Liam Ridgewell joined the Portland Timbers in 2014 with the expectation that he would be a central figure within the club. He hoped to use his experience and leadership on the backline to help the Timbers compete for championships.

That's exactly how things played out over Ridgewell's first three and a half years in Portland. In 2015, the veteran center back started to wear the captain's armband for the first time and played a critical role in leading the Timbers to the MLS Cup title.

But things have been different for Ridgewell this season.

After Portland lost in back-to-back games to open 2018 with Ridgewell wearing the captain's armband, Timbers coach Giovanni Savarese made the decision to bench the 34-year-old for four-straight matches. Ridgewell then lost his starting position again due to an injury in June and went 13-straight games without making the 18. Injuries and the time he spent away from the team around the birth of daughter contributed to Ridgewell's extended absence, but Savarese also deliberately chose to leave him out the lineup during that 13-game stretch.

It wasn't until two months ago that Ridgewell finally fought his way back into the starting 11.

"It's probably been one of the worst seasons I've had in my playing career," Ridgewell said. "I wanted to be playing. That's why I came over here to play every single game. It wasn't meant to be at the start of the season, but I've come back in and we've kept clean sheets and we've played well and won games. That's all I can do."

Ridgewell quickly solidified himself as Portland's best center back after joining the Timbers in 2014. He still remains arguably the club's top defender, which has made his absences this year particularly puzzling at times.

Since the first two games of the season, the Timbers have conceded just seven goals and earned six clean sheets in 11 games with Ridgewell in the lineup. Ridgewell, who has started in seven of the last 10 games, anchored the backline last week as the Timbers clinched a playoff berth with a 3-0 win over Real Salt Lake. And the Timbers have conceded an impressive 0.79 goals per 90 minutes when Ridgewell has started alongside fellow veteran center back Larrys Mabiala.

While Savarese has never gone into detail about his reasons for keeping Ridgewell out of the lineup at times this year, he initially benched Ridgewell after the veteran was criticized for a lack effort in a game against the New York Red Bulls. Savarese implied that Ridgewell is now finding success because he is bought-in.

"His participation has been very important because he's been engaged," Savarese said. "He's played a very good level. His communication has been fantastic, making sure we keep the line where we want. His quality on the ball has always been very good and now even better because he's 100 percent engaged."

After a difficult season, Ridgewell is trying to look forward.

Following a long career in the English Premier League, Ridgewell was introduced to a playoff format when he joined MLS. Now he is preparing for his third playoff run and is focused on doing whatever he can to lead the Timbers to success in the postseason.

"Obviously, at the start of the season, I wasn't playing and toward the end of the season, I've slotted in there and kept a lot of clean sheets, which has been great," Ridgewell said. "We feel comfortable back there and we know we can defend against any team in the league, so that's a massive confidence boost."

But with the regular season coming to a close, it's hard not to think about Ridgewell's future with the Timbers. Ridgewell played in fewer than half of Portland's games in both 2016 and 2017 due to injuries before being benched by Savarese for a stretch of games this year.

Ridgewell said that his contract with the Timbers runs through the end of 2019, which was not publicly known up until this point. His expectation right now is that he will be back with the Timbers next year.

But he also said that he will need to have conversations with Savarese and Timbers General Manager and President of Soccer Gavin Wilkinson in the offseason to see where the club sees him fitting in moving forward. He will have to talk with his family as well. Ridgewell's wife, Francesca, and infant daughter, Apollonia, live with him in Lake Oswego and the family feels settled in Portland. But Ridgewell also has two other children, Luca and Eva, that live with their mother in England.

"I think it will be a conversation that we sit down at the end of the season and look how the team wants to go, the club wants to go and decide from there," Ridgewell said. "The whole point of me coming over was to play games and make sure the club won games and try to play in every single game. Injuries, I can't help, but when I'm fit and playing, I want to play. It will just be a conversation between me and Gio. We're adults and we've been around the football scene long enough that we can sit down and be honest with each other."

But those looming conversations are not at the forefront of Ridgewell's mind at the moment.

Back in the lineup, he knows he has an important role to play for the Timbers, who are gearing up for Sunday's regular season finale and preparing for the start of playoffs next week.

"If it's deemed not to be, then it's not to be, but I love the club and I want to keep playing for the club," said Ridgewell about his future in Portland. "Main thing right now is to concentrate on the playoffs and try and go and win another MLS cup. Then, we'll sit down at the end of the season and discuss our options."

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg