Whew, it’s finally here. Opening day.
Thursday, April 30th the Timbers host the Carolina Railhawks at PGE Park, 7pm.
Last Saturday the Timbers opened their season on the road in Vancouver, BC. The Timbers lost for the zillionth time in BC result isn’t important – it was refreshing to see a Timbers midfield string together some passes and I do believe I witnessed a few shots directed in the right direction. Due to crappy internets at the coast, however, I only managed to watch maybe 30 choppy minutes of Saturday’s game. Luckily some folks had more success watching than I did – the 100 plus Timbers fans who made the trip to Vancouver, the packed Beulahland, and these guys:
PTFC2k9: back on the grind – Mark Evans at Blogtown
Match 1: Vancouver Whitecaps 1-0 Portland Timbers – Bob Kellett at The Offside
Timbers fall in season opener in Vancouver – Timbers website
With all the MLS to Portland excitement and controversy, this past offseason was more exhausting than most years. And despite the prognosticators’ optimism, the Timbers finished bottom of the table last year. The team, advisably, made a lot of changes on the field for 2009. I did not watch any of the preseason matches this year, and as I mentioned above I didn’t get to see much of the season opener, so Thursday will be my introduction to the 2009 team. Here are the starters from Saturday’s game (via Mark Evans’ match report):
Keeper
Cronin
Defense
Nishimura, Knowles, Keel, Hayes
Mid
Savage, Claesson, McManus, Pore
Strikers
Keita, Suzuki
And here’s the roster cheat sheet I’m going to print out and bring to the first few games:
Forwards »
9 Jallow, Antou 06/11/1981 6′ 0″ 165 lbs
19 Josten, George 05/12/1986 6′ 0″ 175 lbs
10 Keita, Mandjou 11/28/1979 6′ 1″ 170 lbs
14 McLaughlin, Jason 04/14/1982 6′ 1″ 175 lbs
30 Suzuki, Takayuki 06/05/1976 6′ 0″ 165 lbs
Midfielders »
13 Cameron, Josh 10/17/1986 5′ 9″ 155 lbs
11 Claesson, Johan 08/12/1981 5′ 10″ 160 lbs
4 Farber, Brian 04/15/1982 5′ 8″ 155 lbs
7 Higgins, Shaun 10/17/1978 5′ 8″ 155 lbs
12 McManus, Tony 09/22/1980 5′ 9″ 165 lbs
18 Nimo, Alex 03/21/1990 5′ 5″ 145 lbs
8 Poltl, Tom 09/21/1977 5′ 6″ 150 lbs
23 Pore, Ryan 09/23/1983 5′ 11″ 165 lbs
22 Savage, Keith 08/09/1985 6′ 2″ 185 lbs
Defenders »
98 Danso, Mamadou 04/27/1983 6′ 3″ 185 lbs
21 Dunn, Cameron 02/13/1984 5′ 11″ 170 lbs
5 Hayes, David 05/24/1976 5′ 10″ 165 lbs
16 Keel, Stephen 04/11/1983 6′ 0″ 185 lbs
6 Knowles, Cameron 10/11/1982 6′ 3″ 195 lbs
20 Nishimura, Takuro 08/15/1977 5′ 9″ 160 lbs
17 Thompson, Scot 02/11/1981 6′ 0″ 175 lbs
Goalkeepers »
0 Cronin, Steve 05/28/1983 6′ 3″ 200 lbs
24 Visser, Brian 08/13/1987 6′ 3″ 185 lbs
This year I expect some improvement we’re gonna win the league. And Blazers in 7!
Diane says
You won’t need a cheat sheet this year. They give us one in the fancy seats…
BTW – yes, they did look good in Vancouver.
Dave says
Diane – What, really?! Cool. I’ve arrived!