PORTLAND, Ore. – It had only been five days since the Portland Timbers, brokenhearted, left Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium following their loss in the 2018 MLS Cup, but in the faces of president of soccer Gavin Wilkinson, head coach Giovanni Savarese and newly promoted technical director Ned Grabavoy, the next chapter of an MLS offseason was already apparent.
Sitting in Providence Park’s press room, the Timbers’ decision makers were asked, perfunctorily, about their lingering feelings from MLS Cup. But most of the questions in the season’s final press conference targeted what’s yet to come: contract options and extensions; an offseason’s roster decisions; work to do before a soon-to-arrive preseason.