BEAVERTON, Ore. – The Portland Timbers could receive a huge boost for their upcoming home match Saturday against the Vancouver Whitecaps (10:30 pm ET; TSN in Canada, MLS LIVE in US).
They’ve already been getting it on the training pitch.
Diego Valeri and Will Johnson could see their first action following the injuries the pair suffered late last season and that have cost them the first two months of 2015 campaign. Valeri, who ruptured his ACL in the 2014 season finale, was in the 18 for the first time in 2015 in the Timbers’ 1-0 loss Sunday to the Seattle Sounders but didn’t play. Johnson, who broke his leg in a late-September game against Toronto FC, started and went 63 minutes with Portland’s USL franchise, Timbers 2, over the weekend.
They’ve both been training full out the past two weeks, a boost in and of itself.
“Valeri is a fantastic player, and to have him back in the squad is great,” center back
Liam Ridgewell
said this week. “To see him back in training, him and Will are a big boost to us. They’re big players for us. And they were a big loss to us, we missed them a little bit. … It might have created a little bit of gall that maybe we’ve been missing.”
Both players are being brought along in different ways.
Timbers head coach Caleb Porter said Valeri is more likely to see action this weekend, coming on as a substitute as a late-game spark. Whereas Johnson will be sent out for another stint with T2 in their Sunday match because, Porter said, defensive midfielders have a bigger workload and are rarely substituted.
“One of the reasons we put [Johnson in the T2] game is he can kind of manage the game a little bit, in terms of he doesn’t always need to put his foot in every tackle and he can kind of slowly gain some confidence,” Porter said. “He can manage his play where he can slowly get back in a rhythm. I think that was a good first step for him.”
If Johnson makes the 18 for the Vancouver match, Porter said he’d have to be ready to come on for a lengthy stint should an injury occur. And while Valeri was in the game-day roster against Seattle, Porter said there was never any intent to play him in the rivalry game on Seattle’s turf field.
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“Obviously I wanted to play him, but it wasn’t the right game,” Porter said.
Without the Argentine playmaker Valeri – who’s recorded double-digit goal and assist numbers in his first two season in Portland – and team captain Johnson, an MLS All-Star selection in both of his season with the team, it’s been an understandable struggle.
Portland sit in eighth place in the loaded Western Conference with nine points from eight games. They’ve managed just seven goals so far.
It is, however, a far cry from their slow start last season in which they collected just five points from the first eight games thanks to wins over New York City FC on April 19 and FC Dallas on April 4. The possible return of the two key players also comes at an opportune time with Portland facing their second straight Cascadia Cup rivalry match against the conference pace setters.
“With Valeri coming back it’s going to help," Porter said, "but I’m confident that, like I said, without a Valeri or a Will that we can win games, and we’ve proven that."
