Official Portland Timbers News Release (Timbers 0 – FC Dallas 5)

Portland Timbers Communications communications@portlandtimbers.com
10:24 PM (15 hours ago)

to Portland

For immediate release: July 21, 2012
Chris Metz (503) 553-5433 , cmetz@portlandtimbers.com
Marc Kostic (503) 553-5415 , mkostic@portlandtimbers.com

TIMBERS LOSE TO FC DALLAS ON THE ROAD
Jackson, Ferreira pace FC Dallas in 5-0 win over Portland

FRISCO, Texas – Midfielder Jackson scored a goal and registered two assists and midfielder David Ferreira logged two assists as FC Dallas defeated the Portland Timbers 5-0 before 11,365 at FC Dallas Stadium on Saturday night.

FC Dallas took a 2-0 lead into halftime, scoring two goals 10 minutes apart on an own goal in the 16th minute and a strike by midfielder Andrew Jacobson in the 26th minute. Jackson found the back of the net three minutes into the second half and assisted on goals by forward Scott Sealy and forward Ruben Luna as FC Dallas scored three times in the second half to cap a 5-0 victory.

Ferreira recorded his first assists of the season, Jacobson scored his second-career MLS goal, while Luna and Sealy scored their first goals of the season for FC Dallas (5-10-7, 22pts), leading the club to its second win in three matches. With two assists, Jackson now paces the club with five this season.

FC Dallas handed Portland (5-11-4, 19pts) its fifth consecutive road loss. Forward Kris Boyd and Jack Jewsbury came off the bench and combined for three shots of the Timbers’ six shots on the night.

FC Dallas opened the scoring in the 16th minute on an own goal by Portland defender Hanyer Mosquera, who knocked a sharp cross from the left side at the near post into his own goal while trying to mark Jackson on the play.

Jacobson notched his first goal since last season 10 minutes later to lift FC Dallas to a 2-0 lead. A pass from the right side by Ferreira found defender Zach Loyd in the box. Loyd laid the ball off for Jacobson running into space, and Jacobson cracked a shot from the top of the area inside the far post.

FC Dallas gained a 3-0 advantage in the 48th minute on Jackson’s second goal of the season. Jackson weaved his way through the attacking third and by a defender to the top of the box. He fired shot from 20 yards out, that deflected off the foot of Timbers defender Futty Danso, and found its way inside the right post.

Sealy extended FC Dallas’ lead to four goals in the 69th minute. The play started on a break up field by Jackson, and Sealy placed a right-footed shot from the top of the box into the bottom right corner past Timbers goalkeeper Troy Perkins.

FC Dallas capped the scoring in the 81st minute as Luna opened his MLS account. A buildup down the right side set up Jackson for a well-placed cross into the box. Making a run through the box, Luna got on the end of Jackson’s cross a few yards out from goal and tapped the ball in.

The Timbers had an early chance to claim a lead in the 9th minute off a hard-working effort by forward Mike Fucito. Following a long ball played over the top, Fucito was able to set himself up for a shot from the top of the box. The ball deflected off an FC Dallas defender and hit off the left post. It rolled parallel to the goal line for a stretch before goalkeeper Kevin Hartman could collect the loose ball.

Portland returns home to close out its July schedule with two matches at JELD-WEN Field, starting Tuesday, July 24, in an international friendly against English Premier League side Aston Villa FC at 7:30 p.m. (Pacific). The Timbers then face Chivas USA on Saturday at 8 p.m. (Pacific).

Notes:

The Timbers and FC Dallas met for the second time this season on Saturday. With the win, FC Dallas leads the 2012 season series with the Timbers 1-0-1, and also leads the all-time MLS series with a record of 2-1-1.
The Timbers play host to FC Dallas in the final match of their regular-season series Aug. 5 at JELD-WEN Field.
Saturday’s match at FC Dallas Stadium marked the Timbers’ third match in eight days. Portland is in the middle of a stretch of five games in 15 days to close out its July schedule.
The five goals scored by FC Dallas matched the Timbers’ MLS mark for most goals scored by an opponent, which was first set by the LA Galaxy on July 14 in a 5-3 win at JELD-WEN Field.
The Timbers have been held scoreless in six consecutive road matches and last scored a road goal in a 3-1 loss to the Galaxy on April 14 at The Home Depot Center.
The 5-0 loss to FC Dallas was the Timbers’ largest margin of defeat since joining MLS in 2011.
Portland was handed its first loss in three visits to Texas this season. The club had earned points in its two previous road trips to the Lone Star State – draws against FC Dallas (March 17) and Houston (May 15).
Timbers goalkeeper Troy Perkins made his 49th consecutive league start on Saturday. He’s also nearing the 150 MLS games played milestone, appearing in his 148th MLS match on Saturday.
Defender Kosuke Kimura started and played the full 90 against FC Dallas, allowing him to surpass the 10,000 minutes played benchmark in his MLS career.
Forward Mike Fucito made his third start of the season for the Timbers, his first since June 30.
Forward Brent Richards made his second MLS appearance on Saturday, coming off the bench to play 16 minutes against FC Dallas.
Midfielder/forward Darlington Nagbe had string of 17 consecutive starts, dating back to March 24, come to an end Saturday. He was an available sub for the match against FC Dallas.

Portland Timbers (5-11-4, 19pts) at FC Dallas (5-10-7, 22pts)
July 21, 2012 – FC Dallas Stadium

Goals by Half 1 2 F
Portland Timbers 0 0 0
FC Dallas 2 3 5

Scoring Summary
FCD: Own goal (Mosquera), 16
FCD: Jacobson (Loyd, Ferreira), 26
FCD: Jackson (Ferreira), 48
FCD: Sealy (Jackson), 69
FCD: Luna (Jackson), 81

Misconduct Summary
POR: Songo’o (Caution), 11
FCD: Loyd (Caution), 42
POR: Mosquera (Caution), 61
FCD: Jacobson (Caution), 66

Lineups & Stats
POR: GK Perkins ©, D Kimura, D Mosquera, D Danso, D Chabala, M Alhassan (Jewsbury, 54), M Chara (Richards, 74), M Alexander, M Songo’o, F Mwanga (Boyd 57), F Fucito

Substitutes Not Used: GK Bendik, D Horst, M Palmer, F Nagbe

TOTAL SHOTS: 6 (Jewsbury, 2); SHOTS ON GOAL: 1 (Boyd, 1); FOULS: 13 (Chara, 4); OFFSIDES: 1; CORNER KICKS: 0; SAVES: 2

FCD: GK Hartman, D Loyd, D Benitez, D Pertuz, D Hedges, M Jackson, M Rodriguez, M Jacobson (Marcelin, 74), M Hernandez, M Ferreira (de Guzman), F Sealy (Luna, 76)

Substitutes Not Used: GK Seitz, D John, M Leyva, M Villar

TOTAL SHOTS: 14 (Jackson, 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 6 (Six players, 1); FOULS: 13 (Jackson, Jacobson, 3); OFFSIDES: 3; CORNER KICKS: 4; SAVES: 1

Referee: Sorin Stoica
Assistant Referees: Peter Manikowski, Jeff Muschik
4th Official: Jorge Luna Hernandez
Attendance: 11,365
Time of Game: 1:46
Weather: Sunny

All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial

Quotes: Portland Timbers at FC Dallas

Portland Timbers Quotes

Timbers general manager/interim head coach Gavin Wilkinson

General thoughts on the game:
“What is there to say? Humiliated. I think we quit tonight. Yes, the conditions are difficult, but we said no excuses. Merritt [Paulson] put me in the position to find out more about the players and to actually get to the bottom of a few things, and right now we’re trying to fix a few broken things and it showed tonight. We had a Dallas team that performed well and left out a player who was maybe causing problems, collected themselves, regrouped and all went in the same direction.”

“We had people quit tonight and that’s not me throwing players under the bus. It’s a reflection on the organization and Merritt won’t stand for it. The organization won’t stand for it and everybody is going to go in the same direction or we’re going to run into problems.”

“I don’t think tactics lost us the game. It’s not me isolating the players. I’m in it with them, so I’m very careful about what I say there. But we are embarrassed tonight. We found a way to lose the game, scored an own goal and then dug a deeper hole and didn’t track runners. You can’t tactically allow for players to not track runners. They’ve got a job to do. It’s up to us collectively to get the jobs done, but this is unacceptable, completely unacceptable.”

“I feel humiliated. I feel terrible for the organization. We talk about how great our fan support is. We had a group of fans that traveled tonight and I apologize to them and that’s me and the organization apologizing. It’s important that we readdress the situation.”

“As far as coaching, I coached as much as I can for right now. I’m in an interim position and it’s up to the players as well and myself to look at the best way to move forward. Right now I’d say playoffs are not a possibility based on where we’re at right now and the inconsistency of the results. Defending as a group we’ve changed nothing that we’ve done as a group in how we defend, yet we’re breaking down. Time and time again, we’re breaking down. We included a few new players with fresh legs with the potential to play extremely well and they failed.”

On the state of the team:
“I think we overachieved some in the first year. Players were a little bit complacent coming into their second year and they forgot what attributes it took for them to be successful. And you look at any player. We’ve got technically gifted players. We’ve got young players with a lot of potential, but if you can’t work through adversity and if you can’t challenge yourself and raise your standard and set new goals week in and week out, we’re going to struggle. So it’s an important time for them to reevaluate.”

On moving forward:
“I asked the boys to be a bit mentally stronger after we concede, if we concede, and look at a way to move forward collectively – coaching staff, everywhere. Once you’ve given a game plan the players have a job description, that some of the game needs to be managed from within. I would say that we lack some key characteristics to be successful right now. We have a group that does well at home because of the energy of the stadium and the tremendous fan support, but on the road we need to dig a little deeper, we need to show a little bit more character. We’re lacking some key attributes right now and it’s important we identify them and look to fill those pieces.”

On Tuesday’s upcoming match:
“It can help us get over this one a little quicker and get this taste out of our mouth. We owe our fans a lot. One thing I say a lot is that you can have poor performances, but your work ethic can never be poor. And tonight it was poor, it was very poor to the point where we’ve called some people out in the locker room and challenged them and at the moment there are some disappointed players.”

Timbers defender Kosuke Kimura

On what it will take to move forward:
“It’s tough to say for sure. Obviously, we’ve struggled on the road and they just took advantage of that. They know that we are not strong enough as a unit in away games and somehow we need to stop that. We can’t just say one thing on how we’re going to stop it. But it’s one by one. Maybe it’s the training. We got to change our mental setting in training a little more. We have to work on defense a little more. We have to tighten up our defense and win more one-on-one battles and collectively when you win those battles on the field most likely you win the game. Those one-on-one stretches are really important.”

“It seems like everyone is saying this team lacks character, is missing style. I understand that, but first individually, if you look at ourselves, one thing you can do is control yourself. You can’t control outside. The only think you can do is yourself and then you tell yourself, everybody same thing. That I can win this next battle and the next battle. Every second it comes to you, you try and limit your opponent as much as possible. We have to look at ourselves as a group and create the habit of winning those one v. one battles. And I think if you can do that little by little, everyone is going to have more confidence and if you win those battles collectively the team is going to be more upfront in the game and I think that’s what we got to do.”

Timbers midfielder Eric Alexander

On what it will take to move forward:
“More hard work. More dedication. A little more professionalism, coming together as a team. It’s going to take a lot to overcome this and we’re just not putting it out right now.”

On if the team quit:
“I don’t know. I think everyone was tired and obviously that’s not an excuse to quit. It was just a rough game. I wish it didn’t get to that point, but it did. Now we just have to get past it.”

On Fucito’s chance:
“I think if it goes in it’s obviously a different game, we’d be up 1-0 instead of being down three, four and having to cheat forward and just trying to spring an attack to get us back in it. But we were running out of time and we had to press forward and pretty much all their goals were off our errors.”

FC Dallas Quotes

FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman

General thoughts on the game…
“Obviously the end result is fantastic. It’s something we’ve been wanting and we’ve been expecting to play good soccer. With injuries, we’ve not been able to reach our expectations and our goals. Tonight, it seems like a game where we were able to put pressure on Portland from the start. Both teams had a difficult week, with three games and travel. It really came down to us working hard for each other with every player on the field working on both sides of the ball. We didn’t give up a lot of chances early in the game. Things bounced right for us. We started moving the ball and creating opportunities. David [Ferreira] really made some great penetrating passes. The first goal was a near post goal, which we don’t see too often here. Then a fullback drops the ball back for Andrew Jacobson to hit a first-time shot. We’re up 2-0 at halftime. We talked about that halftime, and we recognized that 2-0 is a very dangerous score. The other team scores and it is 2-1, and they have all the momentum. We fought hard. It was a good performance when you look at the team. Every player on the team played either good or very good. You need to do that to be successful in this league.”

On the offense coming from players who aren’t usually on the score sheet…
“Jackson has worked so hard since he’s been back. What a lot of people don’t know is we did the yo-yo [beep] test about three weeks ago. He finished off the charts. He got a 31. The team average is 21. I ask him what’s going on, and he says he’s working out twice a day. He’s wanted to help the team, and although he hasn’t put himself in front of a goal as much, now that we have people who can utilize his speed, I think you’ll see him as more of a threat. Andrew Jacobson is probably one of our best finishers and shooters on the team, but he hasn’t had many opportunities. Today he had a great goal.”

On the play of David Ferreira and Daniel Hernandez tonight…
“The scary part is I think he’s only at about 80 percent. I don’t think we’ve seen the old David yet, but what we’re seeing right now is better than most of the league as an attacking midfielder. Daniel Hernandez had an extremely good game. If you remember Daniel throughout this year, he mentally hasn’t been 100 percent, and his knee [kept] him from playing 100 percent. Tonight, he and David really controlled the midfield.”

On how this type of win can be positive for a team mentally…
“It’s huge. Even with our game against San Jose, it was a typical situation. How else can [a game] end this year? Missing a penalty kick in the 90th minute is the norm this season. But when I went into the locker room, it was really very positive from the players. They almost came back from 2-0 down, and they fought all the way to the end. If you continue to put in the energy, the effort and the teamwork, those bounces start to go our way. There have been three areas that have hurt as all season. The first one has been injuries, and that’s something we can’t control. The second one has been self-discipline, and that’s something we can control. The third one is the right bounce. We haven’t had that right bounce, but I thought tonight we started to see that.”

FC Dallas midfielder David Ferreira

General thoughts on the match…
“The team managed to get the three points. That is the most important thing. We played together the way that we needed to play together. From the first minute I felt good. I felt everything was going our way. The whole team was playing well and that’s the reason for the result we achieved today, which was the win and the three points.”

How close do you feel you are to 100 percent?
“Every game I feel a little bit better. I still have room to improve to get to my optimum level of ability. This next week, I just want to concentrate on recovering from the rough week we just had. I want to be ready to go out and be even better next Saturday.”

FC Dallas midfielder Andrew Jacobson

On how tonight’s win can affect the team’s confidence…
“It does a lot for our confidence. It gives everyone the feeling of how it should feel when it works well. When everyone’s moving, it’s very difficult to play against us. When everyone’s attacking, we can score goals.”

On the team’s offensive explosion…
“We put it all together. We had really good balance in the team. Everyone defended well and everyone attacked together. It just kind of clicked. It’s what we’ve been waiting for all season. We can move forward from it.”