I don’t mean the final shot on goal or whatever. How the plays occurred, just because of poor decisions on our part. I think today our approach was good, our energy was good, I think all that was good, but I think there are two things: obviously you have to score. We had a ton of chances in and around their goal. I don’t know exactly the time, but it was probably 30 minutes in the second half, we were in and around the 18-yard box probably 25 yards in, we were all over them. We have to score, that’s obvious. The other piece is… it was our in-game decisions that were poor today. I think that’s what cost us the game.”
On consistent struggles he sees with his team on the road…
“No. I don’t think so. No, I don’t think so. I wouldn’t say that there’s anything I’m looking at. I think every team in MLS is similar in that regard. I think everybody tries to get road wins as much as they can. It’s not the easiest thing to do. It’s kind of the way the sport is, around the world especially. Soccer’s just like that. I don’t think it’s any one thing.”
On the red card against Sporting Kansas City in the match…
“It’s hard for me to say whether it was a red or it wasn’t. I’ve seen that call many a time be just a maximum yellow. But I know how the referees have been refereeing from the beginning of the year. I know they’ve kind of dropped off on some of those fouls. I don’t know if it was considered more of a guying coming in to kill that guy. I think it was two guys going for the ball, one guy got there a little bit earlier, whatever. The point about is, regardless of whether it was or it wasn’t, at the end of the day, we put ourselves in that position again. That’s the problem.”
On adjustments he made to his team after the red card…
“We got into the second half, we made a couple subs, we went to three at the back at one point. It’s one of the reasons I think we had so much pressure on them. They couldn’t really get out of their end. I thought we were really good. If we had scored a goal, it would have put them even more under pressure and it wouldn’t have given them the life that they got because we would have tied it up and kept going. Just a couple different players we brought in. I thought bringing on [Graham] Zusi brought us something.”
On the impact the red card has on his ability to analyze the game…
“Sometimes you have to play down a man. Sometimes you have to play up a man. So those are all good things you have to look at. It’s not something we don’t deal with. We do. When the game is being played in soccer, when you’re in that 45 minutes, whether it’s the first half or the second half, there’s not a lot you can change, if you will. You might be able to go to a 3-5-2 or whatever. You can change your formation, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s going to equate to something. The guys have to also recognize on the field what’s taking place and how to take advantage of what’s going on or counter something. That’s where I was saying our in-game decisions, especially when we were up a man in the first half, just wasn’t good enough. We really, really played into their hands. When you’re up a man, you gotta make the other team work and we didn’t do that. We just kept giving them the ball back by playing direct up the field.”
On whether it’s difficult to play a team home-and-home back-to-back…
“These back-to-back things, I’m not a big fan of them ever since they started with it. I think it’s a grueling, grinding season to being with and to have these back-to-backs, especially at this time of the year, it’s very difficult for both teams. I really do. Scheduling is definitely not a friend for a lot of teams and I can tell you for us, it’s been a nightmare. We haven’t played on a Saturday night at 7:30-8 o’clock in a long, long time. Hopefully we’re going to do that soon, next Saturday.”
Sporting Kansas City forward Dom Dwyer
General thoughts on the match…
“It was a good battle. Unfortunately the refs affected the game very early. I haven’t seen the first play again with the elbow, so I don’t know if it was a red or not. Haven’t seen it back. I’ve seen the second one and I know that’s definitely not a red card on Soni [Mustivar]. For me, it’s a hard foul, it’s a yellow card, breaking up the play. There’s two guys behind the ball. It’s never a red card. But that’s not the first time [referee Baldomero Toledo] has done that to us. But credit to Portland. They played well and they put the game away at the end. I don’t think it’s a 3-0 game. At the end they put it away and deserved to win.”
On returning to Providence Park for the first time since the 2015 MLS Playoffs…
“It’s awesome. I love playing here. It’s always a cool atmosphere. If you can’t play here, you can’t play anywhere. It’s full up everytime. The atmosphere, the fans are buzzing. It’s fun for us as players. I love away fans giving you stick, shouting and booing. It’s compliments. It’s fun and obviously it’s a great place to play.”
Sporting Kansas City midfielder Benny Feilhaber
General thoughts on the match…
“We kind of game them the points a little bit today. With the man up advantage and obviously they played two games: one against us and once in the midweek. We could tell they were tired. They wanted to play off the counter attack and we had a lot of possession in that first half. Regardless of whether [Soni] Mustivar’s challenge is a red or a yellow, I think it’s just silly for us to put the referee in that position when we’re up a man. We allowed them back in the game, 10 versus 10. They get a great goal from [Diego] Valeri. Can’t take anything away from that goal. We get opportunities and we aren’t able to capitalize, so I don’t think it was a 3-0 game. But obviously they took care of their chances and finished the game off.”
On returning to Providence Park for the first time since the 2015 MLS Playoffs…
“It’s always really fun playing here. The fans are good. They always make it tough on us. I wish you guys had grass though. But having said that, it’s probably one of the better turf fields that we have in this league. It’s fun playing here. Just, you know, not a happy ending for us.”
Notes:
- Sunday’s game marked the 98th consecutive regular-season sellout for the Timbers at Providence Park.
- While playing with 10 men this season, the Timbers have scored five goals and conceded zero in 124 minutes. Overall, Portland is 3-0-0 after receiving a red card this season.
- The three-goal victory was the largest margin of victory for the Timbers in a match this season.
- With the win, Portland's record under Caleb Porter in regular-season matches played after Aug. 1 stands at 19-8-12 (1.77 PPG).
- The Timbers have scored a goal in every home regular-season match this season, joining FC Dallas and the Philadelphia Union as the only MLS teams to score in each of their home games in 2016.
- The shutout was the fourth of the season for the Timbers and the fourth in their last 10 matches.
- Diego Valeri scored his 10th goal in MLS play this season and his 11th in all competitions.
- Fanendo Adi recorded his 11th regular-season goal of 2016. The goal was also Adi's 36th finish for the Timbers, moving him into sole possession of fourth place on the Timbers goal-scoring chart across all eras (since 1975).
- Adi is tied for fifth place in MLS for goals, while Valeri is ranked tied for seventh.
- The Timbers are the only MLS team to have multiple players with 10 or more goals this season.
- For the second time since joining MLS in 2011, the Timbers have multiple players with double-digit goals in a single season.
- Jack Jewsbury's goal was his first for Portland this season and his first finish since scoring against Seattle Sounders FC on Aug 30, 2015.
- Darlington Nagbe delivered his fifth assist of the season, tying Valeri and Lucas Melano for the most assists on the team. Nagbe has recorded five or more assists in three consecutive seasons.
- Nagbe has recorded 25 career assists for Portland, which ranks as the sixth-most assists in club history across all eras (since 1975) and the second-most during the club’s MLS era.
