Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter
Overall thoughts on the match…
“Listen, I’ll give credit where credit is due. I thought San Jose played extremely well in that first half. It was no surprise that they came out flying and obviously we knew that they needed three points. And, we knew that they’re very good at home and we've felt that in a number of games here. So, there was no mystery what they were going to do, but we didn’t handle it well. I thought we were a little bit sloppy. Maybe it was the field. The field wasn’t the best I’ll be honest. It’s hard to see on television but when you get down on the pitch, it was very difficult. But, no excuses, we didn’t play well in that first half. The second half was better. We were right there, and I’d like an answer on the Darren Mattocks goal and why that’s not reviewed and called a goal because it’s clearly a goal. We just looked at it, the same camera angles that they’re seeing, and he was onside so I’d like an answer on that one and why it wasn’t a goal.”
On the early substitutions in the second half…
“We’ve been in good form the last nine, 10 games. Today, in the first half we weren’t and there were a few guys today that didn’t have it. Whether it was being tired, sometimes that happens, whether it was the field, whether it’s just not your day and we had few guys where it just kind of wasn’t their day. But in saying that, in that second half we had a lot of really good chances. It’s one that if you go and rewatch, you’re going to say that should’ve been a goal, that should’ve been a goal, that should’ve been a goal. Four or five times we had clear looks that if we get that goal a little bit earlier and like I said if they give Darren his goal, then we maybe get a result out of this game and we get a point. But credit to San Jose. They started extremely well and it wasn’t our day today so we’ll put it behind us. We’ll have a short memory and we have two important games at home coming up.”
On the team’s focus heading into the FIFA break…
“We gave a lot today. Obviously we didn’t get a result out of it but you saw at the end what we gave and I thought the subs really made an impact and everybody towards the end of the game really wanted to try and claw out a point in the game. We didn’t get a point out of it, but the guys gave a lot so we need to rest well, obviously reset a bit, put this behind us and we need to figure out our lineup for DC."
Portland Timbers defender Liam Ridgewell
Overall thoughts on the match…
“It was very disappointing. I thought we started really slow, which is not what we wanted to do. Certainly, we’ve been starting very quickly over the last few games so we started slow, made it a bit of an uphill battle in the first half, but hopefully we can get it out of our system going into the playoffs and we can make a run for it after the break.”
On playing the final two games of the season at Providence Park…
“It’s massive. I think if you look at the schedule at the start of the season, seeing two home games towards the end of the season, we’ll take that. Going away from home anywhere is difficult and being at home has been a big thing for us. Obviously with the crowd behind us, being used to being at home, so it will be a nice end to the season and hopefully those home games will get us a home game in the playoffs and you never know from then.”
Portland Timbers midfielder Diego Valeri
Overall thoughts on the match…
“I think we created a lot of chances today, too, which is good, it means a lot. It was a tough game. They fought a lot and it wasn’t easy and they made it hard. They had two goals, a big advantage, then we played a better second half. We created chances, we scored – I think we scored two. I think we played better in the second half, we were more precise with the ball which is what we wanted.”
Notes:
- Sebastián Blanco scored his sixth goal of the season. Blanco is the third Timbers player this season to have six or more goals, joining Diego Valeri and Fanendo Adi.
- Blanco is the second Timbers player to notch six-plus goals and six-plus assists in his first MLS season, joining Diego Valeri (2013).
- Darlington Nagbe notched his fifth assist of the season, marking the fourth consecutive season Nagbe has recorded five or more assists.
- The Timbers scored for a 19th consecutive match, the longest streak in a single season in the team's MLS era. Portland is one game away from tying the club's all-era mark for most consecutive games with a goal, originally set in 1975.
