Today was the day the CONCACAF nations participating in the regional championship had to have their final 23 man roster submitted. There are quite a few MLS players on these rosters, including our own Steve Purdy who could be gone as long as one month. So the question how does this affect the Portland Timbers?
Well it affects us directly in our depth of our back line. Purdy is the back-up left/right back and if anything happens to Jeremy Hall or Rodney Wallace. While Purdy is away the Timbers might be in some trouble. However the biggest affect might be in how different a team might look when we play them.
More after the Jump
First lets take a look at the Fixture list for the Gold Cup:
Group Stage: June 5th through June 14th.
Quarterfinals: June 18th and 19th
Semifinals: June 22nd
Final: June 25th
Next what are the Portland Fixtures during this time frame, including the 1 week before and after.
Sun., May 29 Portland Timbers D.C. United Sat., Jun. 4 Portland Timbers Sat., Jun. 11 Portland Timbers Sun., Jun. 19 Portland Timbers Sat., Jun. 25 Portland Timbers Sat., Jul. 2 Portland Timbers
Since El Salvador has not made it out of the group stage since 1980 something (This might be an exaggeration) we most likely will only be missing Purdy for the Chivas USA game and the Colorado Rapids Game.
Now lets take a look at the opponents(the game against DC United will not be affected by any of the call-ups):
- Chivas USA: No players were called up
- Colorado Rapids: Again none
- New York Red Bulls: Rafael Marquez (Mexico), Dwayne De Rosario (Canada), Tim Ream (USA) and Jaun Agudelo (USA)
- FC Dallas: None
- Sporting Kansas City: Roger Espinoza (Honduras)