Talking Timbers ahead of the MLS finals against New York City FC

The Portland Timbers have played in the Major League Soccer championship game twice before, but never at home. On Saturday, the Timbers had the opportunity to win the MLS cup right here in Portland. They ultimately lost the championship in penalty kicks against New York City FC. Ahead of the game, OPB Morning Edition host Geoff Norcross spoke with Timbers TV analyst Ross Smith about the team’s prospects.

Norcross: We both have been in Providence Park many times and it’s an amazing environment for a game, but will the home field advantage actually play into the Timbers hands?

Smith: Absolutely yes. I can see it going the other way — inexperienced young heads that could let the occasion get too big for them. But when I look across the Portland Timbers team, it all comes back to Diego Chará. The captain of the team has been around since the first season of MLS. Everybody loves Diego Chará, whether you’re in the locker room with them, the coaching staff, the fan base: it’s his character and what he puts out, the calm that he has, but the belief as well. With this occasion, it can’t be big enough. It starts with Chará, then you can put in attacking player Sebastián Blanco. I think the characters can handle a big occasion and it can’t be big enough.

Norcross: Blanco went down with a hamstring injury in the Western Conference semifinal and he didn’t play at all during the final. So what’s the likelihood that we will see him on the pitch in this game?

Smith: If I’m a betting man now I would say put it all on Blanco appearing, I don’t know if that will be from the start, or if that will be coming on as a substitute in the second half. But Sebastián Blanco, he’s one of those guys that is just desperate to be on the pitch. He’s one of those guys, if he wasn’t playing professionally, I bet he’d be at a park somewhere kicking the ball around, desperate to win whatever. He’s that way and no matter how serious the hamstring is, he’ll brush it off and say: “I’m fine, it’s no problem.” If he’s able to run about without it doing future damage, he will. If this is just something short term, you can bet that Blanco is going to appear.

Norcross: These two teams - the Timbers and NYC FC have not met at all this season. How do you even prepare to face off against an opponent that you haven’t played?

Smith: This will be the toughest opponent the Timbers will have faced in the playoffs so far. They’re experienced, they’ve adapted to a system and they’re hard to beat and they compete in every single match. It’s one thing to watch game tape. It’s another thing to see talent against talent.

Norcross: Back in August the Timbers were in a slump and there was talk of them missing the playoffs entirely this year but they went on a tear. They won 13 games and here they are in the MLS Cup final. How were they able to turn it around?

Smith: It starts with Sebastián Blanco. When he came back from his ACL injury he had little hiccups along the way. But once he found the groove, I mean his numbers if he continued that, he would have been MVP of the week. He just took the Timbers from what I would say is a very good team to an exceptional team in this league. I think it has to be mentioned as well that there’s a second layer to it.

The Timbers were going through some tough times then and the team needed to have honest conversations and I know that took place and I do know Diego Chará was at the forefront of that. It’s amazing how quickly a little message can get around to the full team and guys can quickly fall off what should be the same page. Diego Chará, from my understanding, did a great job of bringing everybody from the coaching staff to the players just to make sure little tweaks that were needed got done. I get back to how we started this conversation, Diego Chará, the captain of the Portland Timbers, he does that. It’s not just what you see on the pitch, it’s the way he brings everybody together outside the pitch in the locker room.