As the calendar turns to February, with the MLS season opener less than four weeks away, Portland Timbers coach Giovanni Savarese continues to emphasize building fitness and embracing competition.
The team heads to Indio, California, on Monday, Feb. 6, for the final two weeks of preseason, which will include matches against the LA Galaxy (Feb. 12), Toronto FC (Feb. 15) and New York City FC (Feb. 18).
The hope is that Evander, the Brazilian midfielder acquired in the offseason, can wear a Timbers jersey for the first time while in California. Nursing some tightness in his calf, as of Jan. 31 Evander has not been training with his new teammates, though Savarese said on Tuesday that Evander has been pain free and might join training this week.
Less certain is when Sebastian Blanco will begin training. Blanco also is working his way back from a calf injury and is still limited to gym workouts. As for Blanco’s chances of being ready for the Timbers Feb. 25 season opener, Savarese said: “We'll see. We still have enough time.”
Blanco was limited by calf issues last season, so it makes sense that the Timbers aren’t going to rush him back.
One more Timber sidelined by injury is second-year midfielder David Ayala, who has a knee injury that as of Tuesday, Jan. 31 was still being assessed — though Savarese expressed confidence the Argentine will return to training in a a couple of weeks.
For the rest of the squad — minus Felipe More who is expected to miss the first half of the season recovering from his second knee surgery — fitness is a significant focus of preseason. Last weekend, part of that process was a 45-minute scrimmage. The first weekend of February, the plan is an hour-long scrimmage. It will be the team’s first training session on the newly-installed artificial turf at Providence Park, which gets replaced every other year.
One player who appears ahead of the game in fitness is right back Juan David Mosquera, who went 90 minutes for Colombia in the Jan. 28 scoreless draw with the United States. That friendly match saw Timbers midfielder Eryk Williamson play a half and winger Santiago Moreno come on as a second-half substitute.
Savarese said he was surprised Mosquera was able to play a full match.
“He came back the day after really tired. But he ran a lot. He covered a lot of space,” Savarese said. “He looked confident. He looked (like) he's a secure option for the national team of Colombia. We still have some work to do. in order for him to continue to develop. We see that he has a lot of talent to grow and be one of the best right backs in the league.”
For his part, Williamson was happy to be back with the United States National Team for this January camp.
“It's an honor to put on the badge. And you can never take it for granted. So it's good to be back with the group but (also) to get feet going in preseason and knowing that I'm in a good spot physically, and you're saying staying healthy.”
Williamson said it was fun competing against fellow Timbers in the Jan. 21 match at Los Angeles, though he was lined up on the opposite side of the field from Mosquera.
“I wanted to be on (Mosquera’s) side, but the way we lined up I didn't get to go against him,” Williamson said, “But he played amazing and it makes me happy, even though we played against each other, that he did so well.”
Santiago Moreno also played for Colombia in the match against the United States. He came on in the second half, while Williamson played only the first half for the USA. Williamson said he made eye contact with Moreno when he entered the match and they both smiled.
“We knew we'd both be looking out for each other but we also wanted to be competitive and and really compete in that game.”
