BEAVERTON, Ore. – “The only thing that I can say,” Portland Timbers head coach Giovanni Savarese explained, “is that when you are put in that situation and it is difficult to make a decision, it’s because the team is in a good place.”
This is the response you’re going to get most of the time when you ask the Timbers boss about a position battle, and it makes sense. You can’t, on one hand, stress how important depth is – how vital each player is to the group – then do anything to undermine the ability to compete for a spot.