Portland Timbers head coach Giovanni Savarese
One the way the draw played out…
“We knew it was going to be physical. This is a very difficult place to play because they press the entire match. They are very athletic. They made the game very, very choppy and difficult. They never give up. And for us, we had to match up physically, and we did. And that was the most important part. The guys gave everything, especially in the second half. I thought we were solid in the first half, but in the second half, we gave everything we had in order to be able to at least get a point.”
One his team’s second-half chances...
“We felt that [Lucas] Melano could give us speed in the open spaces, because I thought they were wide open. We had the possibility to counter, and then [Dairon] Asprilla, we put him wide on the right, so we did a 4-4-1-1 in order to be able to cover more space wide as well as inside. And then I saw [David] Guzmán a little bit tired. That’s why [Bill] Tuiloma came in. I thought that everybody that came in did a fantastic job with the guys who were already in the game.”
On rotating the team’s lineup…
“We did the right thing, and the team showed their character.”
On what he wants to see from the Timbers in the coming week…
“Now we have to go back, practice, make sure that the guys get fresh, again, ready to be able to play the next game. We always say, one game at a time. Every game is tough.”
Portland Timbers midfielder Lawrence Olum
Overall thoughts on the match…
“We knew what we were coming in here for. We knew it was going to be a fight. They needed points. I think the boys matched up and we gave it all we could and got away with the point.”
On what he saw on his goal…
“We knew we wanted to cause a lot of traffic in front of their goal. I just went back post and tried to redirect back into the goal and it went in. We’ll take that goal.”
On the importance of the result…
“This is a big point. Traveling seven, eight hours on a flight just to get here, and the conditions of the field. And the team we were playing against we knew we had to get something on this trip and I think this one point puts us in a place, in a playoff spot, and we just have to keep going.”
On getting three points at home next week against Colorado…
“We want to make home, our home field, like a fortress. Every time we play there we want to get three points. So this is a step for us to show that the guys have commitment, work rate and team effort. If we do the same thing at home good things will happen and we will try to get three points.”
Portland Timbers defender Zarek Valentin
On what this result means for the team…
“I think it shows a level of maturity from the squad. I think we handled the game properly. It was going to be battle, flying six hours after a midweek game to the East Coast. It’s not the easiest of scheduling, but I think it shows a level of maturity in the group to just come out and battle. It was ugly at times. It’s a tough field. It’s tough to go out there, but I think coming back from a goal down and securing it at the end is good for us.”
On players stepping up as leaders with key absences…
“I think was a collective group. Even when Steve [Clark] came on he provided good communication to get our line high. I think we saw a lot of players grow in that leadership role. Because it’s a battle. In those games it’s not always pretty, it’s not always tiki-taka, but that’s how MLS is at times, especially when you travel six hours. You go down a goal and you battle back it just shows a good level of maturity from the squad. I’m happy, obviously I wish we could have three, but we will take one.”
New England Revolution head coach Brad Friedel
On the adjustments and the discussion at halftime…
“To be honest with you, I thought we were in control. It was defending a set piece and there’s not a lot much more to say about it. They didn’t have a lot of chances to score in the game. Another goalkeeping mistake and another mistake on a marking assignment. Simple.”
On the decision to sub off Diego Fagundez at halftime…
“He wasn’t playing well.”
On starting the season so well and running into a tough stretch of late…
“Befuddled? Yeah. Disappointed? Yeah. But we’re also learning—learning a lot about the players, learning a lot about what’s happened here the last few years, learning the mentality of a lot of the players. We want winners. Actually, I’ve said it many times. We’ll have winners here. And that’s how it’s going to be. The staff and myself won’t accept things of this nature for long. Once you have your squad together, you persevere through the season and then, ultimately, you’ll change personnel come the next season and we’ll aim to be better.”
On if he had learned anything new tonight that he hadn’t learned in the previous eight games…
“Tonight, in the first half, we were even more nervous and apprehensive than we have been. We’re at home. They were a team that was going to sit off us and when they saw how nervous we are, they decided to press us. That wasn’t their plan. So, I thought at halftime, you saw more of what we’re capable of. But then I saw a lot of the same things that I’ve seen. They get a corner kick. We need to defend it. I don’t know. So, yeah, same thing. Either the goalkeeper comes out, punches it, catches it, or a defender heads it away and players fall to their runner. It’s not that difficult of a scenario to set up on a set piece and that comes down to up here [points to head] and in here [points to heart]. That’s what it comes down to.”
New England Revolution midfielder Scott Caldwell
On scoring his first goal of the season…
“Teal [Bunbury] had a chance to get in on a goal—it didn’t happen, but as soon as that happened, the three of us made hard runs and he got a great ball across. I just tried to drag a defender--I knew I wasn’t going to get to [the ball] and luckily Kelyn [Rowe] had a great shot and it popped up to me. I must say, if we get the lead in games like this down the stretch, we need to keep it. We didn’t do a good enough job of that.”
On what happened after the goal…
“Once we had the goal, for me, it felt like we slowed the game down a little bit, and maybe that’s our fault for doing that. I think we maybe thought we could hold the lead. We need to keep going, keep attacking, and ultimately we can’t give up set-piece goals. Aside from a few counterattacks, I don’t think they created a whole lot from their own play.”
On whether or not the team is better than what recent results have shown…
“Absolutely. As players inside the locker room, we know how good we can be, we see each other every day on the practice field, and how hard we work. We need to start showing everyone that, and that’s what I think is--aside from the results--that’s what’s most frustrating. We’re not playing up to our abilities and we know we can be a lot better.”
New England Revolution midfielder Kelyn Rowe
On tonight’s match…
“We gave up points that I think, unfortunately, we needed. It put us in a tough spot, but we have to get over it. We have a game on Wednesday to make or break our season.”
On controlling the game but not finding the second goal before conceding the tie…
“It was a few mistakes on their goal, myself included, on the back post. We still played well, created chances. The final ball wasn’t there and that’s unfortunately part of our season at the moment, but we have to cancel this out because we have another make-or-break game on Wednesday. That final ball needs to be there.”
Notes:
- Lawrence Olum scored his first goal of the season and the seventh of his MLS career in the match. It marked his second career MLS goal for Portland.
- Goalkeeper Steve Clark made his Timbers debut, entering the match as a substitute in the 56th minute. He is the 28th different Portland player to appear in an MLS match for the club this season.
- Julio Cascante recorded his first MLS assist in the match.
- David Guzmán registered his first assist of the season and the seventh of his Timbers career.
- Cascante and Guzmán are the 11th and 12th Timbers player to record an assist this season.
- Zarek Valentin appeared in his 26th game. He is the only player to appear in every match for the Timbers this season.
- The Timbers and Revolution finished in a 1-1 draw for the fourth time in five matches between the clubs all-time at Gillette Stadium.
