Portland Timbers quotes
Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter
On the team’s performance tonight and how he’s feeling about the season…
“It was a tough ending. We knew it was going to be a big ask. A lot to manage in this game, but I think the group believed because we’ve managed a lot in a lot of other games. Then we have to manage losing [Darren] Mattocks 11 minutes into the game. That made it tough, but in saying that we played extremely bright in the first half. We scored the first goal. The killer was their first goal. if we go into the half up 1-0 we know in the second half they have to come out because they need a goal to go through and then that would have played into our hands. Instead we get stunned against the run with a goal and that makes it 1-1. In saying that I still thought we would find the goal in the second half. Credit to Houston. Honestly, congratulations to them for moving on. I thought they defended exceptionally well tonight especially in the back four. [Adolfo] Machado and [Philippe] Senderos were men tonight. Obviously they were going against a young kid, but my guys gave everything they had. This is one that hurts for sure. We fell short. We felt we could move on, but we didn’t. When the dust settles I think we will look back and realize it was a good season, but it’s also a season where you think to yourself ‘what if?’ ‘What if we were at full strength?’ Because at the start of the year and the end of the year at full strength we showed what we are capable of and even tonight first half we showed what we are capable of, but it wasn’t enough.”
On the team’s response after scoring the first goal…
“It’s a tough one. Gave up a goal on a set piece. Is it a foul? I don’t know. The official was talking to [Dairon] Asprilla and he can’t get back in his spot. Are those factors? Yeah they are. But at the end of the day we gave up the goal. [Dylan] Remick hits a wonder strike and it’s a goal. It’s tough. Stuff like that happens. I thought that was a big moment in the match for sure.”
On the difficulty to find a rhythm and get on a run throughout the season with all the injuries…
“That’s the story of the season. The good and bad. The bad is we weren’t at full strength very often this year and yet we were still able to get 15 wins, which tied the club record, and win the West, playing a lot of different guys. Tonight we were as thin as ever. We have to go really deep in the bench if you look at the depth chart in a lot of spots, four or five spots, we are on our third or fourth guy. But that’s the way the season was and that became kind of the rallying cry a little bit. You didn’t see that effect our play in the first part of the game. That was a very good first half and we deserved to score the first goal. Like I said we get stunned with that set piece goal and then we get stunned with another one in the second half. But I can’t fault my guys and I told them after the game. In the five years I’ve been here this was one of my most enjoyable years. It wasn’t just 15 wins and winning the West. Those are all real positives that we’ll realize when the sting wears off, but it was just being around this group of guys. This is a great group of guys and it’s a shame we are not able to move on because I think we could have done something especially if we would have moved on and had 15 days or so to get a few guys back and healthy and more full strength. We really thought we would pull this off today.”
On if this is the toughest loss he’s had in his career…
“I don’t know, they all hurt. I think anytime you end your season. It’s one of those things when you have a group that’s bought in and believes then it’s always going to hurt even more when the season is done because there is not a guy in that locker room that believed we’d be ending our season. We believed we’d be moving on. It’s a credit to them to believe that much even though we had so many guys out and that’s why I enjoy this group so much. One to 25 they were all good guys and there was a great spirit in that locker room. That’s really what made us the team that we were this year. It’s the team and the locker room and the guys character. So I really enjoyed spending a lot of time in the trenches with these guys. Like I said in a couple days we will realize it was a good season. We made a lot of steps forward this year. We still need to make more steps, but we had a good bounce back from last year.”
On if the physicality of the game affected the team…
“I don’t know. Again I think if we just get to half and are up 1-0 and the whole game is different in the second half. I just think they were able to go into the break knowing that they are through if they can just ride out that second half. They are built to do that and they’ve done that this year. So it played right into their hands and they were able to at halftime make a few adjustments defensively and make it a second half where they were just going to absorb the whole second half. Part of that is to chop the game, but I didn’t think they were dirty. I give them a lot of credit. I thought they defended really well. Really well tonight on our attacking group. But we were also missing some guys too so we lacked maybe a little bit of quality in certain spots that might have been there if things were different. But in the end congratulations to Houston they are a good team.”
On if some things out of his control like injuries make this disappointment a little bit more…
“I think when you look at this team and this is very encouraging moving forward we have the pieces to again next year put together an extremely positive season and make steps even further to accomplish what we want to accomplish. So that’s a real positive. The negative is we just weren’t able to do it this year and we had the makings of being able to do that. Like you said there was a stage I think after we qualified for the playoffs against D.C. United when we thought we were going to get [Fanendo] Adi back and we were looking to be basically full strength. I thought to myself, ‘listen, this team can win it.’ Then first leg we just lose a bunch of guys and today we lose another and then we hear Adi’s not going to be back. Then Seba [Sebastián Blanco] burns his foot and [David] Guzmán in the Vancouver game gets an LCL and the next thing you know you are four or five players different. Yeah that definitely derailed us. But moving forward we don’t need to make a lot of changes. I think we can still get better in a few spots. We won’t hesitate to continue to add pieces. No doubt we will add some pieces to get even better. We’ve rebuilt our depth. We’ve rebuilt our core. We’ve added some quality in some spots and moving forward we are going to come back better than ever.”
Portland Timbers defender Liam Ridgewell
On tonight’s result …
“It’s a disappointing night. Everyone is disappointed the whole way around. We were going into the game to win the game and go through, but sadly it wasn’t to be.”
On the number of injuries the team has dealt with over the past few weeks…
“I’ve seen a lot of injuries in my time, but probably not back-to-back in crucial times and with crucial players, but that’s football. That’s why we’ve got strength and depth in the squad. We had enough to cope with it, but it’s just a disappointing night.”
On Houston’s opening goal…
“Giving up an away goal is never easy, and now you’ve got to get two [goals]. Playing at home, we back ourselves to do that anyway but you know they’re going to sit behind the ball and play for that. We tried to search for the second goal, and they hit us for a long-range [goal].”
On how long it takes to get over a loss like this…
‘It takes a while, especially when you’re confident coming into the game and you’re at home and playing very well in the first half. We had a good season, so it’s difficult. It’s probably more difficult getting over this one because you come top of the West. You feel good and confident, and to get knocked out like that at home is certainly difficult.”
On the group’s confidence heading into tonight’s match despite the number of injuries on the team…
“We still felt great. That’s not an excuse we’re going to look on. We’ve got strength and depth in this squad that we’ve coped with all season. We won games all season. Roy [Miller] going down was a disappointing thing because he’s a big player for us, but that’s football. Things like that happen. We needed to overcome that. It wasn’t the injuries that lost us the game tonight, we lost the game. They scored two goals. It wasn’t the injuries.”
Portland Timbers midfielder Diego Valeri
On tonight’s result …
“It’s very disappointing, to be honest, in front of our supporters. We’ve been playing really well at home and when we needed to win, we couldn’t do it.”
On how the injuries throughout the team affected tonight’s result…
“I think it affected it, of course. You have a lot of guys out of the field, but I think in the first half we played a good game – aggressive, creating chances, managed the game and guys that have not been playing played really well. We couldn’t manage the result and then we couldn’t find the goals.”
On what allowed Houston to score the equalizing goal…
“I think we were not very focused in that first goal. They had a little bit of luck. Of course it was a great goal, but after that we couldn’t find another [goal] in the first part of the second half, which obviously gave us more impatience.”
On the disappointment of the team after claiming the first seed in the Western Conference…
“We were unlucky with a lot of injuries in a short period. Obviously you never expect that, but you can lose the game and that’s a part of the possibilities.”
On the positives the group can take away from this season…
“Right now, it’s really hard to think about it. We’ll think about it in the offseason. Obviously we know there were positive things during the whole season, but now losing this semifinal match for us is bad.”
Houston Dynamo quotes
Houston Dynamo head coach Wilmer Cabrera
General thoughts on the match…
“It was a very, very tough game against a very good opponent. We knew their quality and the capacity of the Portland Timbers coming over here. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but we were confident that we had a good plan. We have the possibilities to get a result over here. It was 180 minutes. Two games. One in Houston. One here. The best team over the two games is supposed to be successful. So we wanted to continue doing that. Despite the difficulties we’ve been having and despite the difficulties Portland Timbers have had, it was a very good game. Tough game. Good match. We could score which is important for us to score. Then we have the possibilities in the second half to put the game away and we did it. It’s rewarding for the players. It’s rewarding for the work we’ve been doing. Now we continue dreaming and thinking about the possibilities that are in front of us. We are not on vacation yet. We’re happy we’re not on vacation.”
On the team’s plan coming into the match and specifically handling Diego Valeri…
“No doubt that Diego Valeri is an outstanding player and he can make the difference. He has made the difference throughout the season. We had to make sure we were close to him and Juan [Cabezas] did a great job. We didn’t want to mark him man-to-man, but we had preference on him. Then when we attacked, we didn’t want to attack wide. We changed that plan to attack inside so we kept those wide-backs and try to hold them because we knew that [Portland’s wide backs] were going all day, going attacking, attacking. They needed to attack and they needed to take risks. Anyway, despite going down first, we talked. They can score on us, but also we can score. If we score, everything is going to be fine for us. We were fortunate that we scored really quick on a set piece. Then in the second half, it was a matter of being disciplined and organized and never lose control of our plan. With our changes and our substitutions we could take the three points at the end. It’s very rewarding.”
On coming to Portland and dealing with a hostile environment…
“The environment is not hostile. The environment is beautiful. It’s a beautiful environment. We love to come over here to see the spectacle of the fans singing, supporting the home team. That’s what we wanted to do. We talked about it. It’s fun. It’s good and it’s playoff time so we need to enjoy this moment. We need to enjoy this time. The players were focused at the end. It’s only the 22 players on the field that are going to play. In that case, we were solid. We were calm. We were mature and we took what we needed to take. At the end, we’re happy to come over here and show that the Houston Dynamo have the quality. It’s the reason why we’re here in the playoffs. It’s the reason why we’re in the finals of the Western Conference. No one has given us anything. We have earned everything on the field.”
On the team’s development over the last year…
“Sometimes we have to start from the bottom to prove ourselves. The most important is not how you start. When you move, you need to be well prepared because at some point, when the opportunities open for you, you need to be ready and that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to be ready. I’ve been working hard, we’ve been working hard together and now we’ve been rewarded. But we want more and we know that every time and every game you get something, now it’s more pressure for you. We like that. We really like that.”
Houston Dynamo defender Dylan Remick
On scoring the tying goal tonight…
“It was a pretty good time. Just doing what I can. Felt pretty amazing. My right foot hasn’t done that a lot in my life. That was cool. It was just a great response by the team. Unfortunate goal [for Portland]. My fault basically, so I wanted to do what I could to help the team get back in the game. Luckily [Jalil Anibaba] put the ball back across, exactly like we planned it up and just swung through and hoped. I was pretty surprised myself so it took a while to settle in. It was, again, a good team effort on the goal and in the game in general.”
On if the tying goal took the pressure off the team…
“Absolutely, especially with the road goal rule, we knew that if we kept a scoreless second half then the game was ours. We knew that the longer we kept it 1-1, the more [Portland] would have to throw numbers forward, which is perfect for us because we’re great on the counter attack. It was a good mentality going into halftime. We knew exactly what we needed to get done and everybody bought in and we got the victory.”
On the team’s consistent rotation throughout the year…
“It’s good that [Wilmer Cabrera] is rotating. Everybody stays fresh that way and everybody feels a part of the team. When somebody has to come in to a big game like tonight, you don’t feel out of place. You have your rhythm. The guys on the team feel confident with everyone and anyone coming into the game, so it’s really good for team chemistry, rhythm and morale.”
Houston Dynamo goalkeeper Joe Willis
On if he felt pressure coming into this match…
“No, not really. I think coming into this game all the pressure was on Portland. I said it before the game, they needed to win tonight. We didn’t need to win. We just needed to score a goal and we needed to tie. They were the number one seed. Coming into this, we had everything to gain and they had everything to lose. I think the team has played so well lately, I had a lot of confidence in the guys and it worked out pretty well for us.”
On if the players feel they have more to play for…
“Absolutely. It’s nice to win. It’s always fun to win and you’re happy and you want to celebrate, but the job’s not done yet. Still a lot of work to do. Still some good teams we have to play. We can enjoy tonight and tomorrow it’s back to work.”
Notes:
- Sunday’s game marked the 125th consecutive sellout for the Timbers at Providence Park.
- Dairon Asprilla scored his second career goal in the MLS Cup Playoffs, previously scoring during the 2015 postseason campaign.
- Asprilla is the fifth different Timbers player to have multiple goals in the MLS playoffs, joining Diego Valeri, Rodney Wallace, Fanendo Adi, and Will Johnson.
- Diego Valeri recorded his fifth career assist in the MLS Cup playoffs. Valeri is tied for the third-most MLS playoff assists among active players.
- Vytas recorded his fifth assist of the season across all competitions.
- Jack Barmby, Sebastián Blanco and David Guzman each made their Timbers postseason debut.
- The match was the 41st postseason match for Portland across all eras of the club.
