Timbers begin second half with Rodriguez out, Neville suspended and Eric Miller playing for Pride

BEAVERTON — It isn’t typically the assistant coach’s job to give bad news about injuries, but seeing as Dave van den Bergh has a bit of a different role this week — more on that later — and considering that Apple TV let the cat out of the bag during Sunday’s broadcast of Portland’s 2-1 win over St. Louis, the

Timbers

’ assistant figured it was time to be upfront about

Jonathan Rodriguez

.

“I think everybody kind of heard the announcement on the Apple broadcast last Sunday,” Van den Bergh said. “It doesn’t look great for Jona this season. We haven’t had an official report out yet, but it’ll be a miracle if we see Jona back on the field this season.”

It’s a blow of a headline for the Timbers. It’s also one that doesn’t feel entirely unexpected.

The Timbers’ leading goal scorer in 2024 has played just 154 minutes in six MLS appearances in 2025 and hasn’t taken the pitch with the club since playing 59 minutes against San Jose in the Open Cup on May 20 — where manager

Phil Neville

said afterwards that Rodriguez was really only fit to play 20 to 30 minutes.

He’s scored one goal — on a penalty — and often looked rigid on the pitch as he attempted to return from a knee injury that forced him to miss the first seven matches of the season. And while no, the Timbers aren’t happy to lose the services of a 16-goal scorer who was expected to shoulder the offensive load in 2025 following the departure of Evander, having some closure does present some positives for Portland.

1. Once placed on the season-ending injured list, the Timbers can replace Rodriguez with another designated player when the summer transfer window opens on July 24.

2. The Timbers were faced with some tough choices to make back in April when it appeared Rodriguez was set to make his return. During his absence, the 23-year-old Antony carried the club on offense and gave a huge lift defensively with the amount of ground he could cover.

The problem was

Antony

played the same position as Rodriguez, meaning that Rodriguez substituted for Antony four times in April and May, a period where Antony went goalless after scoring four times in the season’s first six matches.

With Rodriguez no longer chipping away at his minutes, Antony has scored goals five and six on the season in Portland’s last two matches — including his spectacular equalizer on Sunday against St. Louis.

Plus, offense isn’t what the Timbers are worried about on Friday. Playing against a San Jose team at Providence Park that is 2-0 against Portland in 2025, Van den Bergh said the focus for training this week has been pretty straightforward as the club begins the second half of the regular season.

“They scored five goals in two games against us and we gave up a couple more opportunities,” he said. “So we need to be better on the defensive side, for sure. On the flip side, we created quite a few opportunities and the score might not have reflected that just because we only scored one goal in two games. But again, I think we created plenty of opportunities to take more advantage of those opportunities. So if we do, if we take our chances in this game, I have a good feeling about it and that we can beat this team now, especially at home.”

The Earthquakes have never beaten Portland at Providence Park. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

Neville suspended

Van den Bergh will be serving as the team’s manager on Friday night against the Earthquakes with Neville serving a one-game suspension due to yellow card accumulation. Neville tallied his third card of the season on Sunday

against St. Louis

.

“He got suspended for saying something at our own player and [the referees] misunderstood — misheard,” Van den Bergh said. “It was a little bit of a joke in my book.”

Not to worry, he said, as things won’t feel too different around the club. Neville is allowed to coach training throughout the week and speak to the team before Friday’s match. He’ll likely watch from one of Providence Park’s suites, just as he did when the Timbers defeated Nashville 4-1 last summer when Neville served his last suspension.

“The good part about having worked with Phil for the past year and a half, and with the same staff for the past year and a half, we know what we want out of the players. We know what to expect out of a game,” Van den Bergh said. “Nothing changes for the boys. It’ll just be a different voice.

“It’ll be Dutch.”

Miller plays for Pride

Eric Miller knows that his time with a platform is limited.

He’s 32, serving mostly as a defensive backup for the Portland Timbers and knows that his days of hoping for an MLS All-Star nod or World Cup appearance are behind him. Father Time is undefeated, he says, and he’s close to stoppage time in a career that’s seen him play for six clubs since being drafted by Montreal in 2014.

He’s not going to take a bunch of awards with him into retirement, nor has he made himself particularly rich — Miller’s base salary of $89,716 in 2024 was among the lowest on Portland’s roster. But his time in the MLS has given him the ability to champion the cause of something he believes in, which this month takes shape in the Playing for Pride fundraiser.

A post shared by Eric Miller (@emillller)

It’s the second time in his three seasons with Portland that

Miller has raffled off items like tickets, signed jerseys, scarves and a stadium tour to help raise money for the LGBTQI+ community.

He first partnered with Playing for Pride in 2017 as a member of the Colorado Rapids, a move that was reinforced in 2018 when, with Minnesota, teammate Collin Martin came out as gay. At the time, Martin was the only out athlete in any of the big five American men’s sports leagues or any top professional men’s soccer leagues.

“It was just amazing seeing him be able to fully be himself,” Miller said. “We all knew before, and it was really normal. It was fine. And then to see him come out and see how much support he got was really, really cool.”

Miller continued with

Playing for Pride

during his subsequent time in Nashville and now here with the Timbers. And while Portland is a city that is more accepting of the LGBTQI+ community than some others, Miller said the cause is more important now than ever.

“It’s nice to be in a city that’s supportive like Portland, but I also realize that’s not the case in the entire country and maybe not even this entire state,” he said. “So I think it’s really important to share that this is something I support and really believe in.

“Unfortunately, it feels like it’s probably veering back into a direction where it was before, the last couple of years especially, regarding trans people. It feels like there is a war on trans people and trans kids from sort of the political spectrum and I think that’s scary and it’s really sad. I think it becomes even more important to make sure everybody knows that they’re welcome, that they’re loved and that they should feel free to be whoever they want to be.”

Miller was born in Jacksonville and said he spent much of his early childhood moving around Florida because his dad was opening up new Ruby Tuesday restaurants. They eventually settled in Minnesota, where Miller would earn 2011 Gatorade Player of the Year honors after scoring 16 goals with 15 assists his senior year for Woodbury High School. After attending college at Creighton, Miller has played 12 seasons in MLS, scoring one career goal in 224 appearances.

“It’s OK to say I’m just a journeyman. I’ve played on a bunch of teams and played in a bunch of places,” he said. “Obviously, I don’t have a million followers and maybe don’t have access to as many people, but I think it’s still really important to show your values. And one of my values is acceptance and supporting the Pride community and being an ally.”

This article originally appeared on


The I-5 Corridor


.

— Tyson Alger

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