Portland Timbers coach Caleb Porter and his coaching staff talked at length before deciding which players to name to the starting lineup for Tuesday's CONCACAF Champions League match against CD Olimpia in Honduras.

The Timbers wanted to put themselves in a good position to win Tuesday's CONCACAF Champions League game and advance in the tournament, while also putting themselves in the best position to beat FC Dallas on Saturday to have an opportunity to possibly make the MLS Cup Playoffs.

"We didn't want to sacrifice either thing, so we put out a strong lineup, the strongest lineup we played in CCL," Porter said. "But we also didn't want to be chewed up and have to sacrifice an opportunity to get in the MLS Cup Playoffs."

Porter had played more of a second lineup in Portland's first three CONCACAF Champions League matches and the Timbers had won all three games. The Timbers needed only to avoid losing by more than one goal Tuesday to advance to next spring's knockout round of the CONCACAF Champions League.

Porter decided he needed to put out a stronger lineup than he had used in previous CONCACAF Champions League matches, so he inserted some regular starters like Liam Ridgewell, Jorge Villafana and Rodney Wallace into the lineup. But Porter also felt that he needed to keep some players well rested for Saturday's match against FC Dallas, so he chose not to start other key regular starters like Diego Valeri, Darlington Nagbe and Diego Chara.

Things didn't go as planned in Honduras, as the Timbers fell 3-1 to CD Olimpia and were eliminated from the CONCACAF Champions League.

"The way that we approached it didn't go as planned, but I think it was the right way to approach it," Porter said. "I think in terms of priority, (Major League Soccer) will always be slightly ahead of the (CONCACAF) Champions League."

Porter's decision not to start his absolute best lineup Tuesday irked some Timbers fans. The Timbers controlled their own destiny in the CONCACAF Champions League, while, even if Portland beats FC Dallas Saturday, they still wouldn't earn a berth to the MLS Cup Playoffs unless the Vancouver Whitecaps lose or draw against the seventh-place Colorado Rapids later Saturday night.

Still, Porter said he didn't think he "could live with" himself if the Timbers failed to put their best foot forward against Dallas and do whatever they could to put themselves in a position to make the MLS Cup Playoffs.

"We don't control our destiny, but we're also only one point below the red line," Porter said. "If we win and Vancouver ties or loses, it means we're in the playoffs. If we had just decided to play a starting group (against Olimpia), there still would have been no guarantee that we would have got the result and then we wouldn't have had fresh guys for the next game."

The Timbers had already managed to use a second lineup to beat CD Olimpia 4-2 at Providence Park in Portland on Sept. 16. After the Timbers performance in their first three CONCACAF Champions League games, Porter said he had no reason to believe that rotating the lineup once again would hinder Portland's ability to get a result.

But the Timbers quickly fell behind 2-0 to Olimpia on Tuesday after Olimpia forward Romell Quioto scored on a lofted bicycle kick in the third minute and forward Anthony Lozano managed to get behind Portland's defense and tap a cross into the back of the net in the fourth minute.

"The first goal, it's a wonder goal, it's just out of nowhere," Porter said. "He just blindly hits it over his head and it just bounces off the crossbar and goes in. That's just the way it goes sometimes. Second one, we could have done better on the cross."

With his team down 2-0 and risking elimination at halftime, Porter made the decision to insert Valeri into the match. He then inserted attacking players Nagbe and Fanendo Adi into the game later in the half.

But Portland's top attacking players couldn't prevent the Timbers from losing 3-1. Despite finishing tied with CD Olimpia with nine points in the group, Portland was eliminated from the tournament because Olimpia scored one more away goal over the two games in which the two teams played each other.

"Ultimately we did really well and you can see we took it seriously and you can see that it mattered and you can see that we wanted to get out of the group," Porter said. "Anyone who questions that doesn't know what they're talking about because, if you look at our lineup, it was a strong lineup."

Three of the five MLS teams that competed in this year's CONCACAF Champions League failed to advance to next spring's championship stage. The MLS teams that advanced, D.C. United and the Montreal Impact, had both already locked up their spots in the MLS standings before their final CONCACAF Champions League games and were able to focus their full energy on the tournament.

After failing to advance in the CONCACAF Champions League, the Timbers arrived in Dallas Wednesday to begin to prepare for Saturday's match against FC Dallas. Seven players that are expected to start in Saturday's game against Dallas did not start in Tuesday's game.

"In the end we fell short, but the nice thing is we move on from that and we've got seven guys that are rested," Porter said. "There will be a few guys that have to get turned around, but we're in a great position now. That was the goal all along, to try to win (Tuesday's) game with a good lineup, but either way, win or lose, we knew we would have rested legs for (Saturday's) game."

-- Jamie Goldberg | @jamiebgoldberg