Portland Timbers Quotes
Portland Timbers FC head coach Giovanni Savarese
General thoughts on the match…
“Colorado is a team that plays a little bit different than the teams we’ve played in the past few matches. They’re a little bit more direct. They’re a team that’s a little more physical. There were good moments for us. There were good moments for them, especially in the first half. I thought we started well in the second half and then after the red card, I think the game changed completely. We had a situation in the beginning, the substitution we had to make, then we didn’t have all the players that could play in the back. So we had to make some adjustments and at the end, due to circumstances, it’s an important point. It’s unfortunate only that I think the referee made a mistake on a foul that should have been given and then the red card came right after. Should never have happened, the red card, but these are the moments that are important in the match. The point is good for us.”
On making adjustments to the back line during the match…
“We had one man down, so we needed to find a way to still be offensive. I felt that it was good when we were 4-3-2 and were able to find the goal. Then we were having a few problems on the left side. Probably should have switched Renzo [Zambrano] to the right side to be closer to the bench to guide him a little bit more and have [Jorge] Moreira on the other side, but sometimes in these situations you find out a little bit more about your players. Renzo and [Cristhian] Paredes, they tried to help. They played fullbacks in this particular match, and at the end of the day, we sacrificed to at least get a point that I think will be important for us.”
On Zarek Valentin’s performance…
“He’s been important for us. His versatility, playing right, left, center back in the last minutes of the game. So at the end, these are the players you need that can help you in so many ways. Zarek had a good match tonight.”
On his players rushing over to him in support after the opening goal…
“I didn’t expect it, to be honest. I didn’t expect that. They came in and it was a moment, you know, a little emotional because seeing the guys give me the support after the goal. Unfortunately [Colorado] scored right after, right away, so it was very quick the feeling. In the end, today was all about us trying to get a result and the guys gave everything they had with 10 men. The point is going to be good for us.”
On the support for him from the Timbers Army…
“It was a weird night. Weird night. It has so many great things. The fans, I cannot say more. I thank them for everything they’re given me. How they were supporting me. It was incredible. Thank you to the Timbers Army. Thank you to the organization. To everyone involved with making sure that this night felt special. The guys tried everything they could to make it special. Unfortunately the situation changed a little bit the game, but at least they sacrificed to get the point.”
On assessing tonight's result…
“I don’t know if it’s a disappointing result looking at the way the conditions and situation went. I think maybe when you think it’s a home match and you want to always win at home, definitely we want to have three points. But due to the circumstances of the match I think actually the point was important, was good. We sacrificed well. [Colorado] had that moment to be able to score the goal. They were being dangerous. We were trying to defend as much as we can and trying to find moments to go forward and find another goal. So at the end, I think the point is going to be good for us and it’s what we needed tonight.”
Portland Timbers goalkeeper Steve Clark
On his thoughts after the match…
“I think overall we’re disappointed. That’s the feeling, but when you take a step back and look at it, it’s an important point going down a man. They’re a difficult team. I think we should give them credit as well. In the first half, they frustrated us. I think teams are going to do that here. I think it was a moment, as a team, to dig in, grow and stay calm. I think we’ll take the point and move on to Thursday.”
On the team moving players in and out of position in the second half…
“I think we’ve got a lot of depth on our team and Zarek [Valentin] has been amazing. You look at what Zarek did on Wednesday against [Carlos] Vela and how he steps in tonight with an injury to Marco [Farfan]. We have a deep team and you can’t forget it was three teams in a week on two different coasts. That picture is quite good, but we’re disappointed we didn’t get the win tonight.”
Portland Timbers midfielder Diego Valeri
On tonight’s match against Colorado compared to the matches against New York City FC and Los Angeles FC…
“It wasn’t easy. We had a very tough game on Wednesday against LAFC and we traveled from New York. Physically, you’re not at your best level, but I thought Colorado played a good game. They performed the way they wanted, and they forced us into losing a lot of balls. With 10 men, it was more difficult for us to manage the game and, in the end, the point is good for us.”
On getting the point with a man down…
“Playing down a man for the majority of the second half is not easy. At the end, we’re taking a point heading into Thursday’s match. We’ve got a lot of home games coming up, so we’ve got to be ready for it. We’ll rest well in the upcoming days knowing that we’ve got a lot of games coming, so we’ll have everyone involved.”
Colorado Rapids Quotes
Colorado Rapids head coach Conor Casey
On his thoughts on the game...
“I thought it was a really exciting and entertaining game. It was a great show for the fans and a great atmosphere and a good amount of football. We were a bit disappointed in the end. I think we had enough chances to win, a lot of very good chances and a bit of a dubious penalty kick. But, all in all I’m really proud of the guys and their incredible mentality and we put a really good performance in tonight, so I’m really proud of them.”
On the importance of quickly getting a goal to tie the game after going down 1-0...
“It was great. It shows where this team is at. We don’t show off, we got right back to work and got it right back. It shows our mentality and you know the game was there for the taking; It was just one play away. Steve Clark had an amazing game tonight, man of the match for sure. He came up big on a lot of occasions and you’ve just got to tip your hat. ”
On the penalty-kick call...
“It didn’t look like a handball from where I was. I think it was a bit of an extreme call.”
On the cohesiveness of the team tonight...
“I thought we were very disciplined. Some great performances in the midfield. Danny Wilson has done great and Diego [Rubio] was asked to do a little bit different of a job tonight and doing an amazing job in there with Cole [Bassett]. Then our subs came in and gave us a big lift, so I’m very pleased with everybody.”
Colorado Rapids midfielder Jonathan Lewis
Thoughts on the game…
“It was a good game. This atmosphere is probably the best in the MLS, so it was a good game. This is the first time for me playing here so it was great that we came here and got a point.”
On getting the equalizing goal quickly…
“It lifted the team spirit. We scored an own goal, but it lifted the team spirit. Like I said, today we were unlucky, but this is a hard place to play and we got a point. We should have came out with a win, but we have to be happy with a point.”
Colorado Rapids midfielder Sam Nicholson
On his goal coming off the bench...
“I don’t know. I just made the run and thankfully Danny [Wilson] played me in and I was told to have better feet when I get in the final third, so luckily it came off.”
On the team's overall performance...
“Overall I thought we did well and we frustrated them for the majority of the match. I feel like we were a bit unlucky. I think we played well and our game plan worked and it would have been nice to get three points, but we still have a point and we’ll take it.”
Notes:
- Diego Valeri scored his fifth goal of the season. Valeri is the third Timbers player this season to score five or more goals, joining Jeremy Ebobisse and Brian Fernandez.
- Valeri has 73 goals for his MLS career, moving him into a tie for 24th-most in MLS history with Alvaro Saborio.
- Valeri scored for a sixth consecutive match against Colorado, dating back to the 2017 season.
- For the second consecutive season, the Timbers have scored five goals against the Rapids in a season, averaging 2.5 goals per match.
- Steve Clark’s shutout streak came to an end at 520 minutes across all competitions.
- Diego Chara completed 59 out of 62 passes in the match. It is the first time this season that a Timbers player had a passing accuracy of 95 percent or higher when attempting at least 60 passes.
- With the draw, Portland is unbeaten in its last five matches (3-0-2) against Colorado.
- The Timbers are unbeaten in their last nine home matches against the Rapids, posting a record of 8-0-1.
