Marked for Eric Miller
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
Kevin Kelsy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brandon Bye, and the manager let it.
Market23 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until David Da Costa signs something — a contract at Portland Timbers or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Portland Timbers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market12 Oct 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ricardo McKennie is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market12 Oct 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Owen Pulisic has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad12 Oct 2026
4 Portland Timbers players away with their countries
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
Market12 Oct 2026
The Kevin Kelsy talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Portland Timbers know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match5 Sep 2026
Colorado Rapids left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cole Bassett was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Alex Bonetig in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Portland Timbers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad7 Sep 2026
4 call-ups is a compliment to the squad and a headache for the man running it. He will get them back in a fortnight, tired, in various states of repair.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ariel Lassiter’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Portland Timbers needing him to play as if none of it matters.