Portland Timbers

The Portland Tribune, Mar 28, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Next: Scores will be kept and notes taken on who plays well, but for the Timbers, this weekend’s exhibition games against San Jose and Gonzaga mostly are about getting ready physically for the United Soccer Leagues regular season.

“It’s definitely a fitness thing,” Portland defender Scot Thompson says of playing the Earthquakes at 7:30 tonight at University of Portland and the Zags at 2 p.m. Sunday at Lincoln Park Stadium in Forest Grove. “We all want to win, but you don’t put two games in one weekend this time of year for tactical purposes.”

San Jose opens the MLS season Thursday at the Los Angeles Galaxy.

“They (the Quakes) are probably a little more fit than we are,” says Portland forward Chris Brown, who played for San Jose in 2004. “They’ve been training for two months, and we’ve only been here a couple of weeks.”

• Portland coach Gavin Wilkinson wouldn’t mind if the San Jose match showed his players where they are lacking. “I’m hoping we get exposed,” he says.

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