On dealing with several absences at the forward position:
"We went in to the game with no strikers. Eric Hassli got injured, and then today I found out I lost Kenny Cooper. Blas Perez is with the Panama National Team. Take those three guys and we might have been a little bit different.
FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman has immense respect for first-year Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter partly because they share common roots in the college game, but also due to Hyndman being quite impressed at how drastically things have turned around for the Timbers in year one under Porter.
PORTLAND, Ore.- After getting a weekend off, the Timbers now enter a two-week stretch that will see them play four league matches and a US Open Cup match.
Portland enters this Saturday's match at Chicago on a 11-game unbeaten streak in league play.
"(The) group is very confident," Jack Jewsbury said.
WASHINGTON — There have been changes in personnel. Tweaks to the formation. Adjustments in philosophy. But away from home, there is one constant for the Portland Timbers: results.
As the Timbers continue to rack up points on the road, coach Caleb Porter feels his side is sending a message to the rest of MLS that Portland is no "one-trick pony.
We're always eager to find the scoop on other teams in MLS, particularly when our boys in black will be playing them. In that spirit, we exchanged a few questions with Geoff Gibson in advance of D.C. United's match this Saturday against the Portland Timbers. He's the managing editor at SB Nation's beyond excellent Timbers site, Stumptown Footy.
For the first time in a couple months, we can't say "another week, another loss" for D.C. United. Last weekend, the Black-and-Red took their first step forward in some weeks, earning a home draw to Sporting Kansas City. That leads off this week's episode of Filibuster - the Black & Red United podcast.
PORTLAND, Ore.-It has been 390 minutes since the Timbers have conceded a goal in front of the home fans and goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts is one of the major reasons why Portland is enjoying its best run of form since joining MLS in 2011.
The Jamaican International arrived in Portland last August in exchange for fan favorite Troy Perkins.
The MLS Disciplinary Committee fined two coaches and suspended a player this week, including Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter for his comments about the officials after the Timbers' match against FC Dallas.
From the MLS press release here's what the DC can fine a coach for in regard to the referee.
It was a really wide open game. I thought both teams came in not at their best. Both teams were missing some players. At the same time they're very athletic. We were very concerned about their attacking players. In the first half we were giving too many balls away in the center of the field, and we talked about getting the ball up wider, quicker, and finding David (Ferreira) more as quickly as we could.
When the Portland Timbers conceded a goal less than a minute into Saturday night's match against Sporting Kansas City, it didn't seem like that the first road victory of the season would be in store. However, the situation seemed to have little effect on the Timbers and their gameplan.
PORTLAND, ORE.- When Caleb Porter named two captains in the offseason, it seemed like an unusual step for the club. Jack Jewsbury had his gameday armband removed and named a club captain, while newcomer Will Johnson took over the on-field captain's role.
Six weeks into the season, it seems that the two captains have built an on-and-off-field relationship that has provided dividends for the club.
Porterball is starting to show its way in MLS. (Jaime Valdez-USA TODAY Sports)
It seems as though with each passing season in Major League Soccer we get a new crop of coaches in the league. Last year we got a couple new coaches and this season was no different with five new managers roaming the sidelines.
This brief training report is getting typed up during my break at work, so pardon the lack of fun stuff like quotes or detail.
Today's practice was a short, closed session at Jeld-Wen field. Practice kicked off with the usual warm ups before being closed off to the press, although the field was set up for a series of keep away games.
The Timbers trained today, as is usual early in the week, at their Beaverton training facility. Practice started off with some warmup jogging followed by passing drills and small games of keep away. From there the Timbers broke into several larger games of keep away and wrapped things up with an ambitious three team, full field game that made use of four full-sized goals.
The Timbers held a light recovery practice this morning at the team's Adidas training facility in Beaverton, bouncing back from the weekend's games with some light drills and a short-field game to round things out.
As always the Timbers started things out with some jogging and warmups on the facility's turf field before moving over onto the grass surface.
What a difference a win makes! The Portland Timbers now sit 4 points from first place and are 5 points clear of the bottom of the table. Guess who is at the bottom? If you don't know take a look here and after you do smile but remember it is a long season.
Quotes
Timbers head coach Caleb Porter
Thoughts on the win:
"It feels good winning our first of hopefully many, proud of the guys.
The Houston Dynamo continue their poor road form with a 2-0 loss against the Portland Timbers at Jeld-Wen Field. Behind a second half brace by Timbers forward Ryan Johnson, Portland got their first win of the season.
It was a tale of two halves as Houston and Portland battled in the first half in a tough physical match.
The Timbers held practice at Jeld-Wen Field this morning, starting off with a ten minute warmup period before moving closing practice to the press.
After practice concluded and the press were let back out onto the field, most of the Timbers usual starters were no longer on the pitch and Caleb Porter addressed a group of the team's younger players on the far side of the pitch.
Tomorrow evening the Portland Timbers will take on the Houston Dynamo at home for the first time in four weeks. It's an exciting prospect because not only have we not seen the Timbers play a game in person in quite a long while, but also because with a home game comes another change up in formation.
The Portland Timbers are five weeks into the 2013 season and the team is still searching for its first victory. Not only has the club not been able to secure victory, but they are one of two MLS clubs that hasn't held a lead yet this season.
While the team has conceded first in every match in 2013, head coach Caleb Porter is confident that Portland won't be lacking first goals and victories for long.
Over the last two years Portland has averaged an amazing .33 points per road game. Caleb Porter has averaged 1.0 points per road game. Of course with such a small sample size there are no guarantees this will continue but at least there are some signs of hope for the Timbers road form. As Caleb and the players point out in the quotes they also see positives about getting results on the road despite not playing a full 90 minutes of quality soccer.
The Portland Timbers and Colorado Rapids each came into Saturday's match searching for its first victory in 2013. The Rapids looked like they just might find that first win, but the Timbers had other ideas and managed to pull off yet another comeback in a season that has lacked wins but not thrilling comebacks.
Tomorrow afternoon the Portland Timbers will take on the Colorado Rapids on their home turf of Dick's Sporting Goods Park. I've repeated it ad nauseum at this point, but it remains a serious issue. In three games playing in Colorado, the Timbers have not earned a single point. In fact, they haven't even really put up a respectable fight.
New coach, new players, new outlook: Everything is new this year in Portland after the Timbers hired Caleb Porter to replace John Spencer. Significant roster turnover has brought familiar faces from around MLS as well as two older gentlemen from Europe’s top divisions to implement Porter’s pressing, possession style.
The Timbers Started out today's practice with a brief warm-up before diving into the yo-yo fitness test, or "beep" test. After testing was complete the team went back to their usual activities, playing several games of keep away before finishing up practice with a short fielded game of six on six.
The Timbers held practice today at their Beaverton training facility, opening the proceedings to the press for the first ten minutes of practice as the team did a series of quick warm-up drills, then closing practice to the press for the day's scrimmage.
Caleb Porter talked briefly about the team's goals for today's practice.
Jack Jewsbury... Cap'n Jack... The Cap'n. I hope Jack Jewsbury becomes one of those players who's with the Portland Timbers until he retires. Honestly, I think he's become a pivotal leadership figure within the locker room and no matter what he's doing elsewhere, I can't see anything good come from his leaving.
Practice took place at the Timbers' Beaverton training facility this morning. After yesterday's light regen session, today's practice was more physically intense as the team played a round robin tournament of short field games.
Caleb Porter emphasized the opportunity afforded to the team by this bye-week to train and continue coming together as a team after seeing the Timbers' strengths and weaknesses in season's first three games.
SEATTLE - Sounders FC and the Portland Timbers could not make their skill match the fans' enthusiasm for Saturday's 2013 Cascadia Cup opening match. A defensive lapse on each side, one early and one very late, punctuated a 1-1 tie mired in disconnected passing and rusty execution.
The formations were typical of what the Sounders and Timbers have displayed in recent history.
After the rough coast to coast road trip that saw Kansas City go 1-1, the team returns home for the first of three straight at home on Saturday night against the Portland Timbers.
Portland comes into the game after spending the last two weeks playing the San Jose Earthquakes home and away.
Caleb Porter's first season as head coach of the Portland Timbers is now just over 10% complete with 4 games completed. Four games in a 34 game season is a very small sample size but we are going to use it anyway. The 2011 and 2012 seasons started off similarly in terms of points gained over the first 4 games but vastly different in the stats categories.
Portland is no DC United. This will be a test for the revamped Fire side that should provide an indication of how much better the club is with Bakary Soumare and Mike Magee in the lineup. The Timbers have been one of the better teams in the West this season currently sitting in third place with a 5-1-7 mark.
Happy Friday, ladies and gentlemen. Maybe, if Ben throws enough random USL players on the pitch against Portland on Saturday, we'll actually get a win. A real win! Not just a draw!
Thursday Training Notes | D.C. United
Man, we're getting desperate with these mediocre trialists, aren't we?
I called him prior to the surgery and gave him a bit of a pep talk. He is a fighter. He wants to be on the field. He loves this club. He fought hard to get healthy, to play, and thirteen minutes and he is out again.
What I told him was, "just keep doing what you do. You're good because you're a fighter and you've made it, really, to this level because of that.
In a single month Diego Valeri has gone from being the best player on our weekly play ratings threads to becoming one of our worst. It's interesting because, Valeri is very clearly skilled as a player in a creative element, but since his jaw-dropping debut against New York he has been moved around.
