Quotes: Portland Timbers vs. Real Salt Lake
Portland Timbers Quotes
Timbers head coach John Spencer
On Álvaro Saborío:
“We said it at the pregame meeting, when you let the guy [Saborío] have a chance, he puts it in the back of the net as he proved today. He’s dangerous, one of best players they have in this league.”
On if the players are still thinking about the first goal during the second goal:
“Maybe yep…I think that it’s important that once you go a goal down you haven’t lost the game, but you have if you stop concentrating and you let it affect you mentally. I think the goal was a big punch in the gut for us.”
On what was good about the first hour of the game, and if the Timbers fought the last half hour:
“Possession-wise we kept the ball, the first half especially, we had a couple chances. When you have altitude in these places, Colorado and Salt Lake, you have to keep focus and keep your head in the game. You have to try to move the ball when you can. Obviously, you go two-nil down in Salt Lake, it’s a tough place to play when it’s 0-0, let alone two-nil down. Once they get the second goal it’s almost over.”
On moving on from the loss:
“We’ll concentrate on what went wrong today, for our game next week versus LA”
Timbers goalkeeper Troy Perkins
Overall thoughts on the match:
“It just wasn’t good. There were times we did what we wanted to do, and there were times when we completely had the blinders on. The first hour was okay. I felt the second half we were just chasing the game. We didn’t hold the ball up enough to get guys out and when we did we were too slow to get up.”
On Kosuke Kimura’s first game with the team:
“I mean, he’s got to find himself on the team still. He’s an engine that never stops, so we’re happy to have him.”
On being winless on the road:
“It’s great when we’re at home, sure. At some point, you have to draw the line and say enough is enough. Everyone’s got to say it, do it, believe it, and whether or not we win at home doesn’t matter. At this point we’ve got to win on the road.”
Timbers defender David Horst
On being back at Rio Tinto Stadium:
“I’ve always gotten along with the guys on the team great and coaches really well so it’s always great to come back and see them. It’s great to see they’re doing well. I had the luxury of knowing how they were going to play coming into this game and they played exactly how I thought they would. They played hard, they kept the ball, and they get the job done.”
On the aggressiveness of the game:
“Hard tackles…it’s soccer, it’s life. It’s going to happen, there’s going to be hard tackles. I’m protecting my team mates; they’re protecting their teammates. It’s nothing personal with any of them. When we walk off the field, it will all be back to normal. We both play hard. We’re not going to sit back and let the other team kick us. We have to make our presence felt, and that’s a trademark of both teams. Neither team is going to back down from the other.”
On being winless on the road:
“We can’t let it get to us. It’s going to happen; you’re going to have these during the season. We had a couple last year, every team has it. What makes a good team is being able to get yourself back up, pull yourself off the ground, and go on to the next game. That’s what makes a good team. You’ve seen it from Salt Lake the past couple weeks. They haven’t won and then tonight they come out and won. We’ve got to do that now. Real Salt Lake took it to us tonight, so next week we’ve got pick ourselves back up and go out and play hard.”
Real Salt Lake Quotes
Real Salt Lake head coach Jason Kreis
On tonight’s match…
“We made it very clear to our players that we wanted to get back to the basics and establish a foundation. I think we did that Wednesday night not allowing Seattle to score against us and then put it all together tonight. I feel like we’ve moved a step in the right direction.”
On whether or not he knew more goals were coming after Saborio’s first goal…
“Yeah, for sure. The way the momentum of that game was going, you feel like if there’s one goal there is going to be two or three. Truthfully that was the same against San Jose, the difference was that we got scored on first.”
On Saborío and his three goals in 15 minutes:
“The first one was really special, wasn’t it? The way that he got up and headed it across the goal, the whole face of the goal and it hits the post and goes in. It was really, really special. He’s a guy, for me, that’s just had a lot of injustices lately with the goals that have been called back against him.”
Real Salt Lake forward Alvaro Saborio
On how he felt after the first goal:
“The first goal was like ‘Oh, finally!’ because we try hard and today it was good. Soccer won tonight.”
On if RSL feels relieved after scoring first:
“I don’t think we relax. We try to score more and finish the game, but I think we had a good game today and we have to continue like that and keep positive.”
On the importance of getting a hat trick with RSL:
“It’s important. It’s three goals that I’ve scored in one game only a few times in my career and I feel very happy about it. Hopefully we can continue like that and make some more wins and goals.”
Real Salt Lake defender Chris Wingert
On his assist:
“The goal is always to get it in between the back line and the goalkeeper to put him in a bad position, and fortunately I hit that one pretty good. That’s what great crossers will do consistently with guys like David Beckham and Brad Davis, so I saw that Portland were high, and I tried to hit it hard enough where they couldn’t cut it off from the near side and it would still get through. Fortunately it did. Sabo was just feeling it tonight."
On tonight’s match:
“It felt really good tonight. I’m happy for Sabo and he deserved it. For a regular-season win, it doesn’t get too much better than that."
On if there was a sense of relief in the locker room after tonight’s win:
“It was mounting a little bit after a few losses, and everybody was freaking out and it’s understandable. We don’t want to get too high or too low from the way everybody else is reacting. Whether it’s great things or bad things, but we’re trying to stay on an even keel, but it’s tough after a few loses. We’re competitive guys and we’ve had some success the last few years where it starts to take its toll and you need a win like this to get you back in decent form.”
Notes:
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The Timbers’ match against Real Salt Lake marked the midway point in their 2012 MLS regular season.
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The Timbers and Real Salt Lake met for the second of three regular-season meetings in 2012. Portland is 1-2-1 in the all-time MLS series against RSL. The two clubs will face off for a third time on Sept. 22 back at Rio Tinto Stadium.
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Saturday’s match marked the Timbers’ third league match in an eight days span, with two of those being played on the road. It also marked the halfway point in the club’s string of 11 consecutive matches against Western Conference opponents.
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Forward Alvaro Saborio became the first MLS opponent to record a hat trick against the Timbers, scoring all three goals inside a 15-minute window in the second half. He’s responsible for four of RSL’s six goals scored in the 2012 series with Portland.
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Saborio’s penalty-kick goal in the 73rd minute was just the third PK called against the Timbers this season. He also scored a PK in the first POR-RSL match earlier this season on March 31 at JELD-WEN Field.
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Timbers goalkeeper Troy Perkins faced nine shots on goal against RSL, matching a season-high. His six saves were one short of matching a season-high; the goalkeeper has recorded a total of 12 saves in two games against RSL this season.
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Perkins made his 46th consecutive start for the Timbers, dating back to April 23, 2011. Saturday’s match was his 145th career MLS match and start.
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The Timbers were held without a shot on goal for the first time this season in the loss to RSL. The team’s five shots were also a season low.
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Referee Mark Geiger handed out eight cards – seven yellow, one red – over the final 30 minutes of the match. The five cautions issued to Timbers players marked a season high.
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Midfielder Diego Chara became the second Timbers player to receive a red card in 2012 and will miss the club’s next match on July 14 due to a one-game, league-imposed suspension for the ejection. He recently missed the Timbers’ 2-1 win over San Jose on July 3 due to a one-game suspension for yellow card-accumulation.
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Acquired in a trade from the Colorado Rapids on Thursday, defender Kosuke Kimura made his Timbers debut Saturday starting against Real Salt Lake.
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After starting his last seven games at right back, captain Jack Jewsbury returned to the midfield for the Timbers on Saturday, making his first start as a midfielder since April 28 at Montreal.
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Forward Kris Boyd, who came off the bench as a substitute against RSL, had a streak of 16 consecutive games with a shot come to an end on Saturday. He entered the match in the 68th minute for Danny Mwanga.
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Returning from a three-match suspension, defender Hanyer Mosquera came on as a late substitute against RSL.
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The Timbers return home for their next match, where they are unbeaten in their last six league games (4-0-2) at JELD-WEN Field.
- Timbers goalkeeper Jake Gleeson is scheduled to join the New Zealand U-23 National Team over the weekend in preparation for the 2012 London Olympic Games.
