MLS POST-GAME QUOTES
Portland Timbers vs. New England Revolution
April 2, 2017 – Providence Park (Portland, Ore.)
Final: Portland Timbers 1, New England Revolution
Portland Timbers Quotes
Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter
On his evaluation of the game…
“We are obviously disappointed to give up the late goal. Never looked like we would, and that is something in this sport that we have all been through. These results – you give up a goal, you don’t see it coming. It’s looking like it’s going to be two for us, game over. A lot of good little looks that could have been goals. Some other opportunities if the passes would have been better, if the crosses are a bit better, then that result is different. But that’s the margins, the fine lines in this game, in this league. The play was very positive, overall on both sides of the ball, especially in the first half. The second half was good too. We had a lot of little half looks. [Fanendo] Adi has the cross with the header. Roy Miller had a header on a corner kick. Adi had another left-footed shot, where he was played in on a breakaway. He had one where he was probably taken down in the box. Guzman and Blanco a few good chances. We thought we deserved three points, but this game isn’t about what you deserve, it’s what happens. It’s not the end of the world. It’s a point, we dropped two points. We move on from it. We get back to work and we keep improving. We will look at this game, but overall this was a very positive performance. In fact in that first half it’s hard to play much better than that. It was some of the best football we’ve played here. We will certainly look at that as a real positive. We have to do a bit better in the second half finishing and closing out the game."
On the performance of Marco Farfan, in making his home debut…
“Excellent. It’s one thing to go play on the road, sometimes the pressure is off at little bit. To come at home and put together a similar performance like the one he had in LA, it just shows this kid, his future and I thought he was great on both sides of the ball. A really good performance out of him.”
On the choice not to make any substitutions…
“It didn’t look like anyone needed to be subbed off. Some years you have a really strong 11 and you leave guys on and sub less in certain games. It’s that simple. I didn’t feel like [Sebastián] Blanco needed to be subbed off. He looked good. [Diego] Valeri, Adi, I’m not subbing them off today. Darlington Nagbe either. So I thought that’s where you are usually going to make the subs. The way we were playing with our back four it becomes a two with both outside backs getting forward. There’s no reason to go three in the back because now you have one less number actually going forward. You are not going to take off a back when the game is level either. I thought those guys on the pitch would get the goal.”
On if he’s concerned about retroactive suspensions for opposing teams…
“There is nothing I can do about it. I do think that was one they should probably look at [Diego Valeri foul no call]. Why isn’t it being called live? I don’t know. I have no idea. Why was the PK not called either? That’s a PK for me. Hand on the shoulder and it impedes him from going to head the ball. But we are not going to make this a habit of talking about officials. We are going to talk about the next game. We are going to talk about what happened in each game from a soccer standpoint, what was right and wrong and how I saw it. Certainly calls are part of the game, so I will sometimes comment whether I thought it was a PK or not, but not to make excuses.”
On if Blanco having freedom limited the amount of penetration you could get to unlock the byline…
“Not at all. When you look at the game and you look at how many times our outside backs got around, penetrated, and you look at the amount of times that we got in positions where we could spring a guy or get a shot. They blocked a lot of crosses and shots that could have been goals. In fact that first half was electric. We didn’t get the goals, but in terms of the football, it was big time.”
On what the Revs did in the second half to make things difficult…
“I didn’t think they did anything to make it difficult on us. I don’t remember really many clears looks that they had. They obviously scored a goal off a miss clearance and on a cross deflected in. They did have a lot of crosses, we knew that. First half, they had a lot of crosses. Most of what they created was from direct play. Looking to play into their strikers and flick on and getting them on the end of crosses, but I thought we dealt with it really well over the 90 minutes except for the one that they scored. The second half was no different than the first. I don’t think they created more chances in the second than they did in the first in terms of clear chances.”
Portland Timbers midfielder Diego Valeri
On scoring the opening goal of the match…
“It was a nice goal. I just finished it. It was a good volley and play. We moved the ball well. I tried to be focused on the ball and finished it.”
On dominating the possession in the first half…
“That’s what we wanted. We played really well against Houston in the second half. That’s the way we want to play. We couldn’t do it well in the second half, and we [gave up] that late goal. It’s disappointing about the result, but we need to keep building. There were a lot of positives. We’ll scout it during the week. It looks like we lost two points, but we got one. Let’s rest well and think of the next game.”
On his recent goal-scoring form…
“I have a role here and I try to do it well. We think as a team. Individually, we each have a role, but we think as a team. We’ll try to keep building from that.
On how the team’s pressing creates momentum…
“That’s what we want, to be honest. That’s the way we want to play. We did it well against Houston in the second half. We did it well in tonight’s first half, but it’s a long season and we have a lot of games to do it. We’re a little bit disappointed because I think we did enough to win the game.”
Portland Timbers defender Marco Farfan
On what allowed him to get into a rhythm early on in the match in his home debut…
“I think just knowing I have the guys behind my back, knowing that they’ll have my back. I went in with confidence into tackles, and it allowed me to play my game.”
On things he’s continuing to work on to improve his game and make the most of his opportunities…
“Defensively, the speed of the play and the movement of the attacking players. That’s something I’m learning how to defend a little bit more efficiently. Once I get that locked down, I’ll feel a little bit better.”
Portland Timbers defender Roy Miller
On the backline playing well despite not getting a lot of time together…
“It’s tough because they scored in the last six minutes. It’s a bad feeling for us because we want the three points, but I think one point isn’t bad because we’re still in the first part of the season. We’re at home and we want to win all the games here, but we just have to learn from today and look forward to the next game.”
New England Revolution Quotes
New England Revolution head coach Jay Heaps
On getting a result in Portland…
“Great effort from the team, the guys really put in a great effort. We knew it was going to be a 90-minute game and we preached this week to get out there and give them our best. I thought our guys really rose to the occasion, because it’s not easy to go down a goal, kind of an unfortunate goal to give up, but I thought our guys rallied and created chances. We had a run of chances during the end of the game.”
On the resiliency shown by the team…
“Portland wanted that second goal and was really pushing for it, so we had to bend a little bit. As long as you don’t break and give a little yardage here and there. There were maybe one or two chances across our face, but other than that I thought we handled things really well.”
On heading home after two results…
“This is one of the hardest places to come in and their one of the best teams in the league, we want a measuring stick and to see what we had to do. We knew it was going to be tough, but we handled the situations well. Offensively, we didn’t finish the plays we normally do, but that’s what we’ve got to keep doing and be prepared to do it on the weekend.”
New England Revolution defender Josh Smith
On making professional debut, in Portland, against the Timbers and on national TV…
“Unbelievable. Everyone knows here at Providence Park what an atmosphere it is, and it was great. Hats off to the coaching staff, they did a great job to prepare us. Hats off to my teammates, they did a good job to help me come in and play. It was a good point today.”
New England Revolution forward Lee Nguyen
On getting a result in Portland…
“After going 1-0 down, this is a great result. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy coming into this place and going against this team, they’ve been on fire since the start of the season and this is one of the top attacks in the league. We said at halftime if we could keep it 1-0 that we would have a chance to come back and that’s what we did.”
On the resiliency of the team…
“We took a lot of pressure in the first half, that was a hard fought half by the boys and we were able to keep that mentality going in the second half. We knew at some point we were going to have a chance and fortunately that was great build up on that goal. Kei [Kamara] put in a great cross that put them on the back foot and Teal [Bunbury] was in a good spot to get a touch on it. I got a lucky bounce and was able to pounce on it.”
Referee Kevin Stott
Question #1: Why didn’t you issue a yellow card to Kelyn Rowe in the 43rd minute when he pulled down Darlington Nagbe in an attacking position without an attempt to play the ball?
Answer: He fouled the opposing player, but I do not believe it was a promising attack.
Question #2: Why didn’t you issue a straight red card to Kelyn Rowe in the 47th minute when he put his studs into the shin of Marco Farfan with a late challenge?
Answer: He fouled the opponent, in my opinion, but in my opinion he did not commit it with reckless endangerment to the safety of the opposing player.
Follow-up to Question #2: After reviewing the replay of the foul on Farfan, do you believe that was the correct decision?
Answer: I haven’t reviewed the play on replay as of yet.
Notes:
· Saturday’s game marked the 110th consecutive sellout for the Timbers at Providence Park.
· The Timbers are 15-3-3 over their last 21 regular-season matches played at Providence Park, dating back to the 2015 MLS campaign.
· Additionally, the Timbers remain unbeaten at Providence Park in their last eight matches, dating back to the 2016, compiling a 7-0-1 home unbeaten record.
· Sunday’s draw extended the Timbers unbeaten streak against the New England Revolution to five league games.
· Midfielder Diego Valeri scored his fifth league goal in the draw against New England, ranking tied for the second-most goals scored in MLS. Valeri’s goal marks his 42nd career finish for Portland, moving him into a tie for third place for goals scored across all eras (since 1975).
· With the finish against New England, Valeri has scored in each of the Timbers first three home games to start the season.
· Additionally, with Valeri’s finish, the Timbers lead the league in goals scored (5) in the first 15 minutes of a match.
· Homegrown defender Marco Farfan made his debut at Providence Park, becoming the first Oregon native to play for the Timbers in an MLS home match.
· Farfan led all players with eight successful tackles in the match.
