Portland Timbers Training Quotes and Notes: Starters Only

With the Portland Timbers reserves set to scrimmage the University of Portland Pilots tonight, today's practice was sparsely attended, with only fifteen players hitting the pitch at the team's Beaverton training facility.

Practice got started late this morning as the Timbers wrapped up a video session before taking the pitch. The team was limited in their use of the training facility's artificial turf field, however, thanks to a swarm of bees that had begun construction of a hive overnight. A beekeeper was dispatched to the pitch to humanely collect the invading bees.

After a brief warmup today practice was closed to the press. The pitch looked like it was set up for the Timbers starters, plus regular substitutes Kalif Alhassan, Ben Zemanski, and Frederic Piquionne, to do some positional and tactical work before leaving for Kansas City tomorrow.

Injuries and Absences

Will Johnson continued his absence today while visiting his father who has a medical issue, according to Caleb Porter.

Bright Dike and Brent Richards were both riding exercise bikes on the sidelines of practice today. Both players brought out their own bikes and neither appeared to be walking with a limp. Dike and Richards are expected to be back in practice in August according to their original diagnoses.

Michael Nanchoff warmed up with the rest of the team today after training separately for the last week thanks to a still unspecified knock.

A number of players were absent from training today, presumably because they will be playing in tonight's scrimmage. The missing players included Jake Gleeson, Ryan Miller, Andrew Jean-Baptiste, Dylan Tucker-Gangnes, Ryan Kawulok, Mobi Fehr, Steven Evans, Sebastian Rincon, and Jose Adolfo Valencia. The remainder of the reserves roster will likely be filled in by academy players.

Trialists and Guest Players

David Meves was still there.