After throwing his hat in the ring for the USMNT, and either passing on the LA Galaxy, or not receiving an offer, Caleb will be replacing Greg Berhalter, who did just take charge of the USMNT. I wonder if this is a bit of a letdown for him. He’ll be going home to Ohio, but how will Crew supporters welcome the former coach of the team that robbed them of a 2nd MLS Cup at Mapfre? It’s also potentially very exciting to take charge of a team with a fresh new ownership group intent on revitalizing the club. I just hope they give him a pass on this first year if it doesn’t go well. Why? He’s coming in without a lot of time to spare, taking over someone else’s system and players. It’s a team whose very existence has been in upheaval for the past year. I hope he does well, just not too well.

BTW – I’m trying to find the source tweet that mentioned Porter passing on LAG. It said LAG only offered a year contract and Porter wasn’t interested.

Check out the live construction cam set up at Providence Park. Shots are uploaded every 15 minutes, and there’s a time lapse available. You can also click through previous photos, but so far I haven’t gotten the date picking functionality to work.

Update: Added some more stills of precast sections and crane at work.

What better way to start the new year than to take a look at some pics from years gone past, thanks to 1970’s Soccer USA. It’s a great page to follow on FB. 7 vintage NASL Timbers images after the jump.

Wow. Losing Caleb Porter shortly after the end of the season last year was like a gut punch. We were first in our division,  and if not for losing 4 starters in an incredibly unlucky stretch of injuries in the Houston series, we were looking good. It must have been emotionally draining for Caleb, but it was still a shock that he chose to leave so soon after getting a contract extension. 

Who had high hopes for 2018 after learning we were trading Darlington Nagbe too? When our new coach was announced, it was exciting. Gio had a stellar reputation with players and other coaches, and a championship winning record. Still, NASL  is not on par with MLS, so how would that transfer?

I don’t even have to make this up! It’s (another) sign!

Atlanta United’s Nagbe says playing Portland for MLS Cup is surreal. Read about it in the Atlanta Constitution Journal. It’s a fluff piece, but it has a few interesting tidbits. 

If you’re headed to Atlanta to support the Timbers in the MLS Cup, there’s an unofficial Facebook group set up as a resource.

The meager allotment of 1,300 tickets given to the Timbers Army for the 2018 MLS Cup sold out in 4 minutes. That’s less than the amount that showed up for the Cup in Columbus of 2015, and far less than the FIFA standard of 5% for traveling supporters. Mercedes Benz Stadium holds upwards of 70k people, so we should have gotten 3,600 tickets. Atlanta is fairly new to this, but MLS should have schooled them in advance. It has been reported that ATLUFC started selling Cup tickets before they had clinched. When the original allocation of 900 tickets was announced (before clinching) The Timbers Army/107ist joined forces with Kansas City Cauldron, Terminus Legion, and Empire Supporters Club to released a joint statement in protest. 107ist appeared to be spearheading this effort, and reaction from many fans (especially in Atlanta) was that we were counting our chickens before they hatched, and we wouldn’t be able to fill the seats if we got them, and tough luck if you don’t live in Atlanta.  Well, we told you so. Let’s hope MLS forces the owners to adhere to FIFA standards. It might be too late for this cup, but they need to take care of it for future years.

Is this is a sign, apart from literally being an actual, you know, lottery sign?

Mr Nagbe labeled as “Driver.” on the news, somehow not being interviewed or recognized by anyone at Atlanta’s WSB Tv as a professional soccer player. Surely Darlington had to be cracking up on the inside about the dangers of driving in all this rain man! It’s crazy!

Tip of the hat to Colin Smith