During his five years of coaching the Portland Timbers, Caleb Porter was seldom one to shy away from honesty and candor when being interviewed.
It seems as though that trait has carried into the early days of his tenure at Columbus Crew SC, as Porter shared his perspective ahead of hosting FC Dallas on Saturday (2 pm ET | TV & streaming info).
"It’ll be a different type of game than the last two," Porter said. "It’ll be more of a soccer game and it’ll come down to which team is more precise and clever in breaking the opponent down and keeping the ball and opposing their will with the ball and so it’s a different type of game. The guys over the last two games, in a type of game that’s physical, direct, disruptive, they [Crew SC] got four points, now let’s see how we do in a soccer game."
Porter's comments are born out of the Crew's first two matches of the 2019 season, a 1-1 home draw against a New York Red Bulls side resting players for Concacaf Champions League play and a 2-0 win at the New England Revolution last week.
Porter, whose 2015 Timbers team won MLS Cup, was hired this past offseason as new ownership took over the Crew. At his hiring ceremony, he said he'll build off the foundation left behind by now-US men'snational team manager Gregg Berhalter, with some wrinkles thrown in.
Perhaps we'll see more of those wrinkles on Saturday.
