On a beautiful, sunny Thursday in Beaverton, OR, local media was invited out to the Portland Timbers Performance Center for the first open training session of 2026 following the team's return on Monday.
In Kristoffer Velde's words, "the shitty part" of reporting back to work (physical testing, medical exams) is over, and now the real work begins – The team will fly down to California next week for a series of closed-door scrimmages before partaking in the Coachella Valley Invitational.
While the session was essentially one big warm-up, general manager Ned Grabavoy and head coach Phil Neville addressed the off-season so far, and the work still to be done before their MLS opener at Providence Park on Saturday, Feb. 21.