Quotes
Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter
On his team’s performance today…
“Our goal was to come in and win. But we also talked about if time ran out, we’ll take a draw as well. We’re a very good home team. We score goals at home and we’re going to need to do that in the second leg to win. I think under the circumstances, we’ll take the result. What I mean by circumstances is the playing field and obviously the three injuries. Two [injuries] in the first half. I thought Roy Miller and Amobi [Okugo] came into the game and were excellent. They’re experienced players, that’s why we have them. They didn’t miss a beat. In the second half, we dropped our back four off a little bit because I thought Houston was getting in behind us first half. I think they had trouble breaking us down, especially in the second half. Obviously a few counter attacks, but the field was very difficult to put much together. The couple of chances we had, it jumped off. [Darlington] Nagbe’s was a good example. On a good pitch, he’s burying that. It jumped up on him. They had a couple of chances too. We needed to show, in terms of football, that we can adjust. It wasn’t our preferred game where we had the ball and we’re dictating the game with possession. But we showed that we can adjust and grind out a result regardless.”
On the status of Darlington Nagbe…
“I think he’s OK. [He has] a little bit of a tight calf but I think he was just making sure he didn’t do it. I think he’ll be OK. [Diego] Chara looks to be out. I think he fractured a fifth metatarsal. It was noncontact. It’s strange, but it is what it is. I think both teams will be looking forward to playing on a pitch where you’ll see a little bit better soccer. We’ve got two of the best attacking teams in Houston and ourselves, and neither team was really able to generate the play we wanted to play. But I think they adjusted as well. Ultimately, I think they’ll take the draw too.”
On the condition of the field tonight…
“I don’t know. I’m not here to jam Houston and their field. I know they have challenges with regards to football playing on it, but it’s not great in a showcase game like this with two attacking teams to have to play on. It’s just really difficult and unfortunate, but it is what it is. We did what we needed to do. I think that we showed a lot of mettle from our guys to be able to adjust because it’s not really the type of game we’re used to playing and we showed we can adjust and get a result in a different type of way.”
On the status of defender Larrys Mabiala…
“We’ll see. It’s a hip.”
On the team grinding out the result tonight…
“In tournament football, you’ve got to be able to adjust and you’ve got to sometimes be able to do what you need to do. We did that and that’s good because we haven’t always shown that this year. We’re obviously good in a game where we’re at home and we’re playing up the pitch, have the ball, putting together little combinations and we’re scoring goals. When we’re in our comfort zone like that, you see the type of football we like to play and we’re electric. But for us to have to fight and claw and grind and get a result in a different type of way I think says everything about the evolution of this group.”
On the status of Sebastian Blanco and David Guzman for Sunday’s second leg…
“Blanco had a cooking accident. He dropped boiling water on his foot and had second-degree burns earlier this week. He couldn’t train the first part of the week. He half-trained the last couple of days and we knew it was going to be kind of a game-time-decision. He was just in too much pain, and if you saw the wound it’s excruciating. He’s a tough kid and we thought that he could maybe grind it out, but there was no way. We were fine to go with [Dairon] Asprilla. I thought he was good on the day. He brought a little bit of air play for us. Set-pieces were key, especially late in the game. If he’s not in there, who knows? [David] Guzman took a knock late in the Vancouver game and had an LCL sprain. He didn’t train all week, so we knew he was going to be out.”
On the possibility of Blanco and Guzman being available for Sunday’s second leg…
“We’re hoping. It just depends on how they heal. It’s unfortunate, but it’s one of the things I said to the guys before the match that it’s fitting that we’re having to go to the bench in our first playoff game. We’re where we’re at in the playoffs because of our depth dealing with a crazy amount of injuries. We’ve got guys like Roy Miller coming in to the game and Lawrence Olum and Amobi Okugo coming into the game and Dairon Asprilla and Jeremy Ebobisse. So that’s what this team is about. This team is not about 11 players. It’s about 20 guys that want to win and want to do something special.”
On the confidence of the team heading into Sunday’s second leg…
“We still have work to do, so we’ll stay grounded, business like and professional. They’re a good attacking team, so we can’t let our guard down. We’ve got to be focused and go into this game and execute and play the way that hopefully we’re used to playing. By doing that, we know that it will open up the counter attack as well. By having the ball, there’ll be a few more counter opportunities. So we’ve got to be balanced and we’ve got to be smart in transition.”
Portland Timbers goalkeeper Jeff Attinella
On what it means to get a clean sheet with all the changes happening tonight
“It was good. It was just really steady. I think everybody that came in was really steady and it just shows that we have dealt with adversity all year. This was just another night. Guys stepped up; guys played big, got the shutout and a good result.”
On how important it is to have depth at this stage in the season
“Yeah, it’s huge. MLS is crazy. It’s a long season. Injuries happen at the craziest times, so the fact that we have so much experience on the bench, coming off the bench and stepping up is everything.”
On how it feels going back to Providence Park knowing they have the home crowd
“It’s great. I think everybody is excited for it, and to be fair, I just can’t wait until Sunday.”
Portland Timbers midfielder Diego Valeri (translated from Spanish)
On the outcome of the game
“I think this score is not that bad for us, when you look at the conditions like the away goal factor, the nil-nil tie will favor the local team a lot. Now we will focus on our game at home, we need to recover some of our players because we have a lot of players that are injured; Larrys (Mabiala), David (Guzman) and now Diego (Chara). Darlington (Nagbe) also had to leave the game. That’s a lot of injuries, and despite that the team responded well to the task at hand. The team was well positioned, Houston did not have a lot of opportunities outside of a cross or a play that ended with a defensive stop. We had a chance and didn’t put away our opportunities in the first half, after that it was a tough game for both sides.”
On having to work around numerous injuries
“Sure, sure we were very well organized at midfield and defensively – we just couldn’t coordinate with the offense to generate a play to score. We were attacking with two or three players at a time and that was adjusted as players came into the game. Like you said, this result is not that bad for us. The ball is in our court and as the home team we have to apply pressure to get a positive result and win.”
Notes
- The Portland Timbers are unbeaten in seven consecutive MLS Cup Playoff matches, dating back to 2015. That is the third-longest streak in MLS history, behind only D.C United's 13 games from 1996-1998 and the LA Galaxy's 10 matches from 2005-2010.
- Portland is unbeaten in its last four road playoff games, which is tied for third-longest streak in MLS history.
- Portland's record in away matches in the MLS Cup Playoffs is 3-1-2. The 11 road points are more than nine other MLS teams and are tied with Sporting Kansas City, who joined MLS in 1996.
- The shutout was Portland's fourth clean sheet in their its seven matches.
- Larrys Mabiala, Vytas, Darren Mattocks, Roy Miller, Amobi Okugo and Jeremy Ebobisse all made their Timbers postseason debut. Lawrence Olum made his MLS playoffs debut for the Timbers, having also played for Portland in the 2007 USL playoffs.
- The match was the 11th postseason game played by Darlington Nagbe for the Timbers, which is a MLS club record.
- The Houston Dynamo are the seventh different team the Timbers have faced in MLS Cup Playoffs.
