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The Portland Timbers held their final training session of the week this morning before they take on Real Salt Lake in tomorrow's match to control the Western Conference. Practice at Jeld-Wen Field got started late this morning as the team took to the pitch at 11:00, holding a closed practice for an hour before wrapping things up.
Injuries and Absences
Diego Valeri was in the team warmup for the second session in a row this week. Valeri has been dealing with an adductor strain since the Timbers' last match against Real Salt Lake, when he was forced to come out in the 32', and has played limited minutes in the last month, including sitting out Sunday's Cascadia Derby against the Seattle Sounders. Caleb Porter, addressing the press after today's practice, said that Valeri had a good week of practice and could player even start tomorrow.
Darlington Nagbe, who came out of the Timbers match against the Vancouver Whitecaps in the 86' after after a dangerous tackle from Camilo Sanvezzo, was also in the warmups today. Nagbe's injury status has been speculated on for the last two weeks, but he appears to be fit despite being listed in the MLS injury report as questionable with a tibial bone bruise.
Maximiliano Urruti, who came out of the match against the Sounders with a reported hamstring knock, was not in the warmups today and has not been all week. Porter, who refused to comment on Urruti's injury earlier this week, confirmed that Urruti would be out for this weekend's match, but should not miss multiple weeks.
Rodney Wallace, Ryan Johnson, and Alvas Powell were all in training today, having returned from national team duty. Powell and Johnson practiced yesterday, while Wallace was a late arrival to the training facility yesterday and was not with the Timbers for warmups then.
Brad Ring did not train with the team today, although he was on the sidelines at the beginning of practice with Brent Richards. No word yet on why Ring is out.
David Horst was also absent from training today. After picking up an injury in Monday's reserve match against Seattle, The Timbers's twitter account confirmed that Horst would be out of practice for two weeks.