BEAVERTON, Ore. – Sunday will mark Caleb Porter’s seventh trip to CenturyLink Field as head coach of the Portland Timbers. It will be similar, in most respects, to his first six trips to Seattle’s intimidating home venue, save for one key fixture on the sideline.
For the first time in his three-and-a-half years as Portland’s coach, Porter will not be matching wits with Sigi Schmid, who mutually parted ways with the team last month after a poor run of results to start the 2016 season.
“It’s going to be strange, I must admit, coaching against Seattle without Sigi,” Porter said. “I always had a lot of respect for Sigi and we’ve had some really good battles over three-and-a-half years. So that’ll be different.”
Porter did acknowledge that the Sounders’ interim head coach, Brian Schmetzer, has done well to get the Sounders going in a positive direction. Seattle have two wins and a draw since parting ways with Schmid and carry fresh hope for a late-season surge into the playoffs.
One key, in Porter’s view, is that under Schmetzer the Sounders have been able to stick with a consistent lineup and formation.
He cited Seattle’s 3-1 win at Orlando on August 7 as key to Schmetzer’s ability to develop and stick with a plan, and to build confidence.
“That was huge. Because the first game [under Schmetzer] was kind of disappointing getting the draw at home [1-1 with the Galaxy], so that could have been compounded with a loss on the road. And then who knows what happens?” Porter said. “But they responded with a really good performance and result and they rode that right into last game. So you have to say that he’s done well.”
That new Designated PlayerNicolas Lodeiro has hit the ground running helped the coaching transition. Lodeiro has a goal and three assists in his three games with the Sounders.
Porter is not surprised at the Uruguayan World Cup veteran's impact.
“He’s a DP, so it’d be like us adding a [Diego] Valeri in midseason,” he said.
And while some international players take time to adjust to MLS, players with the pedigree of Lodeiro usually make an instant impact, Porter argued.
“There wasn’t a transition with Valeri. There wasn’t a transition with Kaká, Robbie Keane, [Sebastian] Giovinco, [Didier] Drogba. For those type of players, it’s plug-and-play,” Porter said.
Specifically, Lodeiro gives the Sounders a creative threat they didn’t have when the Timbers beat Seattle 3-1 on July 17 in Portland. Listing Lodeiro’s attributes, Porter describes the 27-year-old Uruguayan international as a smart player who gets into good spots, is great with the final pass and can score.
“They’ve always had [Clint] Dempsey who kind of had a role where he can move about and pop up and he’s a very creative player, and now they have that second player that has same freedom,” Porter explained.
Porter noted that this Sunday’s game (9:30 pm ET; FS1 in US | MLS LIVE in Canada) will be different from the July clash in Portland – a match for which Dempsey was suspended. The Timbers coach didn’t discuss the tactical plan to negate Lodeiro and Dempsey, but did say that the challenge is not unique.
“We’ve played [against] really good players every single week in the Western Conference, certainly,” Porter said. “It’s no different [in terms of] mindset. But we have a lot of respect for Lodeiro and we have respect for how Seattle’s playing right now.”
