BEAVERTON, Ore. – It was hardly a typical week of training for the Portland Timbers.
Leading into Saturday night’s away showdown with the San Jose Earthquakes (8 pm PT; NBCSN, NBCSports.com), the Timbers have had to deal with the loss of captain Will Johnson following his broken-leg injury over the weekend that will keep him out for the rest of the season and the one-game suspension of playmaker Diego Valeri.
On the line with four games remaining in the regular season is the fifth and final MLS Cup Playoff spot, which is currently occupied by the Vancouver Whitecaps following Portland’s 3-2 loss Saturday to Toronto FC coupled with the Whitecaps' 2-1 win over Real Salt Lake that same day.
One point separates the two teams.
Head coach Caleb Porter said the adversity has put into focus the areas in which the Timbers must improve if the playoffs are to be their fate.
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“It allows you to really dig into some things and address some things,” Porter said following Friday’s session at the team training facility. “When things go smoothly there might be some things you want to look at, but it’s hard to address them because you won the game. I thought it was a great week because we were able to see some things on film, we were able to talk about some things as a team, things that need to be better.”
Fixing their challenges against San Jose, Porter said, will rely largely on defending set pieces better. All three goals against TFC were on restarts. And Porter said when facing the Quakes and Chris Wondolowski, who scored the last time out against the Timbers, set pieces are always a threat, while also noting that the addition of Designed Player Matias Perez Garcia has transformed the Quakes into a more of a possession team.
“The nice thing too is a lot of things that we needed to correct are things that we’re going to need to do well against San Jose to get the result,” Porter said.
He also emphasized that his team rarely loses two straight. Indeed, Portland have only lost two straight once this year, which came in March, and never three in a row.
And some of Portland’s better results this year – namely a 3-1 away win over Real Salt Lake on June 1 and a 3-0 win at Vancouver Whitecaps on Aug. 30 – came following losses.
“Typically when we take a loss we come back stronger and the guys respond,” Porter said.
Dan Itel covers the Timbers for MLSsoccer.com.
