'Beat Seattle' is Portland's universal language heading into Cascadia Cup finale
Communication is key, and Evander wants more of his teammates to start speaking English.
BEAVERTON — Juan Mosquera was nearly through his media duties when Evander decided to challenge him.
Mosquera, a defender, had just been talking with reporters about Portland’s upcoming match against Seattle, a game that will decide the Cascadia Cup and possibly determine whether or not Portland will host its Play-in Wildcard match. Having scored two of his three career goals against the Sounders, Mosquera was notably excited about Derby Day on Decision Day.
“I’ve loved playing in rivalry matches,” Mosquera said. “It’s a different feeling that I do love, and the Cascadia Cup is on the line for this game.”
Mosquera didn’t say this in English, though. The 22-year-old fullback from Colombia spoke in Spanish, which Timbers senior communications manager Paloma Alatorre then translated for reporters. The process takes a little more time, making it challenging to develop connections during limited interview periods — but it’s standard operating procedure in a league that touts players from 81 countries across the globe.1
Many of the Timbers players speak with the media with Alatorre’s help. But on Tuesday, Evander decided he had enough of his teammate relying on someone else.
“English. English,” Evander said. “Five years here and no English?”
Mosquera put his head in his hand, then took a playful swing at his teammate. Both left laughing, but afterward, Evander said there’s reason for the ribbing.
The Timbers’ MVP candidate grew up speaking Portuguese in Brazil, which made for quite the experience when he landed in English-speaking Denmark as a 20-year-old playing for FC Midtjylland. He took some private English lessons at home before jumping continents but was generally overwhelmed when he touched down.
“I was kind of ashamed,” he said. “I understood more than I could speak. I couldn’t speak that much, but sometimes you just have to speak enough and that’ll fix it.”