Portland Timbers Quotes
Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter
General thoughts on the match…
“Well I think these are the types of games where you have to let it sink in a little because of the way it ended. Your initial inclination is to be pretty down and the players were. We had three points in the bag. I think it’s important that you have perspective though. We just played toe-to-toe with the MLS Cup champions. There were a few periods were we could have managed things better, the start of the second half in particular. Maybe that’s [the Galaxy], maybe that’s us, little bit of both, that led to the tying goal, but then our response was excellent to come back and score another goal. But then the end and the set piece. We have to manage that situation better. This is one we have to file away. There are certainly some things to reflect on and look at, but ultimately we have to remember that we just played two of the better teams in the league. We played them both very even and maybe even a notch better, certainly in the Salt Lake game. So not getting three points in the last two games isn’t what we wanted, but ultimately we haven’t lost either. We’re certainly going to look at the areas we need to improve, but at the same time, a lot of positive signs in this team right now.”
On how the offense is progressing…
“We scored two goals, so obviously I think it’s coming along well. As I’ve said, it’s not an area of the team I’m concerned about. We’re going to score goals, we’re going to create chances. We play in an aggressive way. I thought the way we matched LA in the first half was outstanding. Obviously against a good team, it’s always going to be a bit back and forth. These guys came out with the right mentality. They had confidence. I thought we were organized. We scored a great goal and deserved to be up. The second half, we knew that LA was going to push. Because they started pushing numbers, we ended up falling back a little bit more than we wanted. When we got the ball we weren’t able to create much on the other end, which meant we kept giving the ball away and they kept coming at us. Ultimately that led to the tying goal. But outside of that 15-20 minute period and that one moment at the end, I thought we played excellent today.”
On what the mindset going into next game will be...
“I think again it’s important to keep sight of the fact that we’ve just played 2 top teams in the league. We’re not playing weak opponents. We’re playing two of the most experienced teams in the league. We don’t look overmatched. Our guys don’t look like they’re intimidated. That’s a very good sign. We haven’t done quite enough to get three points, but at the same time, neither Salt Lake nor LA were able to beat us. I think that’s a positive,"
On what makes LA so hard to put away late in the game…
“We have good matchups with them and I thought it was a great game. It was exciting. In soccer, when a team snatches a draw at the death, they feel better and the team that gave it away feels worse. Ultimately it’s still a draw. That’s why I think you have to let it sink in a little bit and understand overall the perspective of where we’re at and what we’ve done in the last two games, playing two very good teams and performing against both of those teams in a really positive way. I think we look effective. We look organized and we’re creating chances. If we play like we’ve played the last two games, game-in and game-out, we’re going to get plenty of points.”
On the combination between his attacking players…
“Yeah. I thought the two goals we scored were good goals. We knew that transition was going to be an important part of this game, the way LA plays. We knew we had to manage them on the counter, but also we thought we could expose them on the counter. The first goal we scored was on a counter attack, exactly the way we talked about at times being effective. I thought it was a great goal. That is an area of our team that we’ve worked on and stressed. Good teams, they use transition. They use transition to expose teams. A lot of times goals come that way. Very few goals are scored on long passing sequences. We’re working on that and I thought that was a really good example of an area of our game that has improved and will continue to be a threat against other teams this way."
On Nagbe’s performance and overall team play...
“Darlington is a good player. He’s going to continue to be a good player. That’s not going to change. He’s going to get on the ball and he’s going to create problems. I thought that was on display this game. I also think we've become a more well-rounded team and I think that’s going to pay off over the course of a 34 game season. We have a lot of different ways that we can play. We’re a balanced team. We have good team speed. Even though we gave up the goal on a set-piece, we have a bit more size on set-pieces now. We have the ability, if we need to go direct, we can. We can play on the counter if we can. If we want to keep the ball we can. I think that diversity in our team will help us over the course of the season, game-in, game-out, depending on what the game calls for.”
Portland Timbers forward Fanendo Adi
On how his two goals happened…
“The first one was a very nice combination from [Darlington] Nagbe and Rodney [Wallace]. I saw the position of the goalkeeper so the only thing I could do was take the touch and place it to the only place I saw was open. The second goal of course also came from Nagbe. I scored the same kind of goal against Real Salt Lake last season where he shot and I was on the second post and got the goal in. That was the same thing that happened today. It was a little bit of deflection from the LA defender and I got it in.”
On having the offense score…
“It feels very good. We’ve been working on that. Offensively we wanted to try and get in the goals and today the combination actually went very well and we’re happy about that.”
On starting the season off with strong opponents…
“I think the entire game is a positive for us. We’ve taken a lot out of the two games. This is the defending champion so we faced a really tough opponent. We’re two times ahead of them and of course in football you never know what’s going to happen, but going into other games we know that we need to play the similar way we played today.”
On the team’s rhythm…
“I think it’s going pretty well. We work on attacking and defensive work in training. The two goals I guess came from what we practiced in the training. For us it’s a great feeling to see that what we practice is actually translating to the game today and of course we’re looking forward to doing our best and pulling a lot of victories.”
On why he hugged head coach Caleb Porter after his first goal…
“Because he gives me a lot of motivation. He tells me I can do it and I shouldn’t think about the goal, I should just think about going in there and fighting, helping the team. And, for me, that brings a lot of courage. When I scored the goal the only thing that came to my head is to show him my appreciation.”
Portland Timbers midfielder Jack Jewsbury
On how he deals with a result like tonight’s…
“You have to let results like this settle in for the next couple hours. Obviously disappointed. A rollercoaster of emotions in the last five minutes there. So, disappointed obviously, not to get three points. Gutted in that regard. But in terms of the overall performance, against a really good team, still some positives to draw from the game. It’s hard at this point to see those because you’re so disappointed with what happened right at the end.”
On if the team is taking positives from not losing to Real Salt Lake and LA in their first two games…
“To a certain extent, yes. The reality is that we want to win every time we step across those lines, just as [Caleb Porter] does. So the silver lining is that we got points and we did get results, but when we’re at home, three points is the goal and we expect to do that. So it is disappointing in the way that it happened tonight, giving up a late goal. There’s definitely stuff to work on. It’s early in the season, so can’t get too wound up over it.”
On Fanendo Adi’s opening goal from the counter attack…
“It happened quick. I think that’s something we’ve been working on in terms of counter attack. We know we’re a team that can keep the ball, possess the ball and create chances that way. But continue to be dangerous on the counter as well is something we’ve been working on. That goal came directly from that and it was a great action that was quick and got us into the attacking third and great combination between Rodney Wallace and Adi.”
On what he takes from the first two games ahead of playing Kansas City away…
“A lot of positives in the way we’re playing. Now it’s just about getting results. I think sometimes it’s good to go on the road and get the group together in those confines. It’s going to be tougher on the road, we know that, especially a tough place like Kansas City. It’ll be a great challenge for us.”
LA Galaxy Quotes
LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena
On getting a point on the road…
“We played well today. It would have been awful not to get a point out of this game. Our team was very good over the last 60 minutes today.”
On the overall game outcome…
“We played well. We really did. Give credit to them. They got two goals out of this, to their credit. We had to fight real hard to get a point out of this but we deserve the point.”
On newcomer Mika Vayrynen’s performance…
“Mika played very well. Obviously it’s going to take him some time to get acclaimed and adjusted to our team but it was a very impressive showing on his part today.”
On Goalie Brian Rowe’s performance…
“He did a good job. I think a little bit more experience maybe he’s a little better on that second goal. He’s got to come out and jump on that ball.”
On how this game may look down the stretch…
“Don’t worry about September and October. We’re worried about next Saturday now. I’m happy you all have us ready for September and October but we have a lot of games ahead to make our team better.”
LA Galaxy Forward Gyasi Zardes:
On if the draw feels like a win…
“No chance. It’s a tie. We want to win every game. A win feels like a win but at the same time we have to get the point and run with it and just prepare for our next opponent.”
On if the team lacked sharpness…
“No, I think to be honest we played an excellent game. The first 20 minutes was so-so but after that I felt like we killed it. We kept possession, we had multiple opportunities just couldn’t put the ball away.”
On the weather conditions…
“I love it because it’s a battle and it’s hard. You work for your teammate so I love games like that.”
LA Galaxy Goalie Brian Rowe
On windy conditions…
“Wind is always a tough one. You always can deal with sort of cold or rain but wind you just never know how it’s going to react. I thought we handled it well though and sort of absorbed their pressure in the beginning and settled into the game a little bit.”
On his performance…
“All right, I expect better of myself on that last one. We did a great job fighting back and getting the tying goal at 1-1 and just sort of as you get to those closing minutes on the road you just have to be able to close it out. So personally, I expect better of myself at that second one, just to be able to clean it out and do a little better but a miracle game in the way of Alan Gordon and fortunately we were able to steal a point and get out of here.”
On coming out for balls despite the conditions…
“I always try and help the backline come out and absorb as much pressure as I can. There were a couple punches here or there I may have missed but we’ll definitely look at the tape and take away and learn a lot from this game and go from there.”
On building confidence in his second start…
“I feel comfortable out there. I feel confident. I’m just trying to keep it going in training every week, keep the consistency going and just try to keep pushing myself to get better.”
Notes:
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Sunday’s crowd of 21,144 was the team’s 70th consecutive home sellout at Providence Park since 2011. Portland has sold out all of its regular-season home games since joining MLS.
- Fanendo Adi scored his 10th and 11th career regular-season goals for Timbers. With the brace, Adi became the sixth player with a multi-goal game in MLS in 2015.
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Adi's brace marked the fifth time in his MLS career that he has scored multiple goals in a single match for Portland. Ten of Adi’s 11 career goals have come in pairs.
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Adi's 11 career goals move him into 25th place on the Timbers career goal-scoring chart across all eras.
- Darlington Nagbe recorded his 16th career assist for Portland on Sunday, moving into ninth place on the Timbers career assist list across all eras, tying Timbers Ring of Honor member Jimmy Conway.
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With their assists on Sunday, Nagbe and Rodney Wallace became the first Timbers in the MLS era to record an assist in five consecutive seasons.
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The Timbers shutout streak ended at 458 minutes without conceding a goal, the longest streak in Timbers MLS history.
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With the draw, Portland extended its regular-season, home unbeaten streak to four straight games (2-0-2) against the LA Galaxy.
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Portland is 3-1-2 all-time against the Galaxy at Providence Park since 2011.
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Midfielder Diego Chara made his first appearance this season for the Timbers, moving into a tie for ninth place on the team’s all-time list of appearances across all eras with his 119th MLS match for Portland. Chara is tied on the list with NASL Timbers defender Graham Day.
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Wallace, who tallied an assist on Sunday, made his 90th career MLS appearance for the Timbers on Sunday. It was his 128th career regular-season MLS match.
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Midfielder Jack Jewsbury made the 305th appearance of his MLS career on Sunday and his 110th career regular-season appearance for Portland.
- The Timbers are unbeaten in 10 consecutive matches (5-0-5) against Western Conference opponents since Aug. 30, 2014. Portland has scored 20 goals in those 10 matches.
