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Portland Timbers’ Nagbe “banged up” ahead of Galaxy match

By Paul Danzer, Columbian Soccer, hockey and Community Sports Reporter
Published: July 31, 2014, 12:00am

BEAVERTON — Darlington Nagbe played perhaps his best match of the season on Sunday at Montreal.

He spent much of the match running at or around defenders, and his sweet pass set up Maximiliano Urruti for Portland’s first goal in the Portland Timbers’ 3-2 win.

But, as often seems to happen, Nagbe finished the game battered.

The most-fouled player in Major League Soccer by a wide margin, Nagbe did not participate in practice Wednesday.

“He’s banged up,” Timbers coach Caleb Porter said. “It’s unfortunate. I think I counted six fouls in the first 31 minutes on him. He’s got 67 fouls on him. The next closest guy’s on 51. He’s honest, so he doesn’t dive either.”

Porter praised the officiating of referee Silviu Petrescu. Montreal was cited for 20 fouls in the match to only five by the Timbers, including a 14-0 count in the first half. But the Timbers coach does wish the elusive Nagbe wasn’t getting fouled so often.

“We’re hoping to get him healthy by the weekend,” Porter said when asked about Nagbe’s availability for Saturday’s match at Los Angeles. “We’ll have to see. But he’s banged up.”

Nagbe’s lively play was part of a performance at Montreal that Porter described as “maybe our most dominant performance in terms of possession and some of the little clever sequences and actions that we created.”

Diego Valeri, who has scored game-winning goals from distance in the last two games, said confidence is on the upswing.

“The team is playing much better than in the first games, that’s individually and collectively,” Valeri said.

Wednesday’s training session was the first time in weeks that center back Pa Modou Kah fully participated. Kah has not played since June 27, resting sore Achilles tendons. Porter said Kah needs to regain his fitness.

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Columbian Soccer, hockey and Community Sports Reporter