Losers of four straight and below the playoff red line for the first time in months, pressure is quickly mounting on the Portland Timbers to get their season back on track. Their opponent tonight at Providence Park? Defending MLS Cup champion Toronto FC (7:30 p.m., TV on ROOT Sports).
The Opponent
After storming through MLS last season en route to their the first ever MLS Cup, Toronto has endured a nightmarish title defense this year.
The Reds suffered a devastating loss in the CONCACAF Champions League final on penalties to Chivas at the end of April, around which time they lost a number of key contributors, including Jozy Altidore, Drew Moor, and Victor Vazquez, to longterm injuries.
The physical and emotional toll of the Champions League run, in addition to the absences, was apparent through the spring and early summer in league play. Toronto won just four MLS games before July 21, digging themselves the huge hole that they now need to escape to salvage their season.
The good news is that, in the last month, TFC have often looked like the what very likely was the best team in North America in the last two years. They won the Voyager's Cup in style over Vancouver, and crushed Montreal last Saturday at BMO Field.
The Tactics
In most situations, an Eastern Conference team playing midweek on the West Coast before a crucial Saturday home game would punt on the midweek trip. Toronto, six points off the red line with ten games to play, doesn't quite have that luxury.
Greg Vanney will likely be cautious with a quartet of banged up starters that includes Sebastian Giovinco, but Altidore, returning from a two game ban, will be available. TFC have favored a 4-3-1-2 in recent weeks, compact at the back, and dangerous in transition.
It'll be a variation of the same plan that Vancouver and Seattle used to win in Portland. Whether Vanney picks a strong enough team to pull it off, or whether the Timbers can break them down, remains to be seen.
It also remains to be seen how much the Timbers will have in the tank. They played a grueling game on Sunday — a game which they appeared to tire down the stretch of — and have a day less rest than Toronto heading into tonight.
But the importance of this game, especially considering the losing streak, it seems unlikely that Giovani Savarese will rest any key players, or, given the strength of the performance between the boxes against Seattle, make any drastic tactical changes. His team is simply going to have to gut it out.
A fast start would go a long way in helping them do just that: the Timbers haven't held a lead since the Philadelphia game at the start of the month, and this task will get much easier if TFC has to commit numbers forward.
The Lineup
1 - Attinella
16 - Valentin
24 - Ridgewell
33 - Mabiala
2 - Powell
13 - Olum
21 - Chara
11 - Polo
10 - Blanco
8 - Valeri (C)
99 - Armenteros
— For the first time since they were re-acquired, Jorge Villafaña and Lucas Melano will be available. If Villafaña doesn't start tonight, expect him to play Saturday at New England.
— Larrys Mabiala is fit as well, and a lock to start. Ridgewell on three days rest next to him would be a big call, but the former captain has played so little this year that he might be in contention.
— If Ridgewell isn't involved, Julio Cascante — who played one of his better games of the season on Sunday night despite his decisive own goal — would likely get the nod. Bill Tuiloma hasn't started a game since June 2.
— With Melano likely taking a place on the bench, either or Cristhian Paredes or David Guzmán could be dropped from the 18 entirely.
The Memory
Toronto's last visit to Portland, on May Day, 2016, ended 2-1 to the Timbers — a thrilling game decided chiefly by heroics from Diego Valeri and Jake Gleeson.
The Pick
It's a hard game to call. Both teams seem equally capable of winning and losing it. We're going to see, certainly, what this Timbers team is made of. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, by two goals to one.
