PORTLAND, Ore. – That little of the information was particularly new kept the mood at Providence Park light on Tuesday afternoon, giving attendees of the Portland Timbers’ season-ending media availability a chance to embrace the contrast. Ten-and-a-half months earlier, team general manager Gavin Wilkinson and Timbers’ head coach, Giovanni Savarese, were joined by Portland’s newly-confirmed technical director, Ned Grabavoy, to provide final context around an MLS Cup-final run. This year, it was only Wilkinson and Savarese, and they were reflecting on disappointment.
The 2019 Timbers made the playoffs for a third year in a row, but what’s become clear in the 10 day since the team’s season-ending loss at Real Salt Lake in Round One of the Audi 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs was that postseason was no longer enough.