Portland Timbers Quotes
Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter
On the overall performance…
“It was probably a fair result. We weren’t at our best first half, but found a goal. I thought that they were better in the first half and we were better in the second half, but they found the goal. It’s probably a fair result, a draw.”
On seeing your captain getting a red card after the game disappointing for you…
“It’s tough. You don’t usually see that. A lot of times guys are frustrated at the end of a game. You rarely see a ref red card a guy for saying something and it seemed to me that he was walking away when he was carded. So it’s disappointing obviously because Will [Johnson] will be out for the next game.”
On how big it is to get goals and assists from Diego Valeri…
“It’s great. Obviously he’s been in and out. He’s be out all year with the knee then he’s back, then he’s out again with the ankle. So it’s great for him to finally be in again for multiple games to get 90 minutes and to now get his second goal. We are going to need that at the end of this year. He is a key player for us. That was big for him.”
On if he was surprised about how they came out in the first half…
“I think again you have to factor in them. They came out and were aggressive. I don’t know why we weren’t at our best first half, but you could say the same thing for them in the second half, why weren’t they at their best the second half? So our response was good. It’s not always going to be perfect. We found the goal which was great. One of the things I said at halftime is, I know we are going to play better in the second half but at the very least if we don’t find a second goal let’s make sure we get the clean sheet and get out of here with three points. That didn’t happen so that’s probably the most disappointing part of it, but it’s a draw, it’s probably fair. It’s not the result we wanted but we hold points with them and now we have to go and win on the road and get points there. We’ve been winning at home and maybe because of that we haven’t been getting points on the road, so now we didn’t get three points here so we dropped two and now we need to go and get points on the road in the next two games.”
Portland Timbers midfielder Diego Valeri
His takeaways from the game…
“It was a tough game. We knew that. We were a little bit lucky in the first half because we were up on the score and I think they got a few chances. In the second half we played a little bit better with the ball and we created a couple of chances and they scored on a great goal. I think at the end it’s a fair score.”
On scoring a goal…
“I know when you score it’s always good, but like I always say for me if we don’t win it doesn’t matter. For me the most important is the team and getting three points, but we couldn’t [do that] so we have to watch the game, rest well tomorrow and start the week to beat Dallas.”
On what happened on his goal…
“I think Diego Chara got the ball on a good press and gave the ball to [Fanendo] Adi and Adi drove with the ball, he was very good with that, and he assisted me and I just had to finish.”
Portland Timbers defender Nat Borchers
On if it was a fair result…
“It could have gone the other way. The first half we didn’t play well. They should have scored and we get a goal and we are up 1-0. The second half we play better and they get a goal. Soccer is a funny game like that sometimes. Fair result, maybe could have gone the other way.”
On what made the Whitecaps successful in the first half…
“I think there were a couple things. With the ball we weren’t very good. We were getting countered on and getting punished there. They were doing a great job of getting in behind us in the channels in between the center backs and the outside back. They made some great runs, put some great balls through and you know we just didn’t manage it very well.”
On what he can say to help get the team going on the road heading into a match against FC Dallas…
“The road is where the good teams become great and that’s what separates teams from making the playoffs and not making playoffs. We’ve got to find a way to get points on the road, to grind results out, to manage games and we’ve shown we can’t do that recently and I think now that’s the challenge.”
Portland Timbers defender Liam Ridgewell
On tonight being a fair result…
“I think we probably scored against the run of play in the first half and they scored against the run of play in the second half. So a draw, probably ended up with a fair result.”
On what’s important for the team to do in the lead up to the next match…
“I think we have to get back to basics. The big thing for us when we were on our run was we were very solid, hard to break down, and we were attacking from the back, springing from the back, we’ve got to try and get back to that.”
On if Vancouver’s chances in the first half were surprising…
“Of course, we are at home, we want the run of play, but they pressed us very high and pressed us very well. We couldn’t really get in our rhythm and get going really. They’ve done well at that so you’ve got to give credit. So we tried to do that in second half and we thought we did, but we scored against their run of play and they scored against ours so it was a tough one to take.”
Vancouver Whitecaps FC Quotes
Vancouver Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson
On the entertaining rivalry game…
“They usually are. Again it didn’t disappointment today. I thought it was a very good game of football by two good teams trying to win the game. [It] obviously added a little bit of everything, Enjoyable game to watch as usual.”
On if his team fighting back pleased him…
“It did. You know I’m delighted for the guys in there. I’m so proud of them today. We’ve got a number of players missing but we rolled our sleeves up and we showed that we have great young players at this football club. That’s the way we’re going to develop, it’s the way we’re going to move forward and they got their chance tonight and they didn’t disappoint. It’s pleasing because after the first half I thought we were the better team but we were down 1-0 and that’s what happens when you play against experienced teams with experienced players. They took their chance on a sloppy turnover from us. We missed four or five chances but it happens sometimes.”
On if he thought it was just one of those days after Portland scored first…
“Yeah I did because the first goal is crucial in any game and we’re very good when we get the first goal. We didn’t want to give them the initiative and Kekuta [Manneh] went and had two fantastic opportunities. We didn’t take them but as I said we win as a team, we lose as a team. I challenged them at halftime [and said] we need to step up another level and continue doing what we’re doing. You’ve got to weather the storm when you come to Portland. They’re a fantastic team. They’re very well coached and they put you under pressure and that’s what they did today. We bent but we didn’t break.”
Vancouver Whitecaps FC midfielder Matías Laba
On what he saw in the goal…
“I think I looked forward, I had pace and I shot the ball with confidence. It was nice to score. I got lucky too.”
On if he liked the game environment…
“Yes, I love playing these games because the atmosphere was amazing. It’s similar in South America too, so I like this game.”
Vancouver Whitecaps FC goalkeeper David Ousted
On coming back and getting a point…
“I thought we played extremely well today and I thought that with the number of chances we had you can even argue that we might have gotten away with three points but one point in Portland is good.”
On how crucial it is to get points from these games for down the stretch…
“It’s really crucial. We’ve played Portland three times now and I think we got five points so that in itself is great. It’s going to be so tight and it’s going to go down to I think the last day when you end up in this whole playoff race. Hopefully we can continue our run of form.”
Notes:
- Saturday’s crowd of 21,144 was the team’s 79th consecutive home sellout at Providence Park since 2011. Portland has sold out all of its regular-season home games since joining MLS.
- Saturday’s match marked the 82nd overall meeting between Portland and Vancouver across all eras since 1975. It was the teams’ 14th regular-season match in MLS since 2011.
- Portland’s improved its record against Vancouver in MLS is 6-2-6 overall.
- Defender Jorge Villafaña made his 100th career MLS start on Saturday. Villafaña made his MLS debut in 2007 and Saturday’s match also marked his 125th career appearance.
- Midfielder Diego Chara made his 135th career appearance for the Timbers on Saturday. Chara has started 134 of his 135 career MLS matches.
- Goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey and midfielders Diego Chara and Darlington Nagbe returned to the starting lineup after missing Portland’s last match on July 11 on the road against the Philadelphia Union due to injury.
- Defender Nat Borchers finished the match with four blocks, extending his league-leading total to 24 during the 2015 season.
- Midfielder Diego Valeri scored his second goal of the season and the 23rd goal of his Timbers career. Valeri is second in MLS among midfielders for goals scored since 2013.
- Forward Fanendo Adi became the 12th different Timbers player with an assist in 2015.
- The Timbers have 19 assists on their 16 home goals this season.
- With a total of five yellow cards and two red cards issued in Saturday's match, the series has seen a combined total of 53 yellow cards in the 14 regular-season meetings between the two clubs. No MLS series has seen more yellow cards issued since Portland and Vancouver joined the league in 2011.
- Portland extended its home unbeaten streak at Providence Park to seven consecutive games, dating back to a scoreless draw against Vancouver on May 2.
- The Timbers have conceded just two goals in their last seven home games, while earning five clean sheets during the run of good form at home.
- Defender Alvas Powell finished the match with a game-high 85 touches, moving into third place among all MLS players with 1,491 touches during the 2015 season.
- Portland is 11-3-7 overall immediately following a loss since the 2013 season.
- The match saw two players ejected as Vancouver defender Jordan Harvey was issued a red card in the first minute of second-half stoppage time and Timbers midfielder Will Johnson was shown a red card after the final whistle.
- With the draw, the Timbers are now unbeaten in their last 12 home games against Western Conference opponents.
