With MLS teams increasingly looking to South America for young talent in recent years, Cristhian Paredes was just one such arrival among many when he joined the Portland Timbers on loan from Mexican giants Club América over the winter.
He’s been turning heads in the Rose City ever since head coach Giovanni Savarese gave him a starting opportunity in central midfield at the beginning of the season, however, and his exploits have earned him the feature-story treatment from The Oregonian this week.
“I told [Savarese], 'Once I gain confidence, I think it's going to be hard to stop me,'” Paredes told the publication’s Jamie Goldberg. “Little by little, he gave me that. The last few games I feel a lot more confident. That's one thing with me, I really do feel when I'm confident that there's no stopping me.”
Read Goldberg’s full story to learn more about the young Paraguayan ahead of the Timbers’ national-television clash with LAFC on Saturday (3 pm ET | FOX – Full TV and streaming info).
