



This piece is part of our “State of the Team” series, previewing each MLS squad ahead of the 2020 season. Read the other teams’ stories here.



The first question to Timbers coach Giovanni Savarese at the beginning of the club’s media day wasn’t about how he spent his offseason, or his team-building strategy. It didn’t have to do with transfer rumors involving a pair of new forwards, or how those acquisitions might fit with Savarese’s preferred style of play.



Gio, a reporter asked to kick off the Q&A, what is up with that beard?



Savarese broke into a wide grin above a chin full of graying whiskers.



“I knew somebody was going to ask that,” Savarese said. “It’s been two years in Portland, so I have adapted.”



Yes, the Savarese era really is just two years old, although it feels as though it’s been much longer than that. The past two seasons have contained...