PORTLAND, Ore. – If there was one negative to come out of the Portland Timbers' improbable 11-round shootout victory Thursday night over Sporting Kansas City in the Knockout Round of the Audi 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs, it was the fact that their win put them in another match just three days out.
The Timbers will have just one full day of training to prepare for Cascadia rivals Vancouver Whitecaps in the opening game of the Western Conference Semifinals that starts Sunday, luckily for Portland, at their home field of Providence Park (5 pm ET; ESPN in US, TSN1 in Canada).
“It’s the tightest window we have played in all year. To be honest with you, I don’t like the format,” Timbers head coach Caleb Porter said. “We play Thursday, and we are three seed. I don’t know why that happened. It is what it is. No one cares about the format. They care who goes on. So we are going to find a way to get it done.”
Vancouver, the No. 2 seed in the West, meanwhile, will have had a week to rest their legs following their 3-0 season finale victory Sunday over the Houston Dynamo. And while the Timbers are riding an emotional high that came with them bagging a late equalizer in extra time before narrowly pulling out the shootout victory, the cold hard facts are that many of their players were forced to put in 120 minutes of work.
“We have to take the positives with us and correct our mistakes,” said goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey, who made two saves in the shootout and buried the game-winning penalty kick. “We have to start focusing tomorrow. We just get three or four days after 120 minutes, so we have to be clever now and be smart with what we do. I expect everybody to just go home and rest now.”
Seven Timbers field players went the full 120 minutes, but Porter subbed out forward Fanendo Adi after 105 minutes and wingers Rodney Wallace and Lucas Melano after 99 and 85 minutes, respectively. Substitutes Dairon Asprilla and Maximiliano Urruti actually combined for the 118th-minute equalizer.
The status of defensive midfielder Diego Chara, who didn’t play against Sporting after suffering an injury in Portland’s season finale against the Colorado Rapids, is still up in the air, Porter said after the game. Veteran Jack Jewsbury replaced Chara and played the entire match.
Portland underwent a regeneration day Friday and will train Saturday.
“No doubt the guys will be ready,” Porter said. “No doubt they will be turned around once the whistle blows, the adrenaline goes, they won’t feel it. We’ll be ready.”
Dan Itel covers the Timbers for MLSsoccer.com.
