The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Slovacko moved on, Kevin Kelsy reports back to Portland Timbers, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antony was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Colorado Rapids held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Portland Timbers answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
9 combined actions and 7.28. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Joao Ortiz is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
In brief
Squad9 new faces, and Portland Timbers are still learning each other
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Portland Timbers lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Houston Dynamo kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Portland Timbers will be asked about the last half hour all week.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. David Da Costa provided it, and the 8.30 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Add another name to the list: Slovacko have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kevin Kelsy. The answer from Portland Timbers has not changed — yet.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Portland Timbers lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer from Philadelphia Union for Zac McGraw was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Antony is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Toronto FC will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Deandre Kerr has pre-agreed a move to Portland Timbers, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Marked 6.97 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
In brief
Player ratingsDavid Da Costa was on a different afternoon to everybody else