Quotes: Portland Timbers vs. Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Portland Timbers Quotes
Timbers head coach Caleb Porter
Overall thoughts on the game:
“I don’t like losing, neither do my guys. We’re not happy because we didn’t win. We’re not happy at some things that happened in the game. I will credit Vancouver because I thought they scored a couple great goals today. For me, the third goal and fourth goals, fair goals. We weren’t good enough in those situations either, but you’ve got to credit them. They’re a good team. Very good team, they’ve got good players, and we knew that going in. I told my guys before the game, I thought they were one of the best teams in the league, so they deserve credit. But the result was unfair in my opinion.”
On the PK calls for Whitecaps FC:
“For me it’s less about the PK calls, it’s about the ones that weren’t called. I don’t have a problem. Refs make calls, but if you’re going to make a call, you better do it the same both ways, plain and simple. There were some calls that we didn’t get, I thought. The [Diego] Valeri play — if you’re going to call a PK the other way, then you have to call that one, too. Later, handball. Hit his arm. If you’re going to call a PK, two of them, I’ll accept that, but you better give them on the other end, too. That’s where I have a problem, not the calls that were made, but the ones that weren’t made. It has to be consistent the way a ref calls the game.”
On the continued resiliency of the club, despite trailing by three goals:
“This team has never lacked intensity, never lacked spirit, and they didn’t lack it tonight.”
On the reason for the shift in the game after the strong first 10 minutes:
“We gave up two PKs. We absolutely dominated the start of the game, anyone watching saw we dominated and scored a fantastic first goal and then hit the post on another. The first time they got close to our goal was the PK. Then 10 minutes later there's another and the game is turned on its head. We could have responded better. Thought the third goal was tough as it gave them cushion going into dressing room. Then they score the fourth right away after halftime so the timing of those two goals made it difficult. But the two PKs definitely were a major factor in the game."
On moving on from the game:
“We’re moving on, simple. This game’s over. This game’s done. I’ve said that since I got here about our process, win, lose or draw we file it away and move on. If we would have won the game, there’s still another game around the corner. We lose the game, there’s another game around the corner. It doesn’t change a thing. Obviously it's been a long week and tough to lose this last one at home but the reality is we still got six points out of this three-game stretch, so it's not all bad."
On the play of forward Fanendo Adi late in the game:
“Yeah, it’s late in the game. We’re down three goals, we needed to get balls in the box, obviously he’s a guy who can flick things on. He’s a load in there in the box, and I thought obviously late in the game we made an aggressive push. We played three in back. We can’t play like that the entire game, but I thought it obviously helped us pull two goals back. Thought we should have gotten the fourth to level, too."
Portland Timbers defender Jack Jewsbury
On the team being able to move on from tonight’s loss:
“Absolutely. It’s on to the next game. That’s the way we’ve approached it all year, whether we would have won this game or not.”
On the second-half comeback:
“At the end of the day, we didn’t want to rally like that as much as we’ve had to so far. We know we can do it. This group has got that mentality to come back once we give up the lead. We started the game well, especially the first 15-20 minutes getting the goal. I thought we were on the front foot and really put them on their heels. A couple goals go against you, all of sudden the game’s turned and maybe we lost our way a little through the middle of the first half, but this group kept fighting until the end.”
On the team’s mentality during this busy stretch of games:
“We realized our goal going into an eight-day stretch with three games was to get nine points. When you look back on it, the first two on the road, some people would say we did the hard part. Then coming back here we felt very confident. I think everyone on this team for the past week has shown that they belong; we used a lot of guys in different roles. It’s just disappointing the last step of that process was to get three points today and we fell a bit short.”
On the result:
“I’m disappointed. Anytime we score three goals at home we assume we’ll get three points. Defensively, we’ve got to do better. Whether the two PKs were or not, I will have to look at them again, they seemed pretty light. At the end of the day on the defensive side we’ve got to be better.”
Portland Timbers forward Darlington Nagbe
On the non-penalty kick call on Diego Valeri:
“It is what it is on our home field. We played well and we gave them a chance. The calls didn’t go our way. It is what it is.”
On how the match ranks when it comes to frustrating games:
“Probably top two. We still feel the hurt.”
Vancouver Whitecaps FC Quotes
Vancouver Whitecaps FC head coach Carl Robinson
On the result:
“It was a great game today. I think we took our chances and they took a few of their chances, missed a couple. We’ll take it. I think it was a very good performance. Showed a lot of character. We’ve never beaten Portland. I made the guys aware of that before the game. I think the effort and determination shown by [Vancouver] was fantastic.”
On Erik Hurtado’s performance:
“He really has been fantastic. I keep using fantastic. He’s been superb. His confidence level is sky high at the moment and his work rate is phenomenal. He’s done that in front of his family. I was a little worried before the game that he had a lot of family here. When you do that as a young player, you go away from the things you’re good at. He didn’t do that. I thought his movement was excellent. He got his reward with a goal. His holdup play was excellent. So overall, a fantastic performance by Erik.”
On the game’s opening 20 minutes:
“They’re a good team. They probably out-possess most teams. I don’t know the possession stats. I’m sure they probably out-possessed us today. They’re very well organized. Caleb’s a super coach. He won the Western Conference last year, so he’s got his team very organized. In possession obviously I think we’re very good. We need to work on that, our possession. It’s the same for [Portland] as well. They cause you problems because they’re a good team.”
On Pedro Morales’ performance:
“Two goals, two assists. I brought him here to be a difference maker and he certainly is a difference maker. Prior to tonight’s match and certainly tonight, he enjoyed the occasion. He slowed it down when we needed to. A bit like Diego Valeri. He runs the show for them. It’s great to watch. As a young coach who wants to learn and wants to watch exciting players, today there were a few exciting players on the pitch.”
On talking with Caleb Porter after the final whistle:
“We shook hands and things like that. I’ve got a huge amount of respect for Caleb. I’m a young coach. He’s got more experience than me. The way we’re playing, I want to learn from Caleb. The system he plays is what I want to do. I’m sure we’ll argue now and again and that’s what happens, but the respect I’ve got for him is very big.”
Vancouver Whitecaps FC forward Erik Hurtado
On scoring in front of friend and family in Portland:
“First of all, the win felt great, on the road, in Portland. All of our fans coming on the road was amazing, and then just to score in front of my family and friends at home where I grew up, just icing on the cake.”
On where the ball hit him on his goal:
“My knee. He had a good first save, but I was running towards the rebound and it hit off my knee and went in, or my knee hit the ball and went in.”
On how the team responded after the Timbers scored first:
“No matter what, we’re going to attack, you know. Whether we’re home, whether we’re away, whether we’re down, whether we’re up, we’re going to try and score goals. That’s the kind of team we are, and I think it showed today.”
Vancouver Whitecaps FC midfielder Pedro Morales (Translated from Spanish)
On his two penalty kicks:
“I usually just go by feel and I kind of just decide at the moment where I want to go and that’s what I did today.”
About the nerves toward the end of a close game:
“A little bit. You think they could tie it up but in reality I wasn’t that nervous. We did really well and had a great game against a rival team.”
How he felt about the atmosphere in a big Cascadia derby match on the road:
“It was a great atmosphere. I love playing in front of a crowd like this where they get behind their players like that.”
Notes:
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Sunday’s crowd of 20,814 marked the 59th consecutive sellout at Providence Park. The Timbers have sold out every regular-season match at Providence Park since 2011.
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Defenders Rauwshan McKenzie and Jorge Villafaña each made the first home starts of their Timbers MLS careers on Sunday at Providence Park.
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Defender Jack Jewsbury made his 100th career Timbers MLS appearance and the 295th appearance of his MLS career on Sunday.
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Midfielder Diego Valeri tallied a multi-assist game for the second time this season and the sixth time in his Timbers MLS career. Valeri has registered one goal and six assist in the last six matches, including three assists in the last two matches.
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Forward Maximiliano Urruti has scored in three of the team’s last four matches and has tallied a total of four goals in as many games.
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Forward Fanendo Adi has registered at least a point in consecutive games, tallying two goals on May 28 against Chivas USA and an assist on Sunday against Vancouver.
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Sunday’s loss was Portland’s first against Vancouver since the Timbers joined MLS in 2011. The Timbers hold a 4-1-4 lead in the all-time MLS series between the two clubs.
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The Timbers MLS-club record, home-unbeaten streak ended on Sunday at 22 consecutive matches, dating back to March 9, 2013, a span of 450 days. Portland compiled a 12-0-10 record at Providence Park during the streak, which is tied for third all-time in MLS history.
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Goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts surpassed the 13,000-minute mark in his MLS career in the 68th minute of Sunday’s match.
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Forward Gastón Fernández has tallied five of his six goals this season at Providence Park. Four of his goals have come after the 75th minute.
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Sunday’s match was the highest-scoring affair in nine regular-season games between Portland and Vancouver since 2011, and it marked the fifth time in the MLS series in which the Timbers have scored at least two goals against Whitecaps FC.
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Midfielder/forward Darlington Nagbe has appeared in 81 of the team’s 82 regular-season matches since the start of the 2012 MLS season.
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Sunday's loss snapped a six-game unbeaten streak for the Timbers in regular-season play.
- The loss ended Portland's MLS-club record, 20-game home-unbeaten streak against Western Conference opponents. The streak dated back to July 28, 2012, a span of 674 days without a home loss to a Western Conference opponent.
