Cristhian Paredes sat quietly in a restaurant in Tucson, Arizona listening to the rest of his Portland Timbers teammates make jokes and laugh loudly as they enjoyed their dinner.

It was the last week of January and Paredes had just joined the Timbers from Mexican side Club America. The 19-year-old Paraguayan midfielder was one of the youngest players in the room, and one of the few that didn't speak any English.

Across the table, the club's only other 19-year-old, Marco Farfan, recognized how overwhelmed Paredes might be feeling in that moment. He made an immediate effort to start a conversation.

"We're obviously both the youngest players on the team and we both speak Spanish," Farfan said. "As soon as he got here, I just wanted to make him feel welcome."

Over the last two months, Farfan and Paredes have developed a close-knit friendship. As roommates on the club's second trip to Arizona in February, they bonded over movie marathons and giving each other a hard time about their favorite Mexican soccer teams -- Farfan is a die-hard fan of Pumas UNAM, which is the rival of Paredes' former team Club America.

The two youngsters have also been able to lean on each other as they've dealt with similar experiences on the field this season.

While the two 19-year-olds took different paths to the Timbers, they are now both fighting to prove themselves and solidify spots in the starting lineup. Both players were in the starting 11 when the Timbers faced the LA Galaxy in their 2018 season opener, marking the first time that the MLS Timbers have started multiple players under the age of 20 in a regular season game.

"The friendship with Marco has been important because we're kind of on the same page in terms of getting in tune with all our teammates," said Paredes through an interpreter. "I enjoy playing with him and it's just good to have him around."

Marco Farfan surveys the field at the Portland Timbers training facility in Beaverton, Oregon.

Since that first team dinner, Paredes has grown a lot more comfortable in his new environment and around his new teammates, which has been critical to his development on the field.

Farfan said that Paredes has become one of the most outgoing players in the locker room and is constantly cracking jokes and fooling around when the two of them are off the field. While many of the older players on the team are focused on their families and children, the two teenagers have similar interests, which has made it easy for them to bond.

"He doesn't talk about things that the older guys would talk about, so I feel more comfortable telling him some stuff," Farfan said.

While the language barrier remains a challenge for Paredes, having a bilingual friend in Farfan has also helped to ease his transition. Farfan recently took Paredes and Timbers midfielder Andres Flores out to go bowling and get dinner in Portland.

"It's very difficult if you don't speak English to just go anywhere in this city because you don't find a lot of people that speak Spanish," said Paredes through an interpreter. "Marco has taken me out to places and this is just a beautiful city."

Paredes grew up in Yaguaron, Paraguay and turned pro with Paraguayan side Sol de America in 2016. The talented central midfielder moved on to Club America the following year, but mostly featured with the club's second team during his time in Mexico. He joined the Timbers this season hoping to challenge himself in a new country and continue to evolve as a player.

A native of Portland, Farfan moved up the ranks in the Timbers academy system before signing with the club ahead of the 2017 season. He holds the distinction of being the first-ever Timbers academy product to sign with the first team. After making six appearances in his first season with Portland and earning a spot on the MLS Team of the Week last April, Farfan entered the 2018 season with the ambitious goal of claiming the starting role at left back.

While Paredes and Farfan are both in tough positional battles this season, the two players have earned spots in the starting lineup for three out of Portland's four games so far this year and both impressed in their most recent outing against the Chicago Fire last week.

And as they continue to fight for minutes on the field, they'll have each other to lean on for support.

"I feel like our relationship off the field really helps us on the field," Farfan said.

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg