F.C. Portland
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Football Club Portland, also known as F.C. Portland, came into existence in 1985 as an independent U.S. soccer team based in Portland, Oregon. F.C. Portland was comprised of both professional and amateur players. The amateur players largely came from local Portland amateur leagues. It played its games in Portland’s Civic Stadium.
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[edit] 1985 - Western Alliance Challenge Series
In 1985, F.C. Portland joined with three other independent clubs, the U.S. based F.C. Seattle and San Jose Earthquakes and the Canadian Victoria Riptide in a home and away round robin tournament, known as the Western Alliance Challenge Series. The four teams also played the Canadian Edmonton Brickmen and the Canadian national team. The games against the Brickmen counted in the standings which determined the end of series champions.
F.C. Portland had the honor of hosting the first game of the series, against Seattle. The game, played in Portland’s Civic Center, attracted 2,906 fans.
F.C. Portland also played a game against the Houston Dynamos in Houston.
[edit] 1986 - Western Soccer Alliance
After the success of 1985, the three U.S. teams elected to form a league, which they named the Western Soccer Alliance. While the Victoria Riptide opted out of the league, the Edmonton Brickmen joined the alliance, along with the Hollywood Kickers, Los Angeles Heat and San Diego Nomads. The teams continued the first year practice of playing outside teams (Manchester City and Dundee FC this year) with results counting in the alliance standings.
F.C. Portland saw a significant improvement over the previous season. Behind the production of forwards Brent Goulet (league leading 9 goals and 2 assists), and Mark Miller (7 goals and 5 assists), the team finished second in the standings with a 6-6-2 record. At the time, Goulet played for Warner Pacific College, a local school. He played with F.C. Portland as an amateur.
In 1986, former Timbers player Clive Charles began coaching the University of Portland (U.P.) men’s soccer team, bringing this team to national prominance. This led to an infusion of U.P. players into F.C. Portland in later years.
[edit] 1987 - Brent Goulet MVP
In 1987, Edmonton dropped from the alliance to join the Canadian Soccer League and the Hollywood Kickers changed their name to the California Kickers. The league also reduced the number of games from 12 to 10. Despite the Brent Goulet’s outstanding play, which led to his selection as the season MVP, F.C. Portland finished fourth in the standings and missed out on the alliance’s first playoff, won by the San Diego Nomads.
At the end of the season, the team lost Goulet when he finished his four years at Warner Pacific College and signed with British club AFC Bournemouth.
[edit] 1988
This year saw F.C. Portland drop to the bottom of the end of year standings despite once again having the alliance’s leading scorer, Scott Benedetti with 8 goals and no assists. At the time Benedetti was between his junior and senior year playing soccer for Clive Charles at the University of Portland. The alliance kept the same teams as the 1987 season, but played 12 games, including games against Canadian Soccer League teams, Calgary Kickers and Vancouver 86ers. F.C. Portland finished 1-11.
This year the alliance named an All Star team. Ironically, not only did Portland have the alliance’s top scorer, but also had its goalkeeper, Todd Strobeck, named to the alliance’s All Star team.
[edit] 1989 - New Name: Portland Timbers
In 1989, F.C. Portland went through several changes. First, Art Dixon, a local businessman, took control of F.C. Portland and renamed it the Portland Timbers. Dixon was a long time Timbers fan, holding season tickets from 1979 through the team's last season in 1982. Dixon brought more than a name change, he also injected money and a higher level of professionalism into the team, bringing former Timbers great John Bain back as a player/coach. Then, the Western Soccer Alliance became the Western Soccer League (WSL). More importantly for Portland, the WSL added three new teams, Real Santa Barbara, Arizona Condors and Sacramento Senators. To accommodate the new teams, the Western Soccer League split into two divisions – North and South. The Portland Timbers joined the San Jose Earthquakes now known as the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks, the F.C. Seattle now known as the Seattle Storm and the new Sacramento Senators in the North Division.
Portland made yet another wild swing in the standings from the previous season. Improving from 1-11, Portland finished the year at 11-5 and tied with the Blackhawks for the North Division lead. The Blackhawks won the division championship, and the playoff berth, based on goal differential.
The team continued its tradition of placing its players on the end of year honors lists. Goalkeeper Kasey Keller was selected as the league’s MVP. Additionally, Portland placed Keller, midfielder/coach John Bain and forward Scott Benedetti on the WSL All Star team. At the time, Keller was also playing NCAA soccer with the University of Portland.
[edit] 1990 - The Final Season
In February 1990, the WSL announced it had reached a merger agreement with the American Soccer League, which had teams along the east coast. The new league was named the American Professional Soccer League. The APSL was split into East and West Conferences, both with North and South Divisions. The Portland Timbers remained in the North Division, which also had the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks, Seattle Storm and newly established Salt Lake Sting and Colorado Foxes.
This year, Portland’s final, the team finished with a 10-10 record and out of playoff contention. This was also the first year the team failed to garner any individual player honors. Its leading goal scorer, Shawn Medved with 10 goals and 2 assists, was seventh on the league’s scoring list. Kasey Keller had also moved on after playing in the 1990 FIFA World Cup and then signing with British club Millwall and Scott Benedetti had transferred to Seattle.
At the end of the season, the high hopes which had come with the merger between the WSL and APSL crashed. Over half of the teams from the 1990 season, including Portland, would not return for the 1991 season. Team owner Art Dixon folded the team, having lost more than $500,000 over the two years he owned the team.
[edit] All Time Player List
Goalkeepers:
Todd Strobeck: 1985-1988, 1990
Jeff Gadowski: 1986
Jess Guthrie: 1986
Greg Maas: 1986-1990
Glenn Rogers: 1987-1989
Kasey Keller: 1989
Defenders:
Paul Henningsen: 1985-1986
Tim Newton: 1985-1986
Grant Gibbs: 1985-1987
Tohru Yamada: 1985, 1987-1989
Grant Rowe: 1986-1987
Wade Webber: 1986-1987, 1989
Eric Phillipi: 1986-1990
Gary Osterhage: 1987
Blake Pavlich: 1987
Garrett Smith: 1987-1989
John Ballew: 1988
Peter Cochran: 1988
Chuck Codd: 1988
Roger Gantz: 1988
Jerome LaChance: 1988
Trent Schultz: 1988
Steve Ancheta: 1988-1989
Jeff Brooks: 1989
Trent Schultz: 1989
Sam Singer: 1989
Billy Crook: 1990
Daryl Green: 1990
Ian MacLean: 1990
Bernd Storm: 1990
Midfielders:
Mike Iverzic: 1985
Eric Knapp: 1985
Ken Coplin: 1985-1986
Dan House: 1985-1987
Ezam Bayan: 1986-1988
Joe Halloway: 1986-1988, 1990
Steve Piercy: 1986-1987, 1990
Robb Sakamoto: 1987-1988
Horner Screws: 1987-1988
Jim Weber: 1987, 1989
Joey Leonetti: 1988
Ignacio Baez: 1988-1989
Dick McCormick: 1988-1990
Souk Ngonethong: 1988-1990
Paul Conway: 1989
Neftali Gomez: 1989
Doug Van de Brake: 1989
John Bain: 1989-1990
Peter Hattrup: 1990
Brian McManus: 1990
Cesar Plascenia: 1990
Quin Ross: 1990
Forwards:
Ronston Haylock: 1985
Mark Miller: 1985-1986
Jeff Fenske: 1985-1986, 1989
Tony Hicker: 1985-1987
Scott Benedetti: 1986-1989
Brent Goulet: 1986-1987
Mark Bioklund: 1987
Jeff Enquist: 1987, 1990
Jason Russ: 1987-1988
Brian Bacon: 1988
Clay Elrod: 1988
Michael Macchione: 1988
David Magistrale: 1988
Rob Baarts: 1989
Paul Goldsbrough: 1989
Robert Lang: 1989
Shawn Medved: 1990
Rob Paterson: 1990
[edit] Managers
1989-1990 - John Bain
[edit] Honors
1986 – League’s top two leading scorers: Brent Goulet and Mark Miller
1987 – League MVP: Brent Goulet
1988 – League top scorer: Scott Benedetti
1989 – League MVP: Kasey Keller
[edit] Record
| Year | Name | Record | Goals For | Goals Against |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | F.C. Portland | 1-4-2 | 8 | 16 |
| 1986 | F.C. Portland | 6-6-2 | 20 | 19 |
| 1987 | F.C. Portland | 5-5-0 | 9 | 16 |
| 1988 | F.C. Portland | 1-11-0 | 16 | 32 |
| 1989 | Portland Timbers | 11-5-0 | 32 | 25 |
| 1990 | Portland Timbers | 10-10 -0 | 42 | 36 |
