In the midst of a huge Sunday for soccer in the U.S., the Portland Timbers will embark on another frenzied stretch of their 2019 schedule with a trip with to Yankee Stadium face MLS’s hottest team: New York City FC (3:30 p.m., TV on Fox Sports 1).
The Opponent
After Patrick Vieira departed for Nice last summer and was replaced by Dome Torrent, NYCFC was a shell of itself. They finished the season with two wins in their final ten games, got a Wild Card win against Philadelphia, and then were flattened 4-1 on aggregate by Atlanta in the Eastern Conference semifinal.
Torrent tinkered tactically, tinkered with his personnel, and turned what had been one of the league’s most cohesive, stylish teams under Vieira into something unrecognizable. This year seemed like it’d be more of the same, as it took NYC seven games to register their first win.
Since then, though, the Citizens have been electric. They’re 7-0-3 in their last ten and are unbeaten in 12 straight in league play, are atop the Eastern Conference on points-per-game, and have four games in hand on conference leader Philadelphia.
It’s been a remarkable turnaround, set up by Torrent’s settling on a system and his best players responding positivity to it. New York City beat Seattle 3-0 at home on Wednesday night, and, aside from Sean Johnson and Brazilian forward Heber, have all of their key players available for the game this weekend.
The Tactics
Torrent has mainly played a mobile, flexible 4-3-3 since James Sands got hurt, with Alex Ring anchoring the midfield, Maxi Moralez pulling the strings, and front three interchanging and generally making themselves difficult for opposing backlines to corral.
The central midfield on Sunday will be the area of the game to watch. Diego Chara played his best game of the season for Portland last weekend, and if he can smother Moralez like he did Paxton Pomekyl, NYC will struggle to create high-quality chances at the clip they have over the last few months.
The Timbers haven’t had much trouble creating chances themselves over the last month, and the (very) small field at Yankee Stadium should amplify the work that the likes of Brian Fernandez and Sebastian Blanco do off the ball to disrupt slow-building attacks.
Those small confines may also, however, limit the Timbers’ ability to get out in transition. There just isn’t all that much space to spread the field on the counter, and less ground to cover defensively.
As a rule, games at Yankee Stadium are unlike games anywhere else in the league. They tend to be tight and scattered, with any mistakes made in and around the boxes punished severely. Playing there week in and week out, NYCFC knows the bounces. It’s the Timbers, though, who have never lost there.
The Lineup
12 – Clark
16 – Valentin
18 – Cascante
33 – Mabiala
2 – Moreira
21 – Chara
22 – Paredes
10 – Blanco
8 – Valeri (C)
17 – Ebobisse
7 – Fernandez
— Jorge Villafaña exited the Dallas game hurt, and is likely out for this one. Valentin, fit again, will replace him.
— Bill Tuiloma remains out, while Jeff Attinella is questionable as well. If Attinella doesn’t make the trip, Aljaž Ivačič could make the bench for the first time.
The Memory
The last time the Timbers were at Yankee Stadium, Darren Mattocks pretty well retired Andrea Pirlo.
The Pick
As well as NYCFC are playing, this Timbers team is going to give them a test — and come away with a point. It’ll finish 2-2.
