Portland Timbers head coach Giovanni Savarese
Overall thoughts on the match…
“It wasn’t good enough. These type of performances, it’s going to be difficult to go far, because we had the game in control. We had a game that in the beginning we found the goal early, we were moving the ball well and then we became overconfident, too comfortable in the match, and then we allowed them to be able to find spaces. We gave them the first goal and then we just broke apart. There were moments which we showed a little bit of life, but we will have to talk to them. I don’t know if it was the heat, but we didn’t look like ourselves.”
On knowing Houston was dangerous on set pieces and the counter-attack and allowing goals that way…
“That’s what gets you a little bit more upset in regards to the moments that we found especially because we had the game in control. We were doing the right things, we were moving the ball. Our ball movement was a little too slow and it was areas that they couldn’t counter and we have to be better. It has to be a lesson to our guys, because it wasn’t good enough today.”
On bouncing back after a loss…
“Each situation is different. For me today wasn’t good enough. So we have to realize that. A team that wants to go far, we cannot make the mistakes we made today and it has to be a lot better. We have a game on Wednesday and we need to ready. We fly in tonight, right away, and we now we have the chance to prepare for Wednesday which is going to be another difficult match.”
Portland Timbers defender Larrys Mabiala
On what he takes away from the game…
“The only thing we take away from this game is that we had a very good start. We had the game in control. We concede the first goal that gave them more life and after that they started to believe again. In a place where it’s difficult to play, where it’s hot, it became very difficult for us to just play our game. The game is just on us because we had the game in control once again and we just let it go.”
On if there are any positives you can take away from a result like this…
“There is always something positive to take away because as I said we had a very good start. We had control of the game. Scoring the first goal was a sign that we had more control on offensive than them and after that the first 20 minutes we just gave away everything.”
On bouncing back with a game at home on Wednesday…
“It’s going to be a different game. When we play at home we play better than on the road. We are going to count on the fact that we play at home. That we have our fanbase that is huge. Everybody knows when the Portland Timbers play at home it’s going to be a tough game for them.”
Houston Dynamo head coach Wilmer Cabrera
On the outcome of the game…
“The fact that we’ve been working the past two weeks to try to forget what has been happening, what has been happening lately with our results and trying to forget about that situation with the loosing and not closing games and so, we committed to work hard. We committed, the players committed to work harder and to push. They didn’t promise that we are going to win every game but we are going to battle 100 percent with our effort to give everything and to leave everything on the field and today, today we sealed the deal on the field even though we started losing where you say ‘Oh my goodness.’ It’s an own goal deflection goes over but the importance is we never lost our shape, we never lost our motivation to fight and to look for the game, and we were able to work on set pieces. We were sharp, that shows the concentration. When you score two, three goals on set pieces, it shows the commitment and concentration. Today was important for us doing how the first goal for Alberth [Elis] and also Alejandro [Fuenmayor] came back with the fourth goal and then Mauro [Monatas] has been showing why he is our target scorer with the quality and sensibility to score goals and desire to score goals.”
On if the team has returned to the Dynamo way of playing…
“I think the guys were very disciplined. They were paying attention to what we worked throughout the week, the two weeks. We knew that we needed to fight a little bit more. We knew that we are not in great confidence, that’s not a secret, but the best way to gain your confidence is to be disciplined, to fight for every ball and to go back to our A, B, C something that it’s easy for us to do and we play our strengths today. Our strengths were to be solid defensively and use our speed up front, and when we had to do that, we did it well. We created problems. We scored goals, and that bottom line is how we can say that we have recovered our confidence to play at home.”
Houston Dynamo forward Mauro Manotas
On the importance of the victory…
“It’s a very important victory. We are motivated to revitalize our situation. We took advantage of the two-week break. We talked with the trainers and set everything clear on the table. Today everyone saw the reflection of our improvement by seeing the team run all ninety minutes and exhaust themselves like every club does when they play at home. We are content with the victory.”
Notes:
- Midfielder Diego Valeri made his 175th career appearance for the Timbers in the match. He is one of three players (across all eras) to have made 175 appearances for the club.
- Defender Zarek Valentin made his 28th MLS appearance this season for Portland in the match. He is the only Timbers player to feature in all 28 matches this season.
- Valentin started his 100th career MLS match in Houston on Saturday.
