Timbers, Fans Welcome Kris Boyd to Portland

The Portland Timbers and fans of the Timbers welcomed Kris Boyd to Portland February 21. The Scottish striker got into town later than had been hoped because of visa issues that had to be resolved, but all is well and he's now in the Rose City and ready to play.

"He obviously was brought here for one reason and one reason only, and that's to score goals," head coach John Spencer said in the press conference. "Last year we played in some games where we created a tremendous amount of chances but never really had No. 9 who could put the ball in the back of the net. We have a lot of guys who compliment Kris really well who can run the channels and create chances for him."

Key component for future success

That's the sweet part of the situation, because Spencer is right. There were far too many times last season when a good chance was created but not capitalized on. The Timbers' midfield is bringing more weapons to the pitch this season, and those created chances will only go up.

Jack Jewsbury, Diego Chara, Darlington Nagbe, Mike Chabala, Franck Songo'o - those are just some of the names that will be feeding forwards and helping to create chances. With Boyd being a legitimate high-caliber scoring threat, the field will open up all over. In situations where fans might have been left groaning last season after a decent chance wasn't converted, they will find themselves cheering for a great goal in 2012.

Goal machine

Boyd is the leading scorer in the history of the Scottish Premier League, racking up big numbers with the Glasgow Rangers. Incidentally, that's also a side John Spencer played for. Boyd is coming into Portland after a rather disappointing run with Esikehirspor of the Turkish Super Lig last year, and is keen on reinvigorating his career. Fans and the Timbers organization have high hopes that Portland is the place he does that.

There's a poll on the Timbers' website asking fans to guess how many goals Boyd will score over the 2012 season. Choices are 0-5, 5-10, 10-15, and 15+. So far, the leading vote is going to the 10-15, choice, with 15+ coming in second. I voted for 15+, and I think it's more than reasonable.

Jeff Musall became a fan of the Portland Timbers after moving to the area in 2001. He is excited about the second year as an MLS side and can't wait for the action to begin.

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