Phil Neville channels Sir Alex Ferguson with Portland Timbers | OneFootball

By MLSsoccer staff

Not everybody felt confident about the Portland Timbers' Audi MLS Cup Playoffs chances ahead of the 2025 season.

Former MLS stars Bradley Wright-Phillips (11th place) and Sacha Kljestan (12th place) predicted the Timbers would miss the postseason, while fellow MLS Season Pass pundit Kaylyn Kyle was more hopeful with an eighth-place prediction.

But as Portland race toward a second consecutive playoff berth under head coach Phil Neville, the manager sat down with his jovial doubters for a few laughs.

"Do you know what? I've got a post ready to go out in about three weeks time when we make the playoffs that's gonna go, 'Apple TV, change your bloody pundits because they are useless,'" Neville joked on the latest episode of This is MLS.

"I get it, guys. I forgive you."

Rivalry resumes

Amidst reminiscing about playing under legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson during his career at Manchester United, or being on the receiving end of a crunching challenge from Carles Puyol in a legends' game (only to buy him a beer afterwards), Neville shared valuable insights into his coaching philosophy.

As the Timbers travel to Lumen Field for a Cascadia Cup derby match against Seattle Sounders FC on Saturday with an opportunity to secure a postseason berth (10:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass), Neville is following Ferguson's approach to "play the game, not the occasion."

"I played football at Manchester United for 15 years," Neville said. "We didn't do tactics. We just trained character ... It's more about the personality and the character than it is about tactics.

"Coaches hide behind tactics nowadays and the fancy words that they use, but really, the character and personality of the player is the one that's going to get you over the line at this stage of the season, and that's the challenge I feel we've got to hear."

As Portland and their manager aim to dispel memories of last season's 5-0 thumping by Vancouver Whitecaps FC in the Western Conference Wild Card Match, those concepts will be critical to playoff success.

"The best players at this moment in time in MLS are those that are competing," Neville explained. "I'd say that the best teams are the ones that can compete.

"You look at LAFC at this moment in time, they've gone up a level. Why? Well, they've got brilliant DPs, but they're competing. They're not giving up in games. They're scoring goals. So that's, for me, the key – for me and my team at this moment in time is, can we compete going into the playoffs?"