Timbers get ready for battle

Two-game weekend includes showdown with loaded Seattle

By steve brandon

The Portland Tribune, Apr 22, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

L.E. BASKOW / TRIBUNE PHOTO

Fans said goodbye to longtime mascot Timber Jim Serrill during a season-opening win over Puerto Rico last week.

Goodbye, beloved mascot. Hello, hated rival.

After winning the farewell game of Timber Jim, the Portland Timbers face their first multigame weekend and first of three clashes with defending league champion Seattle.

To see a slide show of Timber Jim's last game, click on the blue icon in the upper right hand corner of the picture.

“If the players aren’t up for that game, they ought to retire and join me on the coaching staff,” General Manager and coach Gavin Wilkinson says. “Except that the coaching staff is already full, so they’d be out of luck.”

The Timbers play Minnesota on Thursday and Seattle on Saturday, both at 7 p.m. at PGE Park.

Seattle and Portland generally are considered the strongest squads in the United Soccer Leagues First Division this season. The Sounders return all 11 starters and 16 players from their 2007 title squad. But Seattle needed a stoppage-time goal, off a free kick by former Timber Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar, to earn a 1-1 tie in its season opener Saturday at Charleston.

Portland went 70 minutes before scoring. Chris Brown’s 22-yard drive lifted the Timbers to a 1-0 opening win over visiting Puerto Rico last Thursday. Wilkinson gave his club mostly good reviews for the way it sent longtime mascot Jim Serrill into retirement on a happy note.

Brown showed that he “has the ability to score some spectacular goals – he could have had a hat trick,” Wilkinson says.

The other new forward, Takayuki Suzuki, doesn’t have great speed “but he’s quick enough,” Wilkinson says, “and every now and then, he looks special.”

The midfield, still a work in progress, held up OK against a Puerto Rico team that played a man down for nearly 55 minutes. Tom Poltl got the assist from the midfield unit that included Andrew Gregor, Lawrence Olum and Shaun Higgins and Scottish sub Bryan Little. “It was a decent opening night for them just because of their work rate,” Wilkinson says.

The returning back line of ace central defenders Cameron Knowles and Justin Thompson and outside fullbacks Scot Thompson and Leonard Griffin would make even the most jittery coach in the league relax.

Wilkinson says it’s also important that the roster includes backup defenders Tim Karalexis and Scott Bolkan. “They’re phenomenal players who probably would be starting on any other First Division team,” Wilkinson says.

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