Training Update: April 7th

The Timbers have completed two of their three days of training so far this week with the other coming on Friday before the squad heads to Corvallis for a training match against OSU on Saturday. Some notes and info from training this week:

• Romanian Constantin Arbanas (pictured) is in on a 10-day trial. Gavin described him to me as both a center mid and right back. He played at right back during today’s 11v11.
• MLS pool goalkeeper Kevin Guppy is on his way back to Portland and will feature during Saturday’s training match at OSU.
• With goalkeepers currently a little hard to come by for the Timbers, Portland Christian HS goalkeeper Keegan Rogers played with the team today. Rogers trained with the U23 PDL team last summer and is a member of the ’93 Region IV ODP Team.
• Spencer said that Darlington Nagbe will play all 90 minutes on Saturday and that he would play him “wide left.”
• Eddie Johnson is back to full training and Spencer said he plans on playing him for 90 minutes in Corvallis.
• Troy Perkins is back to training, but hasn’t participated in any of the full-team drills—mainly just working with goalkeeper coach Adam Smith. He’s been wearing a brace on his right knee, and although he may not want to wear it, the medical staff is being cautious.
• Jorge Perlaza (hamstring) did some warm-up/skill work both days and then went inside to ride the bike.
• Sal Zizzo (shoulder) did warm-up/skill work both days and then did some individual conditioning on the side during full-team drills.
• Adin Brown (hamstring) has not been outside at training. It’s assumed he’s been inside rehabing.
• Thursday’s training ended with David Horst on the ground clutching his ankle in pain. He was eventually carted off the field and taken to the hospital for x-rays. The “Horstache” tweeted later that he had a sprained ankle and would be working towards being ready for opening night.
• Kalif Alhassan lost Tuesday’s PK competition and must now grow a mustache for the remainder of the month. It should be noted that he did not try very hard and was perhaps blowing the shootout as an excuse to grow a mustache. The early favorite for a name is “Alhastache.”

A few pictures from this week’s training: