Preseason Recap: Portland Timbers vs Deportivo Saprissa

The Portland Timbers played their first preseason match of 2019 this morning against Deportivo Saprissa in Costa Rica. Unfortunately, there was no live stream for the match, so the only coverage we have was Richard Farley tweeting on the official Timbers Twitter account. For the sake of posterity, we’ve recapped the important bits below.

In true early preseason fashion, the Timbers gave the majority of today’s minutes to youngsters or new additions to the team, while veterans like Diegos Valeri and Chara didn’t even see the field. The starting XI was Dairon Asprilla, Julio Cascante, Steve Clark, Claude Dielna, Marco Farfan, Andres Flores, Lucas Melano, Cristhian Paredes, Andy Polo, Ryan Sierakowski, and Zarek Valentin.

It didn’t take long for the Timbers to jump into the lead, and it was Asprilla leading the way as he first-timed a cross from Flores into the net to score in the ninth minute. Asprilla continued to be a factor when, in the 36th minute, he intercepted a Saprissa switch and found Melano, who made the score 2-0 Timbers. Melano’s taste of goal seemed to invigorate him, as he closed out the half with with a solo effort in stoppage time to put the Timbers up by 3 going into the interval.

Wholesale changes at halftime left Sierakowski as the only player still on, as the new Timbers XI featured Carlos Angiuano, Tomas Conechny, Lennart Hein, Modou Jadama, Forster Langsdorf, Kendall McIntosh, Miller, Ryan Sierakowski, Bill Tuiloma, Eryk Williamson, and Renzo Zambrano.

While not as dominant as in the first half, the Timbers still managed to increase their lead by way of Conechny, who was assisted by Zambrano. No subs were made in the second half, and the match finished at 4-0 in favor of the boys in green and gold.

The Timbers’ next preseason match is Thursday against C.S. Herediano. As the match will again be played in Costa Rica, it’s doubtful that there will be a stream available.