BEAVERTON, Ore. — One of the bigger wins in the Timbers short Major League Soccer history was especially sweet for defenders Jack Jewsbury and Michael Harrington.
Portland’s outside backs both have a long history with the Kansas City franchise. Both said that former teammates were both disappointed and impressed following Saturday’s 3-2 Timbers’ win.
“The thing that I’ve heard from (former teammates) is they appreciated having a team come in and kind of go at them,” Jewsbury said. “That doesn’t always happen. A lot of teams sit back. We knew from the scouting that we wanted to go at them, and it could be an entertaining game for the players and the fans and it was.”
Harrington, who said he loved every minute of the match against his former club, heard similar postgame comments.
“They were impressed that we went there and not only won the game but played the way that we did — attacked them at their place the way that we did, and really had the better of the play,” Harrington said.
On a six-game unbeaten run — and coming off Saturday’s win at one of the tougher venues in MLS — the Timbers stock is rising. For example, Portland is fourth in this week’s MLSsoccer.com power ranking. At 3-1-4, the Timbers sit third in the Western Conference standings.
But with New England (2-3-2) visiting Jeld-Wen Field on Thursday, coach Caleb Porter’s message to his team is: “Let’s stay humble and stay hungry.”
Harrington noted that not every team is set up to play the way Portland does, keeping pressure opponents in the attacking third even when the Timbers don’t have the ball.
“The guys up top are willing to do the defensive work,” Harrington said. “You’ve got Ryan Johnson and Diego Valeri running all over the place pressing the ball, making it easy for the guys in the back.
“Not all teams have the personnel to be able to play that style for 90 minutes.”
NOTES — Porter declined to comment on a report that a Timbers’ player was questioned and released after a woman reported to Kansas City. Mo., police that she was sexually assaulted in a hotel room early Sunday.
Portland television station KATU first reported the alleged incident on Monday. In response to that report, the team issued this statement: “There are no criminal charges filed against any of our players. The club will not be commenting further at this time.”
• The Timbers and the Make-a-Wish Foundation are teaming up today for a special match. Several Timbers players — including Darlington Nagbe, Will Johnson, Jack Jewsbury and Mikael Silvestre — will participate in a 30-minute short-sided soccer match against 8-year-old Atticus and his team. The 11:30 match at Jeld-Wen Field will be open to the public, with gates opening at 11:15 a.m.
• Ryan Johnson and Rodney Wallace were named to the MLS Team of the Week for Week 9, and Porter was named coach of the week.
