Two Saturdays ago, it was all hands on deck for a huge Portland Timbers home game against Sporting Kansas City. But the Timbers lost 1-0, and over the last week and a half, increasingly sharp questions have come the way of a team and coach who find themselves on the wrong side of the red line with just three games to go in the 2015 MLS season.
The Timbers close with Colorado at home and play at Los Angeles on Sunday, but first up in the final push for the playoffs is Real Salt Lake in Sandy, Utah at 6:30 on Wednesday night. Portland needs the points, but RSL also has plenty to gain—they’d tie both the Timbers and San Jose Earthquakes in the standings with a win.
The History
Portland’s rivalry with Real Salt Lake, the only rivalry in the club’s history born of anything other than geography, was an MLS gem in 2013. The two clubs, under stylish young managers, were committed to playing good soccer and winning without big-name stars.
That rivalry, needless to say, has dimmed. The Timbers are far from the lofty rhetoric and lofty offense of Caleb Porter’s first season, while Real Salt Lake is on the verge of missing the playoffs for the first time in eight years they try to regenerate a roster and a tactical setup that is advancing in age.
But while Portland-RSL games might have lost some of their recent luster, that doesn’t mean they haven’t been dramatic. Both the 0-0 draw on opening day at Providence Park and the Timbers’ 1-0 win at the Rio Tinto Stadium in August were tight, intense encounters. Nat Borchers’ stoppage time winner, against his former team, in that 1-0 game might be the Timbers’ moment of the season.
RSL also knocked the Timbers out of the US Open Cup in Utah in July, and traditionally, the Timbers have had trouble playing at the Rio Tinto.
The Tactics
The Timbers have a serious injury concern in central midfield, where the suddenly-vital Jack Jewsbury picked up an injury in training last Thursday and is questionable for this game. Will Johnson still isn’t training fully, and so if Jewsbury can’t go, George Fochive will likely get the nod next to Diego Chara in the middle of the park.
The Chara-Fochive partnership has had mixed results this year, but we haven’t seen it since April when Fochive only lasted 45 minutes in as the Timbers were thoroughly beaten at home by expansion side Orlando City. Figuring out the balance of the midfield, something the Timbers didn’t do against Orlando, will be key.
Portland’s back-five will remain the same—Borchers has played RSL tough in the few games he’s had against them, even disregarding his winner in the last meeting—and the attack will likely remain the same too. It’s possible that Lucas Melano could come back into the starting lineup at Rodney Wallace’s expense after a long period of training, but Porter hasn’t given the impression that he’s completely comfortable with Melano yet in crucial situations.
Kyle Beckerman went 120 minutes for the United States on Saturday night in their CONCACAF Cup loss to Mexico, but he’s been back with RSL since Sunday and should start. Same goes for goalkeeper Nick Rimando. Salt Lake has been better, especially at home, since the addition of Argentine DP Juan Manuel Martinez.
The Lineup
12 – Kwarasey
2 – Powell
24 – Ridgewell (C)
7 – Borchers
19 – Villafaña
5 – Fochive
21 – Chara
22 – Wallace
8 – Valeri
6 – Nagbe
9 – Adi
The Pick
As important as this game is to Portland, it’s even more important to Real Salt Lake. They have to win to keep their season alive. The Timbers have been good bouncing back from losses in the Caleb Porter era, but, as has been the story for both of these teams all season, this match will finish as a decent but unsatisfactory 1-1 draw.
