BEAVERTON, Ore. – Six weeks of preseason expectation have finally given way to what, under normal circumstances, is a time defined as much by anticipation as preparation. For most teams, no matter the sport, the days before a season’s start culminate months of brooding energy, the hopes and dread born from which hover until the campaign’s initial whistle.
That, however has not been the case this week in Beaverton, Oregon, with the logic of the Portland Timbers’ unique mood only clear once you try to explain it. At the Timbers Training Center, it feels like September, again, when the rhythms of last season began to push the Timbers to their strong, 2018 MLS Cup final-reaching finish.