FARLEY | Timbers left with frustrations, lessons after CCL ouster

MEXICO CITY — You could see the Portland Timbers’ players processing their lessons the moment Wednesday’s game was over. That processing probably started before the final whistle, but when the game was still live, everybody was still living off hope: hope that the team’s second-half play could bridge the gap; hope that the 3-1 gap in the game, and the 4-2 gap overall, could suddenly shrink, and then feel manageable. The Timbers were creating enough chances in the second half against Club América. A goal could come at any time.

“After the [game was] 2-1, we believed that we could achieve something,” Timbers head coach Giovanni Savarese said after the match. “One more goal could have put us…