Portland Timbers head coach Giovanni Savarese
On his thoughts of the match…
“Difficult conditions to play. We did a lot of good things, but also, we cannot allow a team with 10 [players] to score a goal right at the beginning of the second half and at the end of the second half. When we are playing well; when we are keeping the ball, when we are doing things the right way, allow them to come back into the match it wasn’t good enough for my part.”
On what he would like to have seen the team do in the second half…
“We did a lot of good things in the second half. We moved the ball well, but it’s the moments they were able to break the lines and how they became a threat going forward. We need to be better in making sure that those moments don’t happen, especially when you are playing against 10 men. Even though we had a good game and did a lot of good things, I think we wasted two points that we could have gotten here and it could’ve been a great start for us because we did so many good things during the match. But it’s not good enough to allow this team to score with 10 men.”
Portland Timbers goalkeeper Jeff Attinella
On his feelings about the game…
“We let three get away. It’s pretty simple. We gave up the lead twice, which is pretty unacceptable, no matter what the circumstances are. I thought, to be honest, we played very well. To let them score in the very start of the second half and at the very end, it’s a lesson that we learn very early in the season this year and it just can’t happen that way.”
On if the conditions changing the way the team played…
“Yeah, I mean listen it was a snowstorm. You couldn’t really get traction on the ground. There were piles of snow everywhere. So of course it changed the game. To be fair, I thought we actually moved the ball really well and created a lot of dangerous chances. It just made the game really sloppy and I think that was maybe something that led to the third goal. A better clearance here or there, on a night where it is pretty dry and normal weather conditions, maybe we clear the ball and the game is over.”
On what they learn from this game going into the Los Angeles FC game…
“We can’t take a second off. I felt like we had control of the game pretty much after we took that 2-1 lead, we should have had control of the game the whole time. It just kind of seemed like we took two minutes off and it’s a valuable lesson that we can’t relax at any moment and if we do we could get punished.”
Portland Timbers defender Larrys Mabiala
On his thoughts of the result of the match…
“The feeling is that we lost two points today because even if the conditions were very difficult, we took an advantage in this game and when you are leading 3-2 in such difficult conditions you should be able to keep the score and to go home with the three points.”
On the impact of the conditions in the team’s performance…
“I think we just adapted well. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. After the first goal we could find a lot of opportunities and we could kill the game earlier in the first half. Unfortunately, we took the advantage, but 2-1 was the minimum we could do and after they came back, obviously, the first one and a half minute in the second half they could find this goal. This is when things became very difficult for us. We had this chance to score this goal to give us the lead and we should have kept the result.”
Colorado Rapids head coach Anthony Hudson
On the 90 minutes…
“My overall feeling was that, up until the 79th minute, I thought we were playing very well. I felt confident, we looked good going forward, and scoring the goal put us in a good place. The sending off was a shame. It changed, what was, a good game at the time. And then, to comeback twice from a goal down, showed a huge amount of character from the players. As you know, in those situations, when you’re down to ten players and the conditions are the way that they are and you’re playing against one of the best teams in the country, the easy thing for the players to do would be to concede, but they didn’t, they kept going. The equalizer at the end, while people might think it was a tap-in, the fact he [Andre Shinyashiki] was in that position so late in the game, was unbelievable. I’m just really proud of the players and they should be proud of themselves.”
Colorado Rapids midfielder Benny Feilhaber
On the 90 minutes...
“I’m going to have to rewatch it. It was crazy, it felt like I was back in fifth grade playing tackle football on a snow day, so it didn't even feel like a real game. But for all the guys that stuck together in that game, I think it was a huge game for us. It’s great to win at home and get three points, but to get a point the way we did today; coming from behind, being down a man, in those conditions, playing against a good team, everyone put in 100% effort. The guys who came in off the bench were spectacular, Danny [Wilson] coming in and doing a good job, he was fantastic. Andre [Shinyashiki] coming in and getting that goal, so great for a rookie to be able to feel what that rush is like. We’re going to count on him to do that more often. I could go through the entire list, but the guys were phenomenal. It was a big time point for us and with how many new guys we have on this team, I think it’s a really big statement from us to come back and get a point.”
Colorado Rapids forward Andre Shinyashiki
On tonight's’ weather conditions...
“I’m from Brazil so growing up, I did not experience this weather, but at DU [Denver University] there were a couple of times it got this cold, maybe not as snowy as it did here, but definitely this cold I’ve played in before so, just kind of used to it.”
Notes:
- Portland and Colorado featured in the coldest match in MLS regular season or postseason history with a temperature at kickoff of 18 degrees and snow flurries throughout the majority of the match.
- The 2019 season marks Diego Chara’s ninth consecutive season with the Timbers. He is the first player in club history across all eras to play more than eight seasons with Portland.
- Diego Valeri scored his seventh career goal in 13 matches against Colorado. His seven goals against Colorado are the most goals he has scored against a single opponent.
- Valeri and Sebastián Blanco both scored in the same match for the fifth time. The Timbers are 2-0-3 all-time when both players score in the same match.
- Portland is 3-2-4 all-time in season-opening matches.
- Saturday’s match marked the third time (2011, 2018, 2019) the Timbers have played their season-opening match on the road.
