BEAVERTON, Ore. – The Portland Timbers got back to work Monday, absent their captain and leader Will Johnson.
After the closed training session at the team facility, head coach Caleb Porter and midfielder Ben Zemanski – the likely replacement following Johnson’s broken right leg following a collision in the opening minute of their game against Toronto FC – talked about moving forward with the focus on Portland’s final four regular-season matches starting Saturday at the San Jose Earthquakes, veiled in somber tones.
No other players were made available to the media.
“It’s going to take a few days,” Zemanski said. “Obviously, we wish the best for Will and we’re thinking about Will as a person and as a human being. You never want to see that happen to a teammate and a friend and obviously it hurts. But obviously we have to move on, and we have a job to do. And these next four games, the season is on the line.”
Johnson remained in Toronto following the game, a 3-2 loss that moved the Timbers back below the red line following a win by the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night. The Timbers announced Johnson underwent successful surgery Sunday to stabilize a fractured tibia and fibula, but he is expected to miss six months of action during the recovery.
"I didn’t get a great view, not sure if I’ll watch it again," Porter said after the game on Saturday. "It was a hard tackle, two guys went in and he got the wrong end of it. It was unfortunate and tough, but I was really pleased with the way the guys responded. Sometimes you lose your captain and it sends your group into a funk, but I thought we responded really well. We certainly feel for Will and will miss him.”
Porter said Monday he’s never before had one of his players suffer a broken leg, but has dealt with other season-ending injuries. He said the focus needs to be on their upcoming games with the MLS Cup Playoffs on the line.
“You use it I think to galvanize your team,” Porter said. “It’s just another thing we’ve got to deal with, and we’ve dealt with a lot this year. Some of those things we’ve brought on ourselves and have not gotten the job done. But one thing I said after the game, one thing that’s been clear all season is that we don’t hang our heads, we don’t dwell, we move on and pick ourselves back up and get stronger and be better.”
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Porter said one positive is the fact that Zemanski and Diego Chara, the two holding midfielders in his 4-2-3-1 formation, have played together on a number of occasions and as recently as in Portland’s 2-2 draw against the Colorado Rapids on Sept. 13, when Porter rested Johnson as part of the team’s rotation during a busy stretch.
Zemanski has played in nine games this season - including three starts - and has yet to record a goal or assist. Last year, his first with Portland after an offseason trade with Chivas USA, he had a goal and two assists in 25 games, nine of them starts.
“I’m not going to be Will Johnson,” Zemanski said. “I’ve played in many games in this league before, and I know what type of player I am and what I can bring. … We have said all year that this team has depth, and that depth needs to show up in a big game on Saturday.”
Portland will also be without playmaker Diego Valeri, who will be serving a one-game suspension for caution accumulation. Porter said Zemanski has the ability to cover as much ground as any player on the team, and the fact that he is a bit more defensive than Johnson could free Chara in the attack.
“You hope to fill in someone similar,” Porter said. “And Ben is a similar player in how he plays and what he brings to the table.”
As far as mentally overcoming such a big loss, for Johnson’s attributes both on and off the field, Porter said that “we have a lot of leaders on this team” and that he expects everyone to bring more to the table to make up for the loss.
But he said there was no drop-off in their first time on training pitch without their captain.
“No, it’s not been harder,” he said. “We had a good meeting today, talked about the game and just to file it away. … But no, these guys will move on just like they have all year, and some of our best performances have come after bitter defeats, bitter disappointments.”
Dan Itel coves the Timbers for MLSsoccer.com.
