Abe Asher

Portland Timbers/USA Today Sports The Portland Timbers, winners of five straight games, traveled to Colorado on Saturday night to face a Rapids team on the other side of that coin — losers of five straight. With two marquee home matches upcoming to open June, having just played two against Seattle and LA, it might have […]

Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers Winners of five straight games, the Portland Timbers are up to third place in the Western Conference back on the road this weekend for a first meeting of the season with the moribund, bottom-of-the-league Colorado Rapids in Commerce City, CO (6:00 p.m., TV on KPDX) The Opponent The Rapids hired a new […]

Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers The biggest testament to Diego Chara’s abilities as a soccer player is what happens to his team when he’s not on the field. The stat has become ubiquitous over the last year, but any discussion of the midfielder has to start with it: in their last seventeen games without Chara, the Portland […]

Sam Ortega/Portland Timbers For a May game in Major League Soccer, this was about as good as it gets. For 90-plus minutes on Saturday afternoon at Providence Park, the Portland Timbers and Los Angeles FC went toe-to-toe — combining for 31 shots, six yellow cards, three lead changes, and two world class goals. It was […]

Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers Winners of three straight, having gone more than a month without conceding a goal, the Portland Timbers are primed as they head into one of their biggest tests of the season on Saturday: a nationally-televised showdown with high-flying expansion side Los Angeles FC at Providence Park (12:00 p.m., TV on FOX). The […]

Troy Wayrynen/USA TODAY Sports The week leading up to the 100th edition of the greatest rivalry in American soccer, Portland Timbers against Seattle Sounders, was a celebration. The 100th edition itself, played Sunday in scorching heat at Providence Park, was not. Instead, and fittingly, it was a proper rivalry match: tight, physical, frustrating, exhausting, scoreless […]

Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers All games between the Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders are occasions unto themselves, but Sunday’s meeting — the first of 2018 — will have an air of history to it. Dating back to their first contest on May 2, 1975, at Civic Stadium in Portland, the Timbers and Sounders have played 99 […]

Portland Timbers Diego Valeri had missed three straight passes in the attacking half of the field when he stepped up to a central free kick won by Timbers substitute Samuel Armenteros, just more than 20 yards from goal, with the clock ticking towards 90 minutes and the game on his right foot. You know what […]

Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers With the benefit of a week off to recharge after their blockbuster 3-0 win over New York City, the Portland Timbers are back on the road on Saturday night in San Jose, CA to face the struggling Earthquakes (7:30 p.m., TV on KPDX). The Opponent It’s been a difficult start to life […]

Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers All of the sudden, after six sputtering performances to begin the Giovani Savarese era, the Portland Timbers put it all together on a fabulous spring Sunday afternoon at Providence Park — and, in the process, walloped MLS’s best team in fairly spectacular fashion. The Timbers shut out previously-undefeated New York City FC […]

Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers got their first win of the season in their home debut last weekend against Minnesota United, but the degree of difficulty will be ratcheted up on Sunday afternoon when league-leading New York City comes calling (3:00 p.m., TV on Fox Sports 1). The Opponent It’s hard to overstate how […]

Sam Ortega/Portland Timbers The 2018 Portland Timbers are still deeply flawed. But they aren’t winless anymore. In try number six, seven years to the day after they first took the field at Providence Park in MLS play, the Timbers saw off Minnesota United by a razor thin three goals to two for their first victory […]