SPORTING DIRECTOR AND HEAD COACH GREGG BERHALTER
On handling the pent up emotions facing Portland again...
“I thought we handled it well. To be honest, I felt like we had control of the match. Obviously, they were extremely dangerous in offensive transition and it caught us off guard a couple times, but I think we were the team really looking to dictate the play, so I'm happy about that. Especially in this atmosphere where the supporters are fantastic, it’s a hostile atmosphere and we looked to control the game and move the tempo.”
On if finishing was the difference in the match....
“I think so. I think we had a couple of opportunities in the second half that should have been played out better, could have been played out better, and some of the precision that you’d expect early in the season, but in terms of the attitude with what we wanted to do, I was happy with that.”
On allowing free kicks around the box...
“I actually think it was a little bit of sloppiness; a little bit of rust. We’re in there, we’re in good position, where it’s two against one, no reason to foul and we gave up silly fouls. That was part of the message at halftime was that we have to limit that because we know they’re good at set pieces. [Diego] Valeri [is] one of the best in the league.”
On Portland’s wing play on the counterattack…
“The counter was fantastic. It really was good. Both [Lucas] Melano and [Dairon] Asprilla had good games in the counterattack. I was a bit surprised that the defending champs played like that at home but it’s not my team and they won the game, so obviously it worked.”
On getting Ethan Finlay the ball more isolated in the second half...
“I think part of his position is pulling a little wider. We want to focus on getting him behind the backline, not necessarily isolated one-v-one, but because Harrison [Afful] tucked in sometimes it gave Ethan some space wide and we were able to find him. Overall, we like to see him getting behind the defense and it’s that precision we lacked today a little bit.”
On the level of play from midfielder Federico Higuain...
“You guys will finally start believing me. He’s talented. He’s a special player.”
On if he liked what he saw in the opening match from his players....
“Absolutely. For us it was a good opportunity to play in a hostile environment and see where you are right away. Like I said, we had intentions to come control the game and for the most part we accomplished that. We could have done a better job of controlling defensive transition, limiting some of the damage there, but it’s a good mindset. I think the guys were proactive-- they wanted to play, they wanted to push the tempo and I’m happy with that. It’s not easy to do that in Portland, but we certainly did.”
On if there’s concern going forward in dealing with powerful players like Timbers forward Fanendo Adi…
“How many guys are like Adi in the League? And he’s out West so we don’t see him again. Listen, he’s a big, big boy. He uses his body really well and like I said, there’s not too many guys in this League like him. Having said that, I think it should be clear, we’re disappointed in this result. We’re not happy that we lost this game. We could have dealt with Adi better in certain situations. We’re physical. We have physical guys as well. Gaston [Sauro] is extremely physical. Mikey [Parkhurst] is very smart tactically. I think we could have done a better job preventing these defensive transitions and that we’re going to look at and we’re going to address.”
MIDFIELDER WIL TRAPP
On if he was taken aback from the Timbers counterattack...
"I wouldn’t say taken aback. We knew that they liked to play on the break and they’re strong on offensive transition but we lose the ball and you have to kind of play damage control a little bit at that point. Like Gregg said, I thought Asprilla and Melano had excellent games and those guys are fine, they’re pacey and pretty smart with their runs.”
On if today’s match was good in the long run for the team...
“It’s a great opportunity to come here in front of a hostile crowd and start the season off. Obviously, every game we play, we want to win, but I think leading into our home opener next week, we’re stronger from this performance. Gregg touched on it, but we had a lot of good things happen in this game. It’s something to build off. Obviously, it’s not going to be as sharp as you want, first game of the season, but we’re moving forward and looking forward to [Philadelphia] next week.”
GOALKEEPER STEVE CLARK
On the overall match...
“Disappointing not to come away with points.”
On a positive takeaway from the match...
“It was nice to get us back in the game with a goal from [Federico Higuain]. It was a great goal, so I think that.”
On playing in Portland…
“I thought the fans were great. It was fun to play. We’re disappointed we didn’t come away with a point but we’re looking on to next week. We have a big home opener against us and as a team we’re always looking to develop, always looking to get better and we’ll just work from there.”
