Portland Timbers quotes
Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter
Overall thoughts on the game…
“This one hurts. It hurts probably as much as any game since I’ve been here. We wanted to win this game badly. We wanted to get out of the group stage. It was a big priority. The guys left everything on the field. They gave everything they had, you saw that at the end. We fell short. It stings. It’s a very devastated locker room in there. They all feel it. That’s how I feel, too."
On the absences in the lineup…
“Obviously with [Fanendo] Adi suspended and [Diego] Valeri hurt you are not going to be quite as good in the attack. That’s 30 goals there. But I thought the group that played, they played very well, created chances, but it doesn’t matter because we didn’t get the result. As far as analyzing the game and what more I would want out of the game, they left it on the field, they gave everything they had. I thought they played well. We just couldn’t find that second goal. It hurts.”
On what the positives are he can take into Sunday’s game at Vancouver…
“I don’t know if we can take any positives into Vancouver from this game, but for the future we can take some positives. There were some good performances out of guys like [Jack] Barmby for instance who hasn’t played much and I thought he was excellent today. I thought Darlington [Nagbe] in the central mid with [Diego] Chara was unbelievable. So that’s a positive. Overall, for me the positive is the guys fought their asses off. They gave up everything. They played with a lot of heart and passion and that’s what you want to see as a coach. And sometimes you fall short and you don’t get the result. There’s no moral victory in us playing hard and not winning, but from my standpoint when I look at them in the eyes in the locker room there is nothing I can say but you gave everything you had. And we move on from it. But we are not going to be able to move on tonight, that’s for sure.”
On how big a factor the referee decisions were tonight…
“Obviously those calls are a factor. It doesn’t do any good to talk about it because it’s over and we are out. It’s disappointing. If we get a PK call there on the handball, the game changes. We also can’t give up that first goal. That first goal was the first chance they had off a cross. It’s all they had, in the first half, it’s all they had. We can’t give up that goal. Like I said the players that played left it all on the field. We played the strongest group we had. We played well, but we didn’t get the result. It hurts.”
On how they move past tonight’s result…
“We have to. We will move past it. It’s a strong group in there. I’m strong mentally. If I’m not feeling like I’m feeling then I don’t care. And if they aren’t feeling like they are feeling then they don’t care and these guys wanted to win this game. I wanted to win this game badly. And I feel bad because I know our supporters wanted to win this game badly. But that’s a part of this job. That’s a part of this business. Sometimes you don’t get a result. If it doesn’t hurt you don’t care, but you have to move on. We will move on from it. We are still looking forward to being in the playoffs. I really can’t think about that right now because I’m just very disappointed in this game.”
On the approach he took in tonight’s game knowing they had to win to advance…
“We played basically the top group that we had healthy. We planned to play [Diego] Valeri, obviously he had to come out of the last game. We thought he would be okay, but he wasn’t after the game. So the plan changed and we felt like the group we had healthy that 4-4-2 was the best system to fit for the personnel we had. We needed to win. There were a lot of factors in the plan, the lineup, but ultimately we felt like we put out the best lineup that we had healthy. It was basically eight starters and other guys like Ned [Grabavoy] and Jack Mac [Jack McInerney] who have been starters."
On if injuries are the story of the season…
“Yeah, but we have one game left and we can still write a positive story, a positive ending. Obviously today is another disappointing chapter. I think this game sums it up a little bit with Valeri not being able to play. He played in all three of the other games. Trust me, Valeri wanted to play in this game. He had told me months ago the most important thing is getting out of Champions League. If we had a league game today and Champions League on the weekend nothing would have changed. I just want to be clear on that. I hope everybody understands that. That was probably a decider. You think about it should he have played in the last game? I don’t know. Those are all things we will analyze after we get in the playoffs. There’s a lot of reflection. A lot of things we can look at. There are times where I don’t share after a game my reflection, but trust me there’s always reflection. I’m not sitting up here thinking we have been perfect this year. I’m not going to sit up here and say it’s just one of those years. And injuries, that is definitely a big factor. When you look back through the lineups but you have to have a team with depth in this league. So if anything our depth needs to step up, right? And I thought they did. I thought they played well tonight, but not well enough to advance."
Portland Timbers midfielder Ned Grabavoy
On processing the result from tonight’s match…
“It’s tough right now. We certainly have a quick turnaround in a very important game this weekend. There’s a lot to still play for, but it’s a cruel game sometimes. It’s a cruel way to lose and it’s just unfortunate because I really think we knew as a club how important this was to try to advance and we just fell short.”
On moving on to a must-win game against Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Sunday to try to advance to the MLS Cup Playoffs…
“We’re professionals. There are a lot of ups and downs throughout the season. Obviously this is a really difficult one, but it’s certainly easy to get up for the next one because it’s arguably just as important as this one. We’ll get it together. We’ll sleep on it, we’ll get back out that and hopefully we’ll take care of business this weekend.”
On the close-knit locker room going into the final weekend of the regular season…
“It’s a close group. It’s a good group. It really is a good group. I’ve been around a lot of them and this is a special group. That’s why I feel like I’m more upset for the group right now more than anything, but we have good leaders. We have good guys to lean on. We’re professionals. We have to show up tomorrow. It doesn’t matter how upset we are. We have to put it aside. Some guys will train and some guys will [recover]. We’ll focus on this weekend. We certainly have a ton to play for and if we give the effort that we gave tonight, you’ve got to hope it goes your way up there.”
Portland Timbers midfielder Jack Barmby
On tonight’s result…
“It’s tough to take, especially when we played so well. We created chances and I thought we dominated the game. It’s tough to take, but we’ve got to move on to Sunday.”
On using the result from tonight’s match as fuel for Sunday’s regular-season finale…
“Definitely. No one likes to feel like this. It’s tough to take, but it will fuel us for the next game, especially against Vancouver.”
Deportivo Saprissa quotes
Deportivo Saprissa head coach Carlos Watson
(in Spanish – through an interpreter)
On his team’s performance…
“What really put us in danger is we lost ball possession. That’s what we are known for ball possession. That’s where we are most comfortable at. The players on the pitch like Marvin Angulo and Mariano Torres were able to manage this. Obviously the pitch due to the rain was a little bit fast paced, so that was a little uncomfortable, but as the game went on it felt like it was bit more comfortable and you could see that on the field.”
On this thoughts on the atmosphere at Providence Park…
“It was beautiful and extraordinary. The fans here help support the local team and that actually gave some atmosphere to the level of play.”
On how this win gives his team confidence…
“This is really great confidence boost for our team because we came here to qualify and we did qualify. It does give us that confidence to move on. We are the only surviving team from our country, so that obviously gives as more trust and more confidence. And it also helps us in our league as we come to the end of our season.”
On his thoughts on the Portland Timbers team and their performance…
“We knew coming in here, we actually took advantage at home, coming in here we knew that atmosphere of the fans would be a factor. The team they are very strong. They are very fast especially on the sidelines. And again we know that they have a great atmosphere with the fans. With players like Nagbe and Chara it became difficult for us to maintain our regular defense, which is what we are known for. What I really like about them is that they are solid. They are strong. We played their game. The only thing that hurt the team and was fortunate for us was that [Fanendo] Adi was not there because he would have been very difficult for us to manage, but again their style we had to adapt our defense and playing them here at home.”
On what helped Saprissa qualify and move on in the tournament…
“I think what we’ve shown is consistency. We had consistency. Two wins at home. Two draws away. And I think historically that’s the only way you can move on and qualify doing what we did today. And that’s our key point. Consistency throughout.”
Notes:
- With the finish, the Timbers have scored 22 goals in eight CONCACAF Champions League matches.
- With the result, Portland remains undefeated at home in CONCACAF Champions League play (3-0-1).
- Forward Jack McInerney scored his eighth goal in all competitions. In 2016, McInerney has scored five goals in MLS play, two goals in the CONCACAF Champions League and one goal in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
- Midfielders Diego Chara and Ned Grabavoy and goalkeeper Jake Gleeson played in each of the Timbers’ CONCACAF Champions League matches this season, tallying four appearances.
- Midfielder Jack Barmby recorded his first assist with the Timbers.
- Midfielder/forward Victor Arboleda made his first appearance with the Timbers, after being signed to a short-term agreement (four-day contract) on Wednesday. Arboleda played 25 games for T2 this season.
- Saprissa is only the second Costa Rican team to play the Timbers in all eras of the club (since 1975). Portland played Puntarenas in a friendly in 2010.
