Portland Timbers Quotes
Portland Timbers head coach Giovanni Savarese
General thoughts on the match…
“I thought it was a very good performance. We were disciplined from the very first minute. I think in the first few minutes of the game we didn’t find a way to move the ball fast and beat them into spaces. The Galaxy were well put on the field. I thought once we started moving the ball quicker, once we started finding spaces, once we started switching the point of attack, I think we caused them a lot of problems. Once we found the goal, they opened up a little bit more. We played a very good game against a very good team. Tonight, just proud of the performance. We can always adjust and do better, better things, but overall it was a very good performance from the guys. I think a complete performance all around.”
On getting another clean sheet and shutting out Zlatan Ibrahimovic…
“Playing for each other. Being disciplined. Making sure they stick with the things that we asked them to do. Being clever and covering each other. Making sure that everybody was on the same page in the communication. Then in some moments also, great saves by our goalkeeper. In the moments maybe that they found that space, he came up big. Then we found at the end, those extra two goals that gave us the calmness to feel secure in the game. Overall we moved the ball very well. We were clever in our decisions. A very good performance.”
On Cristhian Paredes’ performance…
“He was one of the ones at the beginning that was trying to find the space and was trying to move the ball fast and it was becoming a little bit difficult. Then once he started finding the gaps, moving the ball well, he had the confidence to be able to go a little bit more into the attack and I felt that moment was perfect for him just to be in the box and capitalize on that cross and score a very important goal for us. You need players to step up; I thought he did. The third goal was an excellent goal. Overall it was a united performance, but then you have moments like [Diego] Valeri’s goal, the second goal. Incredible. He created all that play and scored an unbelievable goal. Big moments with big players, but overall it was a collective, great performance.”
On Paredes and Renzo Zambrano picking up early yellow cards in the game…
“Definitely it was a concern. But that showed even more their maturity level. I spoke to Paredes at the end, he was very smart to know when to go in, when not to go. It was early when we got the two yellows cards and they managed the game very well. It’s not easy, but for two young guys I felt they were very mature tonight.”
On getting assists from both outside fullbacks tonight…
“Yes, definitely. It was well-balanced between the two fullbacks. They knew when to go, when to stay. Sometimes it became difficult. [LA Galaxy] have good players. [Uriel] Antuna sometimes will go try to capitalize on his speed, try to beat the space in behind. [Jorge] Moreira did a great job and [Jorge] Villafana on the other side was able to contain. They played a very good match as well. But it was overall a very good performance by everybody.”
On the support from the Providence Park crowd tonight…
“It’s incredible. Being able to play at home, the energy of the fans, what they contribute to the game, the culture of this fanbase, this city is incredible. It wasn’t only when we scored the goals. It was at the beginning of the game at thenational anthem. You could feel it. It’s just unique. We’re very, very lucky to have this fanbase and today they were amazing, as always.”
On winning tonight without midfielder Diego Chara…
“He helped during the practice, so it was his victory as well. Everybody participates always in every victory we have. He pushed everybody around during the week to make sure everybody was ready. Today everybody showed to have a good mentality. Everybody showed that the best player is the entire team together, always. I thought it was a great performance by everybody tonight.”
On defeating the Galaxy 4-0 twice in a row…
“I just don’t think it’s the Galaxy and us because we repeated 4-0. They’re a very good team and every game is different. Today we had different challenges. They had different players on the field today as well. Fortunate to be able to have found the four goals again. Fortunate, but we worked for it. We put a lot, a lot of sacrifice to make sure that we got the result today. They’re a difficult team, a top team. They’re coming from playing two very big matches in which they played very well and they played almost the entire roster. We knew it was going to be tough, but the good thing is that our players showed up today to make sure they stick with the plan that we asked them and they sacrificed for each other to get a very good result. Important for us. We needed these points.”
On the physical challenge the LA Galaxy posed for Portland…
“First of all, if it’s carry-on from the Seattle Sounders, yes I do believe we were as focused and as ready and intensity was high for the guys to perform today the same as they did in Seattle. Today we had different challenges and I thought the guys were able to just be ready for what the game needed in certain moments. That took so many different things. It wasn’t that physical in the wrong way. It was just a very good match, but definitely they have players that are dangerous, that complicate it and you have to be ready to do all those things our guys did very well today and didn’t those things that we spoke about during the week.”
On getting a big win at home…
“I think we’ve been working hard. I think we’ve been improving. We had a very difficult schedule. We always mention that going away for so long, having to play sometimes coming here, then going midweek cross country. All the way to the east, Montreal, New York City, very difficult. Very difficult. That’s why every player is very important. I’m glad that finally we’re able to come home and have a week of practice. A complete week of practice because we haven’t had that for a while. It was great to be able to have that for this week to prepare for this match against the Galaxy.”
Portland Timbers midfielder Cristhian Paredes [translated]
On scoring a brace against LA Galaxy…
“First of all, I am very happy about scoring twice today. I am very happy about the team, too, because we fought very hard today. Overall, I am very happy and we must enjoy this.”
On earning more starts as the season progresses…
“I am very content, to be honest. This is all thanks to the coaching staff and my teammates because they give me a lot of trust and that helps me to work harder every day.”
On how he thinks today’s game will help him grow professionally…
“It will help me a great deal. It’s beautiful to be able to score goals. We must continue working because we still have many games at home and scoring will help me gain even more trust in myself.”
On playing with a yellow card…
“You try to be smart about it because you know once you have a yellow card, then you have to calm down and play more responsibly, so you have to measure yourself.”
Portland Timbers defender Larrys Mabiala
Thoughts on the win against the LA Galaxy...
“It was great because we really wanted to come back and get the win after the game in Seattle and especially after the two home draws against the Colorado Rapids and Orlando [City SC]. We really wanted to get back and play a good game against a very good team. I think we got the job done and we’re moving on to the next one.”
On defending Zlatan Ibrahimovic and getting a shutout against the Galaxy…
“Everyone knows the quality that he has. I didn’t want to overplay him. I’m just trying to do the same thing every time I step on the field, which is making the night difficult for the striker I’m playing against. Tonight was a good one, but overall the whole team had a very good performance. It’s not about me or the defense; it’s the whole team that made tonight very difficult for the Galaxy.”
On taking a seven-game unbeaten run into their next match against Minnesota United FC…
“When you have this unbeaten streak, it brings you a lot of confidence. We know where we came from. It was a very tough beginning of the season, so we won’t be overconfident with how we train. We’re taking every game one after the other and we’ll try to manage it.”
Portland Timbers defender Julio Cascante
On the team’s approach to defeat LA Galaxy…
“I think the way we worked together was the key for us to win this game and to keep the [shutout]. It was a great performance for us.”
On becoming more confident after shutting down LA Galaxy…
“I think when you play against that kind of players you grow up as a person and as a player and that’s good because you take advantage of that. You play against Zlatan and is great; I feel good because we keep a zero in the back, and defensively and offensively we did a good job.”
On the team’s defensive line development…
“I think the communication between the lines, between Larrys [Mabiala] and Jorge [Villafaña] and [Jorge] Moreira is great. Steve [Clark] always talks to us because I think the communication is really important to wind that kind of game, so I think we need to keep growing in that and working on our mistakes.”
LA Galaxy Quotes
LA Galaxy head coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto
Thoughts on the game...
“I think the game was very tight. We were better than Portland, but they got the goal. The first goal wasn’t clear if it was offside or not on the play. They got the second goal very soon and then obviously we could have managed the ball a little better with more patience, but they were winning. We had some possibilities to get a goal, but the goalie was wonderful for them twice.”
On dealing with absences for the next game...
“ I know we have [Diego] Polenta, [Efraín] Álvarez and [Zlatan Ibrahimovic] out, but I saw the play with red card for Efraín and I think the ref got confused.”
On managing Portland’s counter-attack...
“They are very good in the front because they have really good players like [Sebastián] Blanco, [Brian] Fernandez and [Diego] Valeri, but in the first half we made the game really tough. They had some possibilities and they found two quick goals. In the second half we tried, but we couldn’t and we gave a lot of possibilities to them to get the third and fourth goals.”
LA Galaxy defender Daniel Steres
Thoughts on the game...
“Really tough. We were in the game for a good chunk of the first half. Gave up some pretty easy goals in the first half and gave them the lead. We were pushing forward in the second to maybe get a goal in the early stages of the second half which would have made it a different game, it got really open.”
On the players being absent for the next game due to card accumulation…
“We have to regroup and get back to training to figure out what we did right last week and what went wrong this week. Just get back in the right mentality.”
On managing Portland’s counter attacking tactic…
“We tried to keep the ball in the first half and I think we lead into the counter a little bit. We gave away some balls in not the best spots. We have to break up that first ball and I think we did a very good job of that today.”
LA Galaxy goalkeeper David Bingham
On the team’s performance…
“It’s really frustrating; we let ourselves down. First couple minutes of the game everything was fine and then a couple plays goes this way or that way and then [Portland] getting four is not acceptable for us. We cannot let the game get away from you like that, especially when it’s not really how the game is played. We got to put this one behind us and move on. We’ve got a game coming up in a few days in Atlanta so we’ve got to be ready for that.”
On shifting focus to the next game after a demoralizing defeat...
“Can’t dwell on it. You dwell on it and go to Atlanta and they will give it to you, too. You’ve really got to put it behind you and put your head down and get to work. It’s going to be a hard road trip to Atlanta, but we’re definitely going to keep working. We’ve shown it before and we’ve got to bring it again.”
On managing Portland’s counter-attacking tactics...
“It’s no secret that Portland likes to counter-attack; everyone knows that. It’s kind of how they play. When you possess the ball in their half, you just have to be organized and guys have to be aware that if the ball is turned over, they need to get back in their shape and defend well. Most of the game you do that and then obviously it happens a couple times where if you don’t do that they punish you.”
Notes:
- Cristhian Paredes scored the first brace of his Timbers career and his second as a professional player (May 11, 2016 for Sol de América). Paredes now has four goals this season.
- Paredes has scored five career goals for Portland with four coming against the two Los Angeles MLS teams.
- Sebastián Blanco delivered his ninth assist of the season, which is tied for fifth-most in MLS in 2019.
- Jorge Villafaña registered two assists in the match. It is the second time in his MLS career that Villafaña has tallied two assists in a single match, with both matches coming against the Galaxy.
- Jorge Moreira has three assists in 2019, becoming the third Timbers player with three or more assists this season.
- Renzo Zambrano recorded the first assist of his Timbers career in the match.
- Jeremy Ebobisse scored his seventh goal of the season.
- Ebobisse has four headed goals this season, which is the second-most in MLS play in 2019.
- The victory was the fifth time in MLS play that the Timbers have scored four or more goals in a shutout victory, marking the second time this season.
- Diego Valeri delivered his 12th assist of the season, which ranks third in MLS this season.
- Valeri became the 13th MLS player with 150 combined goals and assists for a career.
