Shortly after the Portland Timbers win the MLS Cup on Sunday, head coach Caleb Porter said some tough roster decisions would have to be made this winter.
Now, we apparently know one of them.
The Timbers are on the verge of selling stout left back Jorge Villafana to Liga MX outfit Santos Laguna, SI.com reported on Tuesday. The transfer for the 26-year-old veteran, who won the initial Sueno MLS competition, will be just south of $1 million.
Villafana had an impressive 2015 campaign with the Timbers that he just capped with a strong showing in the club’s 2-1 win over the Columbus Crew in the MLS Cup Final. Villafana turned in a 90-minute shift in the championship bout and shut down Crew winger Ethan Finlay en route to earning consideration for the MLS Cup MVP award, which was won by Diego Valeri.
This season, Villafana started in each of the 33 regular season games he appeared in. He had one goal and five assists in those matches.
If Villafana makes the move, he could face off against a familiar foe in the LA Galaxy in the opening months of 2016. Santos Laguna is set to take on the Galaxy in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League, with the first leg being played in late February.
What do you think of this development? How do you see him faring in Liga MX?
Share your thoughts below.
Kid reminds me of Chamot. Klinsmann should take a look at this kid.
Anything to get one less man-bun in MLS. And he might have the worst one. Make the man-bun stop now.
Another Orange County lad making big moves. Anaheim.
The good thing is that he’ll be headed to Liga MX where the fans won’t be tossing bottles of beer at him when he scores. Stay classy, MLS fans.
Lol do you honestly think they don’t throw things in Liga MX?
Were you going for irony here?
More of a vindication. Fans on this site vilify other nationalities a bit too much when it comes to the classless behavior from a minority of fans. Just an example that jerks are equally parsed out across national boundaries and their actions shouldn’t be used as an excuse to disguise xenophobic comments to speak poorly of the entirety of a country’s population. Hope that this incident will help dissuade those comments and instead focus the conversation on cracking down on unruly fans, regardless of their nationality.
Nationality has nothing to do with behavior. One’s worldview and cultural norms have quite a bit to do with behavior.
It comes down to regulation and whether or not there are consequences to specific behaviors. The premier league was able to eliminate its hooligan problem in the stadiums because they made it almost impossible to get away with unsavory behaviors in the stands. Even a person throwing as small an object as a coin can be identified through cameras and banned from attending another match. Worldview or cultural norms? I don’t think so. The EPL shows that what fueled the hooliganism at the stadiums was the belief that the crowd will conceal an individual’s abhorrent behavior. Make it tough to remain anonymous in a crowd at a stadium and attach a real consequence like them not being able to attend another soccer match and the poor behavior can be curbed. Unfortunately, that’s why hooligans moved to the lower leagues where teams and stadiums don’t provide the same level of scrutiny and security to identify them. But if MLS and Concacaf in general are to start eliminating that behavior from stadiums, it isn’t going to be by addressing cultural norms. How different is the worldview of a person from Columbus, Ohio and one from Liverpool truly? If they’re drunk and think they can get away with yelling racist remarks/throwing stuff/etc, then they’ll keep doing it until its clear they can’t get away with it. You won’t affect their racism (cultural norm) or petulance when drunk, but at least they won’t be getting away with it at a public, televised venue.
Yes, worldview and cultural norms and values of the individuals. You are talking about institutional security and discipline regarding fan behavior and I am talking about root causes of an individual’s behavior. Clearly, we are not communicating here because we aren’t even in the same book.
Clearly. Better to not take measures and blame individual’s “cultural norms” potentially leading to lumping people into “us and them” stereotypes as exemplified in these threads, instead of creating an environment that triggers a critical mass towards a shared, agreed upon convivial behavior through specific, actionable measures that curb violent, disruptive behavior? Yep, definitely not on the same page. Group think and mob behavior cuts across cultural norms and is instead enabled by the immediate surrounding events in the moment, not an individual’s personal norms or worldview. Just ask the upstanding citizen who picks up a rock when they see everyone else around them picking them up and hurling them at others. It’s mob mentality and the anonymity of the group that helps trigger that behavior. Check out the studies.
@usa122: Remind me what El Tri fans (and several other clubs within LigaMX) yell when the opposing goal keeper kicks the ball?
Reputations are earned and any denial is an attempt to deflect.
Santos is a good organization. Bummed to see good talent leave MLS, though.
1 Million USD is too low for a good player. How long does he have left on his contract? Portland should hold out for 1.5 – 2 Million.
Johnny B is playing consistently well these days …
He earned it! At this point, Liga MX is a step-up, and Santos are a big time team. Congratulations to him.
Cap Him!
realistically El Tri has more than enough LB options.. so not too worried about that but sounds like he could be helpful for the USMNT.
Yep, Layun is looking like a top 5 LB in the world with Porto and Torres Nilo starts for the best team in Liga MX so there is no reason for Mexico to look for other LB options, if Jorge can deliver with Santos that could solve our problems in that position.
He’s amazing. Humble, hardworking player. As a left footed defender, I aim to play like him. I hope he makes good money & plays for the senior USMNT. Hate to lose him, but it will be good in the long run.
VIllafana has looked right at home playing exclusively at LB. I would love to see him get a run out with the US. I think he’s earned it and he looked quite good in the MLS Final/
Nothing wrong with that. A Mexican-American player choosing to play for a very strong team in Mexico.
I wonder if it is that or it’s an issue of money.
As a Timbers fan, I hate it. He brought such quality and class, day-in and day-out. I know it’s business and we sold him for a lot of cash, but he will be missed. Had wished the rumors of a just a loan were true, but a full blown sale hit me in the gut. I only hope Jorge is happy about it.