1) After a demoralizing week when they lost to Club America and Seattle, the Timbers could very well have continued on that downward slope. Playing on the road, against the 3rd place team in the Western Conference, while missing nine players to injury and starting a goalkeeper who’d been on the roster for all of three days? There was every reason to think the Timbers would go down to San Jose, try their best, but eventually get whooped.
Instead, the team responded to adversity by delivering a shutout win. It was a huge response and showed that while we may be hurt, we ain’t dead yet.