The Timbers open up their exhibition season today, playing the first of three games against international competition. Club America is one of the franchise teams of the Primera Division, Mexico’s top soccer league (like the Lakers of the NBA). The Timber’s will be playing their Reserve U-23 team – more or less a group of young, up and coming stars.

- Player to Watch: George Corral is the big name on the roster. The 18 year old defender spent time playing with the first team LAST season, a big statement for a such a young player.

- The Timbers announced their starting lineup for the game and it looks as though many of the starters will be sitting this one out. Still, with many Primera League fans living in Portland it should be a passionate and enthusiastic crowd.

- Heading down to the game – hoping for… Read the rest

The Timbers continued their great play tonight beating the Whitecaps 2-0 and remaining unbeaten in their last 7 games. The Timber’s defense was stubborn as usual, not giving up a goal for the fourth time this season. But as good a job as the mid-fielders did creating plays for the forwards, it seemed the club squandered away many promising scoring opportunities, threatening often, but failing to convert. Regardless, the 9,000+ fans that made their way down to PGE park witnessed an exciting game and a big Timbers victory.

- Portland was the more aggressive club tonight. They earned two more shots on goal than Vancouver and it could have easily been more. The Timbers also were whistled for offsides 7 times, another sign of their attacking mentality, but perhaps also hinting at the need to work on some of their offensive sets.

- Keita seemed to struggle. Although he had… Read the rest

We are live blogging.

Timbers score off a penalty kick six mins in.

Josten scores his first goal of the season:

Timbers 2-0

Portland’s only loss this season was in the opener verses Vancouver back in April. A win against 2008′s USL Champion could put Portland in third place and would give the Timbers a 7 game unbeaten streak.

An impressive road trip in Puerto Rico has put the Timbers one point ahead of Vancouver. The key to Saturday’s game will be to keep Vancouver to one goal or less. Portland has not allowed any opponents to score more than one goal this season and in seven games played, our opponents have only scored a total of four goals. Portland’s solid goal stopping has kept the pressure on the offense to make something happen. Mandjou Keita’s… Read the rest

In case you missed it, the Timbers announced yesterday they’ll be playing host to Burnley FC of the English Premier League on Saturday July 25th, PGE Park, 7pm. Premier is regarded as one of the top soccer leagues in the world, so it’ll be a great chance for the Timbers to compete against a top-flight club. It is the third international exhibition game the Timbers will play this summer, starting this Sunday against Mexico’s Club America, then July versus FC Bayern Munich.
For Burnley FC, the game will be a pre-season exhibition as they gear up for their innaguaral season in the English Premier League. I wonder if that means they’ll be resting a lot of their starting players? Regardles, should be an exciting match against those British hooligans!

Burnley had a Cinderella season last year, playing their way into the top division of the EPL and then… Read the rest

On Canzano’s Oregonlive page last week, the bald-one posted a letter sent to the Oregonian from a local soccer fan who is greatly concerned by the boisterous behavior and general unruly conduct of Portland’s cheering section behind the goal, dubbed the Timbers Army. Laurie (last name redacted) seems to think all the commotion the Timbers Army creates will drive away families and fans, ultimately leading to the failure of the Portland Timbers in the MLS. Read it from her:

“MLS and fans will NOT fill your new stadium with a cheering section behind the net dropping F-BOMBS in their chants all night long. You have some of the foulest fans in all of sports. This is not England and you should not tolerate Portland Timbers Hooligans. On three occasions I had to move my boys further away from your “fans”. The fact is most of these “fans” has never played… Read the rest

… Read the rest

TIMBERS IN 4TH PLACE – FIRST WIN EVER IN PUERTO RICO
The Timbers scored two goals in the first half, and it was enough to beat Puerto Rico 2-1 on the road. The Islanders move into 6th place, while the Timbers take fourth. Portland took four points from Puerto Rico over the holiday weekend.

Portland’s record is now 3-1-3.

The Timbers and Islanders are still tied in the standings. Who will break it?

Live updates:
-Portland Lineup vs. PR: GK Cronin, D Dansou, D Knowles, D Nishimura, D Hayes, M Farber, M McManus, M Claesson, M Savage, M Pore, F Keita
-Mandjou Keita scores the first goal at the 25th minute
-PR ties
-Danso scores, Timbers take the lead
-Timbers 2 – Islanders 1, end of 1st half

A POINT ON THE ROAD

The Timbers match ended in a 1-1 tie with Puerto Rico. Mandjou Keita scored his first goal of the season for Portland at the 59th minute, tying the game. Puerto Rico scored seven minutes earlier. Portland still has not won in Puerto Rico (0-3-2 all time), but has the chance to change that on Sunday.