It's been a year full of change for the Portland Timbers, and this week brought the announcement of two more high-profile departures: Fanendo Adi's to Cincinnati, and much-loved longtime assistant coach Sean McAuely's to join James O'Connor's staff in Orlando.
Adi was celebrated last weekend, McAuley — a former Timbers player who has been with the club since midway through the 2012 season — will say goodbye this weekend before heading for Central Florida.
All the while, the Timbers continue to rack up points. Their unbeaten streak is up to 14 games in MLS, with the club's all-time record of 15, set five years ago, looming large ahead of Saturday night's clash with the Philadelphia Union at Providence Park (8:00 p.m., TV on KPDX).
The Opponent
Philadelphia enters this game in seventh place in the East, just a point behind New England for the conference's final playoff spot, and yet they remain, by most any measure, one of the league's most anonymous teams. They don't spend big, aren't all that visible in their market, and .
They have, however, been decent this year. They're in the U.S. Open Cup semifinals, and, clearly, within striking distance of a postseason return. They've accomplished all of this relying on young players, most notably an all-rookie starting center back duo in Austin Trusty and Mark McKenzie.
Their goalkeeper Andre Blake is one of the league's best, and they've found a striker in some amount of form 26-year-old Jamaican Cory Burke. Like most young teams, though, the Union have been inconsistent. They've already lost nine games by multiple goals — the Timbers have lost just one all season — and their defense can be overwhelmed.
Philadelphia's last outing, a week ago Wednesday night in Houston, resulted in a 3-1 win over the ten-man Dynamo. They've haven't played since then, though McKenzie did feature — along with Anthony Fontana and Matthew Real — in the MLS Homegrown Game on Tuesday night.
The Tactics
The Union play a fairly standard 4-2-3-1, with a skillful set of central midfielders in Haris Medunjanin and Alejandro Bedoya lining up behind four attacking players. Former Czech Republic international Borek Dockal is the DP playmaker, and while he made a slow start to life in MLS, he's shown flashes of late.
Giovani Savarese, meanwhile, largely concerned with the explosiveness of the Dynamo's front players, rolled the Timbers out in a back five at home for the first time last weekend against Houston. It worked well. Alberth Elis and Romell Quioto combined for an early goal, but were quiet from there on in.
The question now is whether the back five is, regardless of formation, the Timbers' best formation at this point. There are a couple of reasons why it might be. One is that Alvas Powell is astronomically better as a wingback than as a fullback. He was fantastic against Houston, and the Timbers don't have another wide player with his skillset.
The other reason is that Lawrence Olum, who has started seven straight games, fits much more smoothly in central defense than in central midfield. He plays largely the same game no matter his position, but he's on the ball less in defense, and sticking him there allows Diego Chara to line up centrally instead of wide.
Those are all good things. How they'll factor on Saturday night, however, is an open question.
The Timbers' lineup is something of a question mark at this point, with Sebastian Blanco suspended due to yellow card accumulation and Samuel Armenteros is still trying to get over the back injury that held him out and set up Fanendo Adi's fairytale farewell a week ago.
The Timbers have gotten themselves into trouble the last several weeks by conceding early goals. If they can play a clean game defensively, they should be comfortable.
The Lineup
1 - Attinella
16 - Valentin
18 - Cascante
33 - Mabiala
2 - Powell
13 - Olum
21 - Chara
11 - Polo
8 - Valeri (C)
27 - Asprilla
99 - Armenteros
— If Armenteros can't go, Asprilla will almost certainly play as a lone striker. Andrés Flores would then be a favorite to move into the starting lineup, with Jeremy Ebobisse likely available off the bench.
— Savarese said during the week that Liam Ridgewell could be nearing a return to the lineup, and with Julio Cascante coming off of high-profile errors in back-to-back weeks, now might be the time to reintegrate him.
The Memory
The Timbers won the first game between these clubs in Portland, all the way back on Opening Day of the 2012 season, 3-1. The goalscorers that day? Andrew Jean-Baptiste (goal & own goal), Kris Boyd, and Kalif Alhassan.
The Pick
The weekend after the All Star game is often an unusual one in MLS, but this is certainly a game that the Timbers should win. It'll finish 2-1.
