The home opener is special every year. Just kind of like setting a tone at home, what the fans can expect of us this year. It's a very important game for us. You can probably say even more, now that we didn't get the result we wanted in the first game, I think it's very important that we step on the pitch looking for three points at home and also offering something good for the fans.
I'm happy for the guys. I feel like we're trying to learn some things while we're playing games. Playing three games really quickly in Coachella, to then very quickly jumping on a plane and going to Panama, to coming back and quickly playing New York and quickly turning this game around.
I thought it was important to give the new players their debuts at Providence Park because I think it's important for them to sample what it's like to be a Portland Timbers player. I've looked at Cole [Bassett] all pre-season and I think he's experienced now what this club's all about. I think that was really important for [Alex] Bonetig and Brandon Bye as well.