TUCSON, Ariz. – “It could have been better.”
Isolated, the phrase reads like the response to a Twitter meme: five words to describe your childhood; or, five words to describe your last relationship. It’s vague enough to apply to anything, without context, yet sharp enough to be both opinion and, if uttered from a position of authority, sobering conclusion.
When Portland Timbers’ head coach Giovanni Savarese’s name gets attached to those words, a curiosity accompanies them, too. Thankfully for Timbers fans, those words not only apply to a preseason game – only a preseason game – but they also apply to a victory.