What We’re Grateful For: Portland Timbers Edition

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We here at Stumptown Footy thought that to celebrate the holiday it would be a great to touch on the things we’re grateful for this year regarding the Portland Timbers. It’s been a hard year with an even harder ending to the season, but there’s still stuff we’re appreciative of this Thanksgiving. Here’s what we came up with.

Grant Little: I think it’s easy to say I’m thankful for the MLS is Back Tournament. It happened at a time where we didn’t really know if we would have MLS soccer this season and in what format it may come in. But this tournament really brought me a lot of joy. The Timbers played a really fun brand of soccer led by a Sebastian Blanco ‘en fuego,’ which was a sight to behold! But the thing that I love about the Timbers is how many players contributed to the victory. We saw Niezgoda, Yimmi, Valeri, Diego Chara, Seba, Zuparic, Mabiala, Clark — — the list goes on and on — contribute to a really, really fun tournament.

Sam Svilar: I’m thankful for Jeremy Ebobisse this year. Not only did he turn in another strong season on the pitch, but he continued to be a remarkable human being off of it. With his continued work to educate and draw attention to racial injustice in America and his key role in the establishment and promotion of the MLS Black Players for Change coalition and their powerful statement in Orlando at MLS is Back, Ebobisse demonstrated to all of us that there are so many more important things worth our time and energy in 2020.

As I watched him deservedly win the Timbers Supporter’s Player of the Year belt and also be named a finalist for the MLS WORKS Humanitarian of the Year, I am reminded of how lucky we all are to have an amazing human wear green & gold, and I’m thankful that we get to call Jebo our own.

C.I. DeMann: I’m thankful Los Dos Diegos are continuing to hold Father Time at bay. I’m thankful we had a couple young Americans starting each week. I’m thankful we’re passing more and crossing less. I’m thankful the locker room had less drama than last year. I’m thankful the Timbers made it through the year COVID free. I’m thankful there are vaccines on the way. I’m HOPEful we’ll be able to go to some games next year.

Kyle Garcia: I’m thankful for all the young players we saw step up this season. I’m thankful for Jeremy Ebobisse’s presence on and off the pitch. I’m thankful for Eryk Williamson, a player who has grown to be a pretty consistent starter. I’m even thankful for Marco Farfan, who avoided freak injuries this year and started to carve a role for himself as a defender on this team. I don’t know if anything will top what Dos Diegos does for Portland soccer, but I know I love these younger players.