Coach Giovanni Savarese
Photo by Diego Diaz
Friday, January 27, 2023
It was a bright crisp morning on Tuesday, January 24th when the Portland Timbers had their first home practice at their practice facility in Beaverton, Or. The team looked alert and motivated as coach Giovanni Savarese and training staff, including new assistant coach Liam Ridgewell, rotated them through exercises and drills.
The team had spent the week of January 15th – 21st in Phoenix, Arizona for training camp. Coach Gio said about their time in Arizona, “We got what we wanted. The players have worked very well and I’ve been very pleased with the work rate of the guys.”
Dairon Asprilla battles Zac McGraw during training.
Photo by Diego Diaz
When asked about any pleasant surprises from training so far, Coach Gio said, “The surprise has been the players I didn’t know as well, you know the drafted players. They’ve done well. They have been competitive. So, it’s been good to see them coming in and doing a lot of good things in practice. Getting to know them has been maybe the little surprise (and seeing) that they’re competitive.”
New on the training field was the Timbers new designated player from Brazil, Evander da Silva Ferreira. Diego Chara was asked his thoughts on the midfield now that Evander was on the roster, “Competitive. I think that it’s going to be good for Gio to have different options in that middle part of the field and I think that everyone here is happy to have Evander.”
New designated player, Evander da Silva Ferreira
Photo by Diego Diaz
Coach Gio said of the training plan moving forward, “Right now we have to make sure that we get more minutes. We’re going to have a little scrimmage this Saturday. Then we’ll continue to prepare in order to make sure that when we go to Coachella we can get to 75-90 minutes and prepare for Kansas City for February 25th.”
The Coachella Valley International is a, “…three week competition to secure roster spots, build momentum, and unofficially launch the 2023 MLS season,” according to it’s website. Twelve clubs are participating including the Timbers’ Cascadia rival, the Vancouver Whitecaps, and the new MLS expansion team, St. Louis City SC, from St. Louis, MO.
The Timbers will host Sporting Kansas City at Providence Park on February, 25th, 2023 for their season home opener.
