Portland Timbers Quotes
Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter
On the late game-winning goal…
“I thought we deserved it. We had chances to go 2-0 and put the game to bed. We didn’t finish those chances. They scored a great goal to go 1-1, but I thought finding the second goal was fair, because we had plenty of other chances to put the game away.”
On Saturday’s lineup against Colorado…
“Well, the beauty of having a team, and a team of depth, is that when you rotate your squad, you give guys the opportunity to come into the game and prove themselves. I thought the group that we played on Wednesday showed a lot of hunger to get the job done under a bit of pressure because we had two games where the results didn’t go our way. So I wanted to reward some guys and it certainly meant that we weren’t quite as fresh, but I just felt psychologically, it was important to reward guys for getting the job done on Wednesday and I think that it paid off. You look at Gastón [Fernández], he scored the first goal. Maxi [Urruti], He set up the first goal and covered a lot of ground and did a lot of little things to help us win the game. So I think what has happened the last week is that there’s been some competition created, which has injected some spirit into this group. We’re going to use that. We’ve just won two on the trot and we have an opportunity coming back against New England to win three on the spin for the first time in this club’s MLS era.”
On the results during the tough road stretch…
“I think this has been one of the toughest stretches to start the year that any team has had. We’ve had six of eight on the road and we’ve gotten 13 points out of those eight games, and 10 [points] out of the last six [games]. So these guys have fought and clawed under some pressure on the road, things aren’t going our way, we’re behind it a bit, and I thought that getting this result was a reward for how hard these guys have worked and how hard they fought. Real proud of them, and ultimately, I’m glad they got rewarded.”
On Jewsbury and Fochive’s performance together…
“We had Will [Johnson] and [Diego] Chara out, and in some ways I liked the fact that we had two fresh guys in the center of the park. I knew those guys had played together in that first game against RSL and had a tremendous game, so we could kind of talk about that and I thought they had another very good game, those two guys together. I think having fresh legs in the center of the midfield for us helped set the tone of the match. We had a really good first 45, second 45 I thought we played off the break getting chances, but we knew we would have to absorb a bit. But those two guys, Jack [Jewsbury] and George [Fochive] were under pressure all game long. Jack, the old salty dog, finding the goal at the end of the game, that’s a really special moment for him and for our club as well. We haven’t had a big result, one where we score at the death. We’ve given a couple at the death, but sometimes results like this really create a feeling and a confidence and a momentum in the group that carries you forward. We have a chance to go three and maybe even four in a row, because we’ve got four of five now back at home.”
Portland Timbers midfielder Jack Jewsbury
On the match and exciting finish…
“Happy with the result. I think we would’ve been disappointed to get out of here with a draw. First half we were on top of them and felt good about ourselves. Second half obviously they changed some things and were coming at us with a lot of numbers. I thought we defended well, but disappointed to give up that goal, especially that late in the game. So it was definitely nice to get the win there late. We haven’t done that in a while, so it feels good getting out of here with three points.”
On what he saw develop for his goal…
“To be quite honest, it was open. They were pushing the game to get the first one, and even after they got the first one, it looked like they were pushing to get three points, so there were some openings wide and Rodney [Wallace] found a hole there. I had seen in the first half there was some space for George [Fochive] and I, at times, to get forward and kind of trail the play and I did that. Luckily, [Ishmael] Yartey got a great touch on it at the end there to set me up and fortunate enough that it went in.”
On what an exciting win like this does for the team…
“It’s huge; it’s something we’ve been talking about all year in terms of getting on a run. I think you can move up the standings pretty quick when you put positives performances together. We’ve done two of those now and gotten two wins in a row, something we haven’t done yet this year. So we’re excited to build on it. It’s been a tough stretch, six of eight on the road. Tough month of May, but now it’s over and we feel good about what we did this past couple weeks.”
Portland Timbers defender Nat Borchers
On what their attackers’ pressure on Colorado meant for their backline…
“I think they didn’t really have an answer for us. I thought that Gastón [Fernández] and Maxi [Urruti] and [Dairon] Asprilla and Darlington [Nagbe] just found a lot of space in front of their back four and were able to turn and drive at them and it really dropped their line a lot. It just created a lot of space for us and I think the first half was a really good half for us.”
On if they were able to push a bit higher or relax due to the attacker’s pressure…
“The focus of our game was really to be more aggressive. In Toronto, we dropped off a little bit and it cost us a goal. We came back home and were a little more aggressive and I think it built some confidence so we wanted to push our line higher and when you do that, you’re able to keep the ball and keep the pressure on them.”
On the overall effort and if it was different from past efforts…
“It’s been interesting, because we’ve put in a lot of good performances. We’ve put in maybe 70, 80 good minutes and then we’ve been having spells where 10, 15 minutes we’re not sharp or we’re not really giving as much effort as we can. I think the last couple of games, even towards the end of the Toronto game, thought we really put in a good effort and probably should have come out of there with a point, so it’s been good to see.”
Colorado Rapids Quotes
Colorado Rapids head coach Pablo Mastroeni
On Timbers’ momentum…
“The game of soccer is confidence and momentum. They gained confidence and as their confidence grew, they were able to be dangerous with that possession. We only created a few chances. We were late to second balls and we didn’t battle well for first balls. I take full responsibility for that performance for the guys. It’s been a tough week for us. I felt like we were prepared, but apparently we weren’t. Our start was slow. After the effort they put forth to come back into that game and to lose it there - I’m speechless as far as my feelings for those guys. They believed that they could win, and for that I give them a lot of credit. That’s the kind of the belief that it takes to win this week and unfortunately we fell short. We’ve got to give Portland credit; they played a good game and came away with three points.”
On the importance of confidence…
“The guys at halftime came together amongst themselves and said this isn’t good enough; this isn’t the standard that we hold for ourselves. We’ve got to go out there and do right by our fans, and do right by our club. It was nothing I said, it was everything they’re committed to week in and week out. Coming from behind at home is always a tough task. Our mentality was right in the second half. It’s something to hang your hat on, and hopefully build towards next week.”
Colorado Rapids defender James Riley
On the second half…
“We need men out there from the get-go, from minute one to minute 90. We didn’t have that in the first half, me included. We’ve been a second half team, so we’ve got to figure that out - especially at home. You have to battle for the right to play, no one is going to come in here and keel over, no one is going to have that much respect for us. We can’t look to get calls from the referee and go down soft. We have to be men on the ball, we have to compete. On a defensive standpoint we don’t want to give up two goals at home, so we take full responsibility for that.”
On slow starts…
“Being men; we can’t expect to just get the ball down and give it cheaply. Teams aren’t going to come here and respect us. We can’t wait for the referees to give us a call and go down easily. We’ve got to have reactions. We’ve got to be first at everything.”
Colorado Rapids midfielder Dillon Powers
On disappointment…
“It’s hard to keep losing and tying games at home - having to pick yourself up after the fact every single time. We’re not going to quit. We have a strong group and I believe in this group. It’s just a matter of us believing in each other and doing it all together. I honestly think we can get there.”
Notes:
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Saturday’s win marked the 50th regular-season win Timbers’ MLS history. Rodney Wallace, Jack Jewsbury and Darlington Nagbe played in both the club's first MLS victory (April 14, 2011) and in Saturday's victory.
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Saturday marked Portland’s first road victory at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in MLS since 2011. It was the club's first victory in the state of Colorado since the NASL Timbers defeated the Colorado Caribous on Aug. 2, 1978.
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Midfielder Jack Jewsbury’s game-winning goal marked his 25th career MLS goal.
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Jewsbury’s tally in the third minute of second-half stoppage time was the latest road goal in Timbers’ MLS history and the first time Portland has scored a game-winning goal on the road later than the 82nd minute.
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Defender Liam Ridgewell made his 29th consecutive start for the Timbers on Saturday, which is currently the longest active streak on the team. Ridgewell has logged 2,610 consecutive minutes.
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Midfielder Gastón Fernández and forward Maximiliano Urruti each have scored or assisted in back-to-back matches.
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Midfielder Ishmael Yartey tallied his first career point for the Timbers, registering an assist on Jewsbury’s game-winning goal.
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Portland has scored two goals against the Rapids in three consecutive matches, dating back to the 2014 season.
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Portland is now 5-5-2 all-time against the Rapids, and has earned a 4-1-2 record against Colorado over the last two-plus seasons.
- The Timbers are 5-0-1 this season when scoring the first goal in a match.
