The team was born with a dream of helping its parent club to brighter days.
On Sunday at the University of Portland’s Merlo Field, Timbers 2 will make their United Soccer League debut at 6 p.m. against the Real Monarchs of Salt Lake City.
Timbers owner Merritt Paulson made the decision to add a lower-division club with an eye toward developing young professional players who might someday have an impact for Major League Soccer’s Timbers.
To lead that development, the club hired Jay Vidovich, who for 21 years was the head coach at Wake Forest University.
Vidovich said his primary job is to develop players who can help the MLS Timbers, while competing for USL championships.
“A developed player helps you win games,” Vidovich said, noting that developing young players involves more than skill development. Teaching the day-to-day habits of successful professionals is one of the key pieces, for example.
The other part of Vidovich’s job is to win.
“Winning is a part of it. It doesn’t mean if we win that our players are ready to play for the Timbers,” Vidovich said.
Among the players who hope Timbers 2 can be a launching point for his career is Camas High graduate Brent Richards.
One of the first players signed by T2, Richards is attempting to revive his career two years after a knee injury sidelined him. Richards, 24, will miss the start of the season after experiencing some post-training soreness in the knee, but said it “shouldn’t be a big deal.”
He is expected to return to full training within a few weeks.
Like a minor league baseball team, the Timbers 2 roster will fluctuate as players move between the squad and the MLS Timbers. Players under MLS contracts can be loaned to T2 for development or rehabilitation.
Timbers 2 has 14 players under contract. The other slots will be used by Timbers who are not seeing much or any time with the MLS club.
The most experienced of the T2 players is 29-year-old Argentine forward Santiago Biglieri, who played last season in Uruguay’s top league. In addition to Richards, other T2 players with previous MLS experience are midfielders Steven Evans and Blair Gavin. Gavin, 26, spent time with New England, Seattle and Chivas USA and last season played with the Atlanta Silverbacks of the North American Soccer League. Though he never played an MLS game, Portland native Evans was on the Timbers roster the previous two seasons.
Two players drafted by the Timbers in January’s MLS SuperDraft — forward Kharlton Belmar and midfielder Seth Casiple — signed T2 contracts. Belmar led last season’s Timbers Under-23 team in goals.
Timbers rookies Anthony Manning and Andy Thoma and second-year players Taylor Peay and Schillo Tshuma are also candidates to find playing time with T2.
Eight of the 14 T2 players are from the United States. The international players include forwards Fatawu Safiu (Ghana) and Rundell Winchester (Trinidad and Tobago), midfielder Tim Payne (New Zealand), and defenders Rennico Clark (Jamaica) and Harrison Delbridge (Australia).
Defender Matt Rose and goalkeeper Justin Luthy played last summer for the Timbers U23s. T2 also signed goalkeeper Daniel Withrow, and Timbers goalkeeper Jake Gleeson, who played for USL champion Sacramento FC on loan last summer, figures to see playing time as well.
Timbers 2 won all four preseason matches it played.
“A lot of progress was made during the preseason,” Vidovich said, pointing to solidifying roles on defense and increased variety in the attack as examples of that progress.
Vidovich noted that the last three preseason matches were against college teams, so Sunday’s USL opener will be a higher-level test.
About Timbers 2
United Soccer League — which recently changed its name from USL PRO — is America’s third division professional league. This season, which runs through September followed by playoffs, each team plays 28 games. For 2015, USL has 24 teams divided into two 12-team conferences. The Timbers are one of eight MLS clubs who own their USL affiliates. Seattle and Vancouver also have added USL teams this season. The other five MLS-owned teams are L.A. Galaxy II, FC Montreal, New York Red Bulls USL, Real Monarchs (Real Salt Lake) and Toronto FC II.
Tickets: For matches at Merlo Field, prices are $10 to $15. Season tickets start at $8 per game.
Merlo Field: Capacity is 4,800. The University of Portland is 7 miles from downtown Vancouver, 2.5 miles west of I-5 Exit 304.
Webstream: All regular-season matches will stream live on Timbers2.com.
