| 19 March 2011
Since the news broke that the Timbers were going to be promoted to the MLS, it feels as though it’s taken ages to finally arrive at this moment: opening day.
While the season officially kicked off on Tuesday night with the Los Angeles Galaxy's defeat of the Seattle Sounders, today will mark the highly anticipated MLS debut for Portland.
The players themselves are just as excited as the fans for the season to get underway:
“I think that through our preseason we’ve been giving it our all and I think it’s time for us to perform on the big stage,” Timbers defender Rodney Wallace said. "We’ve been looking forward to this game for quite a bit now, so we’re going to be ready and pumped.”
Unfortunately, the club will have to start out the season facing off against the defending MLS champions, the Colorado Rapids. Colorado was somewhat of a surprise champion last year after not having an amazing regular season, but they peaked at just the right time and were able to shock the league.
They also return every single starter from last year’s championship squad. However, the club could have some difficulty attempting to repeat as they made no additional improvements to the roster, while other top teams in the league were more proactive.
As a result, many of the 2011 power rankings have the Rapids slotted in lower than the average fan might expect. Specifically, most sites have Colorado at #6, below Real Salt Lake, LA Galaxy, New York Red Bulls, FC Dallas, and Seattle Sounders.
And yet, that’s still significantly higher than most sites have the Timbers ranked. Since Portland is a newly promoted club, it’s tough to accurately gauge how good the team will be. Even though the Timbers finished the preseason undefeated, those records often don’t translate into the regular season.
Colorado is mostly known for having a high-powered offense, led by Conor Casey (University of Portland alum) and Omar Cummings, but its defense also showed improvement near the end of last year. Notable defensive players include Drew Moor, Marvell Wynne, and Kosuke Kimura.
This matchup should prove to be a good test for the Timbers players, to carry over their preseason momentum and continue good habits that have been instilled by John Spencer. Defender Eric Brunner puts it best:
“I think we’re all itching to get out there and play Colorado; they’re the defending champs — you respect that, but you don’t fear it.”
Notes:
The Timbers acquired Ugandan forward Brian Umony on loan from University of Pretoria FC on Wednesday. The 22 year old was awarded Uganda’s 2007-08 FUFA Footballer of the Year award, scoring 15 goals with Kampala City Council FC that season. The club will have the option of purchasing the rights to Umony at the end of the season.
The Timbers also could have their first designated player signing soon. According to team owner Merritt Paulson, it could happen any day now. “We will add a player of note, of significance, a center midfielder, and I would venture to guess we’ll have that player by our home opener on April 14,” Paulson told 95.5 The Game's Talk Timbers program on Wednesday.
photo: portlandtimbers.com
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