PORTLAND, Ore. - After a 2015 preseason in which the Portland Timbers defense conceded just three goals in six matches—one of which was an own goal—head coach Caleb Porter was feeling pleased with his team’s overall defensive effort.
A backline anchored by center backs Liam Ridgewell and Nat Borchers showed poise in the Timbers 1-0 shutout win over Norway's Stabæk Saturday in the final game of the preseason 2015 Simple Invitational.
"I think they were good in both games, awful good," said Porter. "They are focused. They are smart. They don’t take a play off. They are clean on the ball."
But any discussion of the club's early defensive success must also include the team's newest goalkeeper, Ghanaian international Adam Kwarasey. Those three players—Ridgewell, Borchers, and Kwarasey—form what Porter calls "the backbone of the team."
"That makes me feel good going into each game knowing that I’ve got three very experienced guys there [in defense]," he said.
Experienced indeed. Together, the three players combine for nearly 900 career professional appearances across MLS, the English Premier League and Norwegian Tippeligaen. With that experience, their coach says, comes the kind of focus that leads to shutout soccer. Add midfielder/defender Jack Jewsbury to complete the defensive diamond—who also played a strong 90 minutes Saturday night—and it presents a very knowledgeable soccer group.
"You know intelligence-wise, tactically, you know mentality-wise they are going to be 90 minutes dialed in, focused and smart,” said Porter.
Ridgewell said that communication with his central defensive partner, Borchers, has only improved with each match they've played together.
"Whoever's loudest or whoever shouted first, you better get out of the way or else you're going to get clattered," he said with a smile about communicating in the back. "We're both used to talking, which is great, and the more people in the team who have got that is good for us."
Kwarasey agreed, explaining that the communication between Ridgewell and Borchers makes his job that much easier.
"They're really good defenders and easy to understand," Kwarasey said. "They're just professional players. It's easy to read them and easy to work with them because everything they do is predictable. I try to do the same for them and be as predictable as I can. We're getting to know each other very well now."
While Kwarasey, at age 27, is a bit younger than his center backs, he still has big game experience, having made over 140 appearances for Norwegian club Strømsgodset and having started in goal for Ghana during the 2014 World Cup.
"He really looks like a guy who has played a lot of games," Porter said of Kwarasey. "He’s in his prime right now. He’s played at a high level in Norway, obviously, he’s played internationally as well, and I think you see that in his presence and his confidence."
Confidence will play a huge role in how the team's defense performs this season and, if the preseason is any indication, confidence between the team's most critical defensive players is already peaking ahead of their MLS season opener Saturday against Real Salt Lake (7:30pm PT, ROOT SPORTS).
"I think [Saturday’s win] gives us, going into this season, a feeling of a clean sheet, a feeling of scoring a goal and a feeling of a win," Porter said. "It obviously doesn’t count, we are still 0-0, and we have zero points [in MLS], but it’s always good to get that positive feeling going in that last game going into the [regular] season."
