Men's spring games

Did I not see the rest of the Men's Spring schedule or has it not been published?

At any rate, I got this from the Timbers folks today

The Portland Timbers will play host to the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer in an exhibition match Friday, March 20, at the University of Portland's Clive Charles Soccer Complex at 7 p.m., as the club unveiled its 2009 preseason schedule today.

The Timbers' preseason slate includes two matches against MLS clubs, including the Red Bulls and San Jose Earthquakes, and will also take on the University of Portland on March 27. The Timbers open their ninth USL First Division campaign April 25 on the road against the Vancouver Whitecaps with the home opener on Thursday, April 30 against the Carolina Railhawks.

Tickets for the Timbers preseason contest against New York are $10, and are available through the PGE Park and UP box offices, area Ticketmaster outlets, online by CLICKING HERE or by phone at 1-800-745-3000.

The match with UP was announced before the Seattle match.

But the Pilot baseball team plays Oregon downtown on the 20th. Now I have one of those "good" problems...

So, I guess Timbers fans and Sounders FC fans will get to benchmark their teams against a common opponent.

When the Timbers play the Pilots March 27 I guess I'll bring both my scarves and and spend one half with the TA and one with the students.

Hopefully, this guy will be there:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiQtx2LQEPc

The boys take on the Timbers at Merlo tonight at 7 in their annual rumble friendly. One storyline to follow: With the departure of Gregor, which Timbers hard man will take on the eye gouging duties?

The UP - Timbers game was fun to watch. Final score 0-0 , but lots of end to end stuff.

the box will show a pretty big advantage to the Timbers, but the reality was more even.

Up was well organized and pretty dangerous at times.

UP's best efforts were from Frankie and Collen, with some really good efforts all around.

The two aforementioned guys are ready now for some play at the pro level. they beat the defense on several occasions..

If they stay until they graduate, UP will go far.

For a Spring game, it was great for both teams, I thought.


Special Kudos to the Timbers Army. They kept it up all game and made it a fun atmosphere. I might note that the Villans were sorely lacking. They apparently were too busy studying (yeah, right).

The UP Players went over to the Army and saluted them after the game, and it was returned.

I asked one guy how he was able to do that all game with no beer.

His answer?

watya mean no beer?

Beer? I was drinking Pepsi.

Lots of good action at both ends tonight. I bought a Timbers season ticket tonight. Most expensive impulse buy I've made, but I've been buying Beavers ticket packages from him since they came back in 2001 and their ticket guy is very persuasive.

"Dan Zusman, oh ohhh,
Dan Zusman, oh ohhh.
He's everywhere you go,
It's hard to tell him no!"

Austin had a good game, too, with several nice saves.

Regarding the beer, I did notice a couple of empty beer cans in the endzone seats after the game.

One of the big names on the Timbers I was "surprised" to see was Alex Nimo. Local Portland product who the Pilots had tried to recruit. I think he would've come in the same year as Frankie's class. But Alex decided to forego college and jump straight to the Pros? I don't know if the Timbers are his first Pro Team...but I last remember hearing about him when he played for the U-20s in 2008.

Alex started play in the 2nd half and had some nice crosses as a right-outside mid. Not so sure how successful his pro-career will be .....he's small guy...listed at 5-5....but it'll be good to see it all unfold here in Portland as they move to the MLS.

GO PILOTS!!!

the pilots never recruited him, hes generation adidas and was with RSL the last few years...

in related news, his family yelling at him to try and skin everyone in sight was one of the more amusing moments from friday night..

ragingplatapus49 wrote:the pilots never recruited him, hes generation adidas and was with RSL the last few years...

He was a victim of the trimming of the rosters/reserve teams this year....

That's encouraging to hear that we pulled a 0-0 tie with the Timbers. I hope that Frankie and Collin make it at the MLS level; I'm not sure how sustainable the USL will be if they keep losing all of their best rivalries. Although the new additions like Puerto Rico have been successful for the USL, I'm not sure if that will be enough. Right now it's as if the MLS uses the USL to gage where the best soccer markets in the US are before expansion...