Caleb Porter talked on Tuesday about indelible images from the 1975 Timbers North American Soccer League season and from the Portland Trail Blazers’ 1977 NBA championship, and how Tuesday’s parade and celebration for his 2015 Portland Timbers created memories that will live on in the same way.
“You’ll see these images forever. Because this is the first MLS Cup trophy. I’m hoping that 30 years from now we’ll be showing these images with more championships. But no one can take away the first,” Porter said.
The coach said it is players, not plays, that will be lasting memories for him from this title trail.
He said that the seeds for the run — a nine-match unbeaten string to claim the Cup — were planted in 2013 when the Timbers lost in the conference finals, and nurtured in 2014 when the club missed the playoffs by a single point.
A more recent turning point was the home loss to the New York Red Bulls, a lackluster outing after which Porter said he was more critical of his team than at any point in the season.
A 2-1 win at Columbus followed, an effort in which the coach said he saw the makings of a championship team. A dispiriting home loss to Sporting Kansas City came next, putting a playoff berth at risk.
Porter’s message to his team following that loss to Kansas City: “You’re a team that can do it when you need to do it, but championship (teams) do it all the time, not just when they need to.”
The win at Columbus and loss to Kansas City galvanized the team, according to Porter. But it was the 5-2 win at Los Angeles — a game they trailed 1-0 at halftime — that provided true belief.
“The way that we methodically went about winning this trophy for me was a master class out of these guys. Because they were very businesslike. It was (always) onto the next (game),” Porter said.
The focus reminded him of the mindset he experienced with the college dynasties at Indiana and Akron, where the emphasis is always on the next challenge.
“For our group to do that three years in is pretty unbelievable,” Porter said.
The focus is already very much on the future for Porter and general manager Gavin Wilkinson.
Offseason moves
The short MLS offseason — training camps open in late January — gets into high gear with Friday’s re-entry draft in which players whose contracts were not picked up for 2016 can move to other teams.
“In MLS, you’ve got to figure out how to keep the group together. You’ve got to make some difficult decisions as well,” Porter said.
Among the Timbers expected to move on is left back Jorge Villafana, whose matchup with Ethan Finlay was a key to the MLS Cup victory. A report by Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated indicates that Villafana will move to Santos Laguna of Liga MX in Mexico for a transfer fee approaching $1 million.
Midfielder Will Johnson is expected to be traded.
Johnson told Steve Clare of the website Prost Amerika that his days in Portland are over. If healthy, Johnson is in the prime of his career. But the Timbers’ championship run happened without Johnson on the field and Portland has depth at his position. Factor in his salary, and it makes sense that the team captain will soon be elsewhere.
While such roster turnover is an annual reality in MLS, the Timbers appear well-positioned to keep the core of this squad together.
Nat Borchers, the defender who won his second MLS Cup title on Sunday, said that chemistry among the players was a key to both this title and the one he experienced in 2009 with Real Salt Lake.
“The locker room has to be right for a championship run. We had that in Salt Lake. We obviously have it here,” Borchers said. “And I think, to be honest with you, we can have it for a few more years if we want it.”
MLS to spend more on players
Major League Soccer Announced Wednesday that it will be spending almost $37 million additional money during 2016-17 on player salaries.
Specifically, teams will be given additional Targeted Allocation Money to sign or keep players, and be given more money to sign Homegrown players.
MLS said Wednesday each team can spent an additional $800,000 in TAM both in 2017 and 2018, money that must be spent within four transfer windows. The maximum budget charge next season for non-designated players is $457,500. TAM may be used to convert designated players to non-designated players.
The league also is allowing teams to spend $125,000 each year on homegrown players.
