BEAVERTON, Ore. – The mood at the adidas Timbers Training Center among Timbers players has been optimistic this week.
After a tough, 2-1 loss on the road to Vancouver Whitecaps FC last Saturday, the team has quickly regrouped and is focusing on this Saturday's match against FC Dallas at Providence Park (7:30 p.m. PT, ROOT SPORTS).
Despite the loss, the team is feeling there are a lot of good elements to take from the performance against Vancouver.
Portland was on the front foot for much of the match against the Whitecaps with the Timbers completing 531 passes with 87 percent accuracy, sending 48 crosses into the box, and possessing the ball over 66 percent of the match. From the 55th minute to the 60th, Portland held a whopping 92.6 percent possession rate. The team took 15 shots, putting five of them on goal.
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Following last Saturday's match, defender Nat Borchers stressed that the team's confidence remains high.
"I think good teams like this are eventually going to find a way and we’re going catch our stride and we’re going to get that first win," he said.
The key, the players say, is patience with the process.
"We've had a very positive start and our team really goes forward and we've been dominating these matches," Timbers forward Maximiliano Urruti said through a translator following the team’s training session Wednesday. "…Going forward, we're confident that if we keep playing the way that we're playing, it will come."
Timbers midfielder George Fochive, speaking to the media after training on Wednesday, concurred with his teammate.
"Patience is huge obviously, the way that we play," he said. "We pass a lot and sometimes you don't want to force things. You really have to be patient in controlling the game. You've got to wait for that one opening and final pass to be on, which is what we're doing, but again it's just those details, we'll get them right."
Saturday's match showed much of the team's attacking prowess, even if not all of the chances the team created led to goals. Dairon Asprilla snapped down a header late that somehow bounced over the cross bar, while Fanendo Adi nearly finished an excellent build up that involved Asprilla, Gastón Fernández and Darlington Nagbe.
The goal Adi did score in the 82nd minute was masterful in the patient way that Nagbe and Rodney Wallace quickly worked the left channel to feed the ball in to the onrushing forward.
Borchers believes that all it will take to really get the team going is a win.
"It’s going to come soon, and once we do, I think it’s going to give us a lot of confidence going into the rest of the games.”
