Timbers Grab Bag 06.30.08

By: Bob Kellett | June 30th, 2008

Portland Timbers through 16 games…
2008: 5-5-6, 21pts, 14GF, 14GA
2007: 11-2-3, 36pts, 24GF, 10GA
2006: 5-6-5, 20pts, 16GF, 19GA
2005: 5-7-4, 19pts, 20GF, 30GA
2004: 10-6-0, 30pts, 35GF, 21GA
2003: 8-8-0, 24pts, 19GF, 19GA
2002: 5-8-3, 18pts, 17GF, 21GA
2001: 8-6-2, 26pts, 21GF, 20GA

The Larry Factor
Portland Timbers goals scored in games in which Lawrence Olum starts: seven goals in four games.
Portland Timbers goals scored in games in which Lawrence Olum doesn’t start: seven goals in 12 games.

Fiji is the place to go for injury updates
According to sources many miles from here, Benjamin Totori may be fit enough to play in the three meaningless Mexican friendlies the Timbers will play over the course of the next couple of weeks. We are, indeed, going to win the exhibition league.

Briggs Back in Kalamazoo
We know that central midfielder Mark Briggs was on trial with the Portland Timbers last week. We don’t know how that trial went, but my guess is that he wasn’t offered a contract. Briggs didn’t make the road trip with the Timbers and he ended up playing for his PDL club, Kalamazoo Outrage, in their 3-2 victory over the Cleveland Internationals on Sunday.

The ~~Bears~~ Butterflies Buzz
From Hillsboro’s paper of record:

“The trip to Portland by Morelia is creating quite the buzz in the community, and in particular the Hispanic community in Hillsboro, with the type of team Morelia is bringing with them,” Kostic said. “It includes three Mexican National Team members and a well-known coach in Luis Fernando Tena.

Kostic added that Morelia, in terms of its status in the Mexican sports culture, can be compared to a team like the Chicago Bears of the NFL - a hard-working, blue-collar club with an extremely passionate fan base that is well known throughout Mexico.

“Morelia has star players, but they aren’t flashy like a Club America or Chivas,” Kostic said.

Table talk
At the start of their recent two-week break the Timbers were in third place in the USL-1 table. I was almost certain they would be passed by at least one other team during that time, but they weren’t. With the team now off from league play until a week from Thursday, the other USL teams with games in hand have the opportunity to pass them by again, right? Well, my quick scan of the schedule shows that only Seattle have enough games between now and then to be able to pass the Timbers. Some of these teams must have a ton of games stacked up late in the season.