Head Coach Phill Neville post training press conference.
Fresh from their preseason bouts in Tucson, Arizona, the Portland Timbers opened up part of training and afterwards mixed in with local media one last time before heading for their next preseason phase in Coachella, California. The Coachella Valley Invitational is going to be the final test for the Timbers prior to the start of this year’s MLS season.
In post training interviews coach Phill Neville, he showed his satisfaction with the state of the progress of the squad, and was looking forward to test his squad with MLS opposition such New York Red Bulls, San José Earthquakes, and Chicago Fire, amongst the teams that he will competing against starting on February 24 for the MLS regular season.
Neville is settling nicely and laying roots in Portland, and had nothing but praise for his new city, “it feels like home”, and joking about the cloudy weather he said, “I am from Manchester, this at home is a summer day, I’d be with my vest, sun bathing…”. Jokes aside, Neville expects to be challenging all competitions from MLS to Leagues Cup, “We play to win them all, that is the only mentality to have”, he sentenced. Neville also expressed satisfaction with the organization and promised some exiting news coming the next week in about new players signings.
When pressed about the past two bad campaigns 2022 and 2023 when the Timbers didn’t qualify for the MLS postseason, he avoided any specific criticism, “there wasn’t a one person mistake”, he praised last season sacked coach Giovanni Savarese as one of the “best managers of the league”, and pointed at a collective fault for the team’s past failures. He challenges everybody in the club, not just himself, he asks for everybody’s help to have a successful season. From players, staff, administration, leadership, everybody, “can you do more every single day to help us win an MLS Cup?”
“We need to have a new mindset this year, specially the last two years hasn’t been good enough, so we want to do something different this year” – Evander
Evander post training press conference.
Evander and Santiago Moreno followed Neville’s comment, Evander first, as he is expected to be the team’s lead playmaker, he expressed “We need to have a new mindset this year, specially the last two years hasn’t been good enough, so we want to do something different this year”, concluded the talented Brazilian playmaker.
Santiago Moreno, fresh out of signing a new contract extension, is looking forward to have his break this season in the club. He has had some opportunities in international football with the Colombian National Team. Moreno, is looking forward learning a lot from Neville’s tenure with the team and also looking forward to play Liga MX teams at the Leagues Cup.
Finally, Moreno also was asked about the impact of Lionel Messi and the star-studded Inter Miami is having in Major League Soccer. Moreno is happy for the opportunity to have more attention to this league, which at the end he says, provides further projection onto MLS and will benefit everybody, teams and players.
Check the full interview bellow:
Portland Timbers
