Portland Timbers Quotes
Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter
On his takeaways from the game…
“Good win. Another clean sheet, that’s two in a row. Good defensive performance. A little bit of sloppiness at times. I thought the second goal was definitely in there with the chances that we had. We need to continue to do better in the final third with our finishing and like I’ve been saying the connection of the front four. I still think there are some things we need to work out in the attack. But I’m really pleased overall. Two games in a row, two clean sheets and first and foremost it’s a win. We are now moved up to fourth place in the league. So it’s a big result.”
On if it was a conservative approach to emphasize working on the defensive performance…
“We just wanted to stay compact when we didn’t have the ball. We obviously attacked, created chances, especially at the end of the game we had chances to definitely get the second or third to make the score line bigger, but no matter what happens in the attack it's important to grind out the win and I thought we did that.”
On how important the form at home is…
“We talked about it before the game. We have six home games left and our goal is to get 18 points. We want to be ruthless at home and get three points every time we take the field. If we do that and we steal some points on the road we are going to be in good shape.”
On Lucas Melano’s home debut…
“He’ll get better. He created four clear chances and should have scored, but I think he showed what he’s going to bring to the table. He got behind four times. That’s what he’s going to bring. He’s going to change games. He’s going to get behind the back four. He’s going to bring pace. He needs to clean some things up still, but that’s to be expected. He’s coming off an offseason, having not played a game in quite awhile and he’s learning a new team, new system, new coach and new everything. But I thought, like I said, impact-wise he was very unfortunate not to score. He had four clear chances.”
On if that was how he drew it up…
“I think the way I drew it up was to be organized for sure, to put up a clean sheet and take our chances. We took our chance in the second half. That was enough to win the game. I’m disappointed we didn’t get a second goal. When you don’t get the second goal now you know you are going to have to weather a bit of a storm at the end of a game when they start to throw numbers and attackers forward. But I thought we weathered it well. Disappointed we didn’t get the second goal because we definitely had chances to put the game away. But we wanted to be organized defensively and not be reckless trying to go and win the game and score goals. Sometimes we’ve been reckless looking to do that but I thought that when the ball turned over we were very compact and organized. Two clean sheets in a row. I think it’s our 10th of the year and I think that leads MLS.”
On the importance of Adi’s play tonight and this season…
“He's got 10 goals. So no matter what anybody wants to say, he’s got 10 goals. He’s up there with some of the top guys in the league. That’s good. It doesn’t matter how you score them, when you score them, but he’s scoring goals, so that’s good. We were able to win the game because [Diego] Valeri pulled, found some space and he played a great ball across and he was in a good spot.”
On if Valeri’s assist can help him get back into a flow…
“Yes. hopefully he will continue to grow in confidence. Hopefully he will keep it going. For me I’m looking at the attack collectively. I think there are definitely some things to look at. We need to iron some wrinkles out there because we could have created more, but I thought the adjustment second half to play a little bit more behind their backline. You look at the goal, diagonal by Will [Johnson], great ball, found some space there in behind wide and it unlocked them. We played a lot more balls behind the back four. When Melano came in we had a ‘stretching player’ that gave us a little bit more pace to do that. But I thought first half Chicago were very compact. They were squeezing the space and Rodney [Wallace], Adi, [Darlington] Nagbe and Valeri weren’t looking to stretch enough and there wasn’t any space to play in that hole in front of the back four. So once we started lengthening the game, playing behind them and getting them turned around their back four had to drop off, which opened up space underneath, but I don’t think we made that adjustment soon enough. Definitely in the second half I thought that was a big difference.”
On the importance of a clean sheet and building the confidence of the defense…
“We are going to find goals. We’ve got attacking players who can score goals and the way we play, we are going to get in good spots to score goals. But sometimes you are not going to score two, three, four goals; it’s going to be one. We couldn’t find a goal last game, but we had a clean sheet, so we didn’t lose, got a point. This game we found one goal that was enough. So if we win every game 1-0, no one is going to remember the score line. They are going to remember the points and where we finished in the table. And often times late in the year when it is tight. There’s only one goal in the game so you have to be organized and pragmatic with how you manage the defensive side of things.”
Portland Timbers defender Liam Ridgewell
On two clean sheets in a row…
“I think we just got back to basics. We thought that the goals that were going in, it wasn’t good enough so we dug down on that one and it’s good obviously to get the two clean sheets in the last two games.”
On Ridgewell and Borchers’ performance together on defense…
“I think they tried to attack quite a lot, obviously they need the points as we do, but I think they need the points more than we do and they tried to start out with two up top and really go for the game. So me and Nat had a little bit of a surprise thinking it was one up and it was two up [top] and it gave us a little bit more to do, so I was glad to get the shutout.”
On the thinking behind staying more compact in the game…
“I think a lot of it is conceding 14 goals in the last three games before the prior two it was big thing for us. It hurt me, it hurt Nat, it obviously hurt the squad, so we need to attack from the back as we’ve been doing previously before that when we went on a good run, so we got that settled in the last couple of weeks and thankfully we found the goal to win the game today that we didn’t do last week.”
Portland Timbers goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey
On playing team defense and giving it their all…
“It’s not only the defender and goalkeeper that keep a clean sheet, it’s the whole team. I’m really proud of my teammates tonight. It wasn’t an easy game, but we kept it clean, scored a goal and got three points.”
On the shutout…
“I think it’s possible to win a lot of games 1-0 and the defenders have been really solid. If I don’t have a good game, they have a good game and the opposite. So I think it’s been a good combination.”
Portland Timbers forward Fanendo Adi
On scoring his 10th goal of the season…
“It was a great feeling to know that we are looking for a goal to win the game. For me it was a great feeling to score, to get a goal and I think that’s the same for the entire team. We play as a team and it doesn’t matter who scores. The most important for us to get the three points and that’s what we did today.”
On the combination play tonight in the match…
“I think the understanding is very much there. We play a lot together in training so it’s just what you expect in the game. The chemistry is there, you know how to move off each other. If I’m moving they know where I’m moving and the same with Valeri and Will [Johnson] and Diego [Chara], the combination is just there, it’s automatic. Right now we know ourselves and we move on the pitch. I think we did well.”
Chicago Fire Quotes
Chicago Fire head coach Frank Yallop
On the overall match…
“I think we deserved to at least get a tie tonight. I thought we created enough chances, we pushed on in the second half. [I’m] just disappointed to come away with no points but that’s the way our luck sort of seems to be going away from home. I thought our general play was pretty good without the final touch which was lacking I think for us. For us, we’re usually pretty good around the box just that final pass and finish was not quite there tonight.”
On the defensive effort of the team tonight…
“I thought our shape was good, our demeanor was great. We had one play where [Diego] Valeri shoots and Sean [Johnson] makes the save and then it goes into [Fanendo] Adi and goes in the net. It’s kind of one of those plays, I think everyone is in pretty good spots and it just kind of ricocheted straight to them and it just hits him and goes in. Kennedy had a great header that just whistled by, the penalty kick, I thought Sean had a good effort going on goal. Our final pass just wasn’t quite there but in general I thought we defended well against a team that’s difficult to play against, especially on this surface at home.”
Chicago Fire defender Eric Gehrig
On the defensive performance of the team…
“I think one of things we’ve been stressing over the last couple weeks and one of the things that’s made us pretty successful is the team shape, not only the back four but the four in front of us and the strikers. I think we’re moving together. We’re holding the line. We’re keeping a good line going with each other. Everyone is fighting for each other [and] battling for each other. When guys go up for first balls there’s guys waiting to win the second balls. There’s just a lot of communication right now so, like you said, it’s unfortunate. [It was] kind of a bang-bang goal. You work your butt off [and] you take pride in keeping a clean sheet back there and to lose it on a goal like that is pretty heartbreaking. We’ll take our medicine and we have to bounce right back because we have a big game on Wednesday.”
On playing in the atmosphere of Portland…
“I always love coming to Portland. It’s one of the best places to play in the league. Unfortunately its turf but it is what it is and we’re not used to it. They’re playing on it too so it’s OK. [The stadium is] right down town. Kind of a historical stadium and the fans do it right. It’s very electric. It’s always, always loud, it’s never quiet and it’s a players dream really.”
Chicago Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson
On the overall performance…
“I thought we were extremely unfortunate to not come out of here with a result, or a point. It was a well fought game. I thought we possessed the ball well, especially in a tough place to play. Really, really unfortunate, I thought, with the goal. [There were] a lot of bodies in but [Diego] Valeri takes a shot, it deflects, I get a touch on it, it’s going, probably out the six, but Eric [Gehrig] and [Fanendo] Adi are standing there. Eric tries to clear [the ball], it comes off Adi and goes in the back of the net. [It’s] just unlucky. I don’t think you can really do much more. These things happen in the game of soccer. Could we be a bit better on the end of the ball? Yes. Could we be a bit better defensively? I think so. Do we play it well enough to get a result tonight? 100 percent. The guys fought hard over 90 minutes and really [I’m] gutted personally and for the team to not come out here with at least a draw tonight.”
Notes
- Friday’s crowd of 21,144 was the team’s 80th consecutive home sellout at Providence Park since 2011. Portland has sold out all of its regular-season home games since joining MLS.
- With the shutout, Portland leads MLS with 10 clean sheets through 24 games this season.
- Friday’s win extended Portland’s home unbeaten streak to eight consecutive matches (6-0-2) since May 2.
- The Timbers have conceded just two goals in their last eight home games (720 minutes), outscoring their opponents 12-2 during the stretch.
- Friday’s win, Portland’s 10th in 24 matches this season, marked the quickest the Timbers have reached the 10-win mark in their MLS history.
- Forward Fanendo Adi registered his 10th goal of the season, becoming the third Timbers player to reach double-digit goals in a single season in the MLS era, joining Maximiliano Urruti (2014) and Diego Valeri (2013, 2014).
- With the goal, Adi tied midfielder Darlington Nagbe for second place on the Timbers MLS career goal-scoring chart (19) behind only midfielder Diego Valeri (23).
- Adi is the sixth MLS player to break the 10-goal barrier this season, joining Sebastian Giovinco (16), Kei Kamara (15), David Villa (13), Cyle Larin (11) and Robbie Keane (10).
- Goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey recorded his league-leading 10th shutout of the season. Kwarasey is the fourth Timbers goalkeeper in club history with double-digit shutouts in a single season, matching Josh Wicks (14, 2007), Steve Cronin (10, 2009; 12, 2010) and Donovan Ricketts (14, 2013).
- Midfielder Darlington Nagbe played in his 150th MLS match on Friday. Since joining MLS in 2011, only three players have played more MLS matches than Nagbe.
- Defenders Liam Ridgewell and Jorge Villafaña (along with Kwarasey) have started in each of the club's 10 shutouts this season.
