Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers When Liam Ridgewell started playing professional soccer in 2002, Nat Borchers, his center back partner for the Portland Timbers’ 2015 MLS Cup run, was a senior at the University of Denver. Jack Jewsbury was a forward for the St. Louis University Billikins. Ned Grabavoy was starring at Indiana. In the last four […]
Abe Asher
Abe Asher covers city news, politics, and soccer for the Portland Mercury. His reporting has appeared in The Nation, VICE News, Sahan Journal, and other outlets.
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What to Watch For at the Timbers’ 2017 Preseason Tournament
Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers For the sixth consecutive year, the Portland Timbers are hosting a four-team preseason tournament at Providence Park. The tournament has been moved up a week-and-a-half this year, and kicks off tonight as the Timbers play Real Salt Lake at 7:30. Over the next week, the Timbers will also have games against Opening […]
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Nat Borchers’ Five Greatest Moments As A Portland Timber
Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers As his rehab from the Achilles tear that ended his 2016 season continues, Nat Borchers announced his retirement from professional soccer on Friday morning. Borchers steps away from the game as one of the best center backs in MLS history: 340 appearances, 339 starts, 29 playoff games, 1 MLS Best XI appearance, […]
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Timbers Open Preseason With New Focus On Youth
Marc Kostic/Portland Timbers Over the last several years, for all their successes on and off the field, there has been just one major knock against the Portland Timbers in MLS circles: They can’t — or at the very least don’t — develop their own players. The evidence? The club has never produced a significant player […]
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Five Thoughts on the Portland Timbers’ 2017 MLS Schedule
Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers MLS today released the full schedule for its twenty-second season of play. Here are five thoughts on the Timbers’ 2017 slate. 1. The Show Starts Here The 2017 MLS season will start at Providence Park on the night of Friday March 3rd, as the Timbers host the first game of the season […]
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Timbers Loan Lucas Melano Back To Argentina
Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers The Lucas Melano Era in Portland is over. The Timbers announced today that they have loaned the 23-year-old winger back to his hometown club of Belgrano in Argentina’s Primera División ahead of the 2017 season. Belgrano will have the option to buy Melano outright at the expiration of the loan deal. Melano […]
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Portland Timbers 2016 Player Grades
Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers Just under eleven months ago, on December 6th, 2015, the Portland Timbers won MLS Cup in Columbus. They haven’t won a road game since. Two Sundays ago, the Timbers’ title defense ended with a humiliating loss on the final day of the regular season in Vancouver that made Portland just the third […]
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Timbers’ 2016 Season Ends in Disgrace
Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers So much for that. Though they took on plenty of water throughout a 2016 season that was far more turbulent than it ever portended to be, the Portland Timbers entered the final day of the MLS season in an excellent position: Beat the ninth-placed Vancouver Whitecaps, and make the playoffs. It wasn’t […]
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Timbers v. Vancouver Match Preview
Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers It has all come down to this. After 33 games over seven months, the Portland Timbers’ playoff fate is relatively simple going into their final match of the season in Vancouver on Sunday (1:00 PM, TV on ROOT Sports). Win, and the Timbers are in. Anything else, and their 2016 season is […]
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Timbers’ Grabavoy To Retire At End of Season
Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers Portland Timbers midfielder Ned Grabavoy announced on Tuesday afternoon that he will retire at the end of the Timbers’ 2016 season. Grabavoy will leave professional soccer alongside Timbers legend Jack Jewsbury, who played his final home game last Sunday — and though Grabavoy’s place in club history doesn’t compare with Jewsbury’s, his […]
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Timbers Beat Colorado, Keep Playoff Hopes Alive
Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers It wasn’t a pretty week in Portland, and the 1-0 win that extended the Timbers’ 2016 MLS season on Sunday afternoon at Providence Park wasn’t pretty either. But 41 fouls, nine yellow cards, two penalties, two posts, the miss of the season, and a whole lot of rain later, the Timbers — […]
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Timbers v. Colorado Match Preview
Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers After a much-needed week off due to FIFA’s October international break, the Portland Timbers will finish their 2016 regular season schedule with a sprint: Three games in eight days that will decide the club’s fate in both MLS and the CONCACAF Champions League. First up is a meeting with the Colorado Rapids […]