Timbers Talk: Quotes from Portland’s 5-0 win over CD Marathon

You would be hard-pressed to think of a more dominant way for the Portland Timbers to win their first home game in front of fans in over a year. A 5-0 victory that was propelled by a Yimmi Chara hat trick? Portland advancing to the Concacaf Champions League Quarterfinals? Timbers fans couldn’t ask for a better return.

But you don’t need to hear that from me. Instead, here are a few choice quotes from Timbers head coach Giovanni Savarese and Yimmi Chara after a big win on Tuesday.

Quotes:

Savarese on the Timbers’ performance on Tuesday...

“First of all, every minute counted, every second to make sure that we did the things that we needed to do. And I felt that when we scored the third goal, it was the moment in which we felt, now we have this game. Nevertheless, even though we play very well from the beginning, [Marathón] was very difficult. This is a team that tries to stretch you, try to play long balls, very direct with guys on top that can challenge you in the air. We saw the first half they created some chances. I thought we defended very well. I thought that we were very strong on both sides of the ball. But definitely I feel that the moment that we scored the third goal, when [Diego] Valeri scored, that was the key factor. And we did enjoy many moments in this match. I thought the guys play very well.”

On the Timbers balancing CCL play with the upcoming MLS season...

“Of course, our hope is to try to go all the way, but we know that we have to make sure that we take it one game at a time. Right now, the important part was to qualify to the next step which the guys worked very hard to obtain that, and now we will prepare for the next match where we have to play and concentrate on that leg one of the quarterfinals and try to do our best to put ourselves in a good situation. So right now, we just have to take it one game at a time, but we are excited today that we were able to move forward, and we’re excited as well that we did it in front of our fans. Not in full capacity, but at least a good percentage to cheer us on and enjoy this day today that was very worth it.”

Savarese on having fans back in Providence Park...

“You know we keep on saying how much we miss the fans, but it’s not until the moment that they’re back even though, as you mentioned in this capacity. They were so loud. They were so passionate. They support us through the entire match. They enjoyed this result as much as we did and having them back, it was phenomenal. It was such a good feeling to see them back in there. So hopefully you know, little by little we keep them getting more people back in the stadium and it’s such a big difference. So we were very fortunate that we had our friends back today.”

Savarese on Yimmi Chara’s hat trick...

“Yes, they’ve happened in the past, but I think we have been very close to get a hat trick from different players and Yimmi was able to get it today. But it was a collective effort. It was a great game because everyone on the field — those that started, those that came in — really performed well, were very energetic, followed the plan that we put in place, and, ultimately, Yimmi was able to connect those three times and we’re so proud of his performance. But the entire team, I thought did everything very well in order to deserve a very good win.”

Chara on which goal was his favorite...

“The first goal was my favorite, I think it was a great goal, it came up from the team, all the way from behind, and resulted in a great goal.”

Chara on playing in front of fans...

“I’m very happy to see, as this is a great part of soccer. We were really grateful to have the spectators. The result of the game is of course dedicated to all of them, and we’re hoping for a great season.”

Chara on how this impacts his confidence...

“This is a result of all the hard work that we did during the week. We were very satisfied. We played with a lot of order and sacrifice. We were able to take advantage of the conditions and this leaves us very happy with our overall effort.”