Portland Timbers Quotes
Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter
On the result…
“I thought we played great all game. From start to finish, I thought we earned it. I thought we were the better team today. Outside of the goal they scored, they didn’t have much. You have to credit Wondo [Chris Wondolowski] and [Shea] Salinas for that goal, because that was a good goal. I thought we dug deep. A lot of teams would have hung their head down 1-0 at this stage of the season, they would have thrown in the white towel, but not these guys. That locker room in there, they’ve got character.”
On the season…
“We’ve stuck together all year. We’ve suffered together all year and that’s why we’re going to succeed together. Going into this game, we talked about how we had four rounds left and we’re going to give every team our best punch. And I thought we gave San Jose our best punch today.”
On the team’s defensive effort in the win against San Jose…
“I was really pleased, I thought we were exceptional today defensively. The other thing is I thought we managed the lead well. We talked about that all week, we talked about making sure when we got up on a team that we shut the game down and managed it well.”
On whether Vancouver’s win Saturday puts pressure on the Timbers…
“I think we put pressure on them, because every time they try to get away from us, we don’t let them. I think Vancouver knows our experience and quality, and I think if anything, they’re feeling the pressure, and not us.”
Portland Timbers midfielder Rodney Wallace
On the result…
“It’s a huge win, but at the same time, we’re not really surprised by it because we’ve dealt with a lot of adversity the whole season, so this is just another result that shows what type of team we are.”
On his first goal…
“It was a great play by Alvas [Powell]. He did a great job of getting forward. I tried to sneak toward the first post, turned the defender and just took a shot and it went in.”
On his second goal…
“The first goal gave us momentum. We knew we weren’t leaving here without a result. We’ve been practicing our set pieces and we have a lot of big bodies. It went off Liam [Ridgewell] and I was able to deflect it and again, it went in. It just says a lot about our team and how hungry we are to make plays.”
Portland Timbers midfielder Ben Zemanski
On team moral…
“It was a big one. Obviously, going down a goal in the second half and knowing how big this game was, to get three points, you could see on everyone’s faces that there was no panic. We’ve faced adversity all year and there was no panic. We were composed. We knew we were capable of doing it and some guys really stepped up in big moments and, fortunately, we got those two goals and shut it down from there.”
San Jose Earthquakes Quotes
San Jose Earthquakes head coach Mark Watson
On the result…
“It was another frustrating night. I thought we played well at times. We knew we were playing a good team who wanted to possess the ball, but I thought we defended well and had a bunch of chances. We went up a goal and I think the two goals they scored – the deflections – is kind of the way our season is going. I’m really disappointed for our guys. They came out motivated to win in front of their home fans, and once again we leave disappointed.”
San Jose Earthquakes defender Jason Hernandez
On Portland’s second half goals…
“Portland is a good team, but to give up two deflection goals is the story of our season. I’d love to have some deflection goals go in for us. I feel like we’ve been on the wrong end of things for most of the year. A lot of good work and effort in front of our fans was all for naught tonight. They say you make your own luck and we try our hardest every night but we just can’t seem to get our heads above water. It’s very frustrating.”
Notes:
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Portland's win on Saturday night eliminated San Jose from playoff contention in 2014.
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The Timbers earned their first win on the road against San Jose during their MLS era.
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Saturday’s match marked the 31st all-time meeting between the two teams in all competitions, across all eras. Since 1975, Portland is 15-10-6 overall against San Jose.
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The Timbers and Earthquakes met for the 10th time in MLS regular-season play as Portland improved to 3-1-6.
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Portland set a MLS-club single-season record in goals (56) with two goals on Saturday against San Jose. Portland is on pace to register 61 goals this season.
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The Timbers rank third in MLS with 56 goals. Only two teams, the LA Galaxy (66) and Seattle (57) have scored more goals this season.
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Portland has scored 32 of its 56 goals in the final 30 minutes of matches this season.
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Midfielder Rodney Wallace netted his first career brace for the Timbers, becoming the ninth player during the MLS era to record a brace for the club.
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The Timbers improved to 6-6-4 on the road in 2014, earning the fourth-best road winning percentage in the league and the third most wins on the road this season.
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Midfielder/forward Darlington Nagbe made the 124th appearance of his Timbers MLS career, moving into a seventh place tie on the list.
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Portland has tallied two goals or more in seven straight league games (eight consecutive matches in all competitions).
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The Timbers are unbeaten in four consecutive matches (2-0-2) against Western Conference opponents and unbeaten in three consecutive matches (2-0-1) on the road against Western Conference teams.
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Portland has scored 14 of its 25 goals on the road in the final 30 minutes of matches this season.
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Defender Liam Ridgewell got his first start with the captain’s armband on Saturday.
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Ridgewell and forward Gastón Fernández each registered their first MLS assist in the match.
- Midfielder Diego Valeri was not available for the match as he served his one-game suspension due to yellow card accumulation.
