For the last month, the Portland Timbers have avoided talking about their place in the standings, even after a September surge left them battling for the top spot in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference.
“We want to be there [rather] than the other end of the table, but there’s a long way to go,” Timbers goalkeeper Steve Clark said on Sept. 23, in the wake of his team’s 1-0 victory at Providence Park over Seattle Sounders FC. “We have our schedule now, we can see the end and again, we need to be mindful and one game at a time and we need another performance like this [in the next game].