With their backs against the wall last weekend in Columbus, the Portland Timbers delivered a gutsy 2-1 win to stay in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race. On Saturday night at 7:30, Caleb Porter’s team returns home to Providence Park for their penultimate game of the season against newly crowned US Open Cup champion Sporting Kansas City.
The Timbers and Sporting are currently separated by a single point, and with the margins in the West already razor thin to begin with, this is the biggest game of the season to date. For Portland, there’s added incentive: After an up-and-down season, the chance to reclaim a true home-field advantage and put together the kind of run that would make this a fall to remember in the Rose City.
The History
Portland and Sporting Kansas City played less than a month ago, on a Wednesday night in early September when the Timbers generated chance after chance and, due to the play of SKC goalkeeper Tim Melia and the finishing yips of Fanendo Adi and Lucas Melano, failed to score in a 0-0 draw.
In 180 minutes of soccer between these two sides this year, there have been no goals. Both of the previous meetings in this series have produced tight, intense, physical games, and with so much at stake on Saturday night, neither side is expecting anything different.
Sporting, though, are coming into this match on the back of a grueling penalty shootout win in the US Open Cup Final on Wednesday in Philadelphia, which carried with it the plenty of champagne and a stop back home to celebrate the team’s third trophy in the last four years.
Portland has to hope that Kansas City is simply too worn down to bring the level of effort they’ve used to great success at Providence Park every time they’ve visited under Peter Vermes.
The Tactics
It was a late September game in 2013 when Caleb Porter decided to go to his veterans, Futty Danso and Jack Jewsbury, to right a wobbling ship and try to pinch a win against Colorado on a Friday night at Jeld-Wen Field.
The result was a 1-0 win for Portland, and that core group of players — including Futty and Jack — wouldn’t lose again until the Western Conference Final. There was certainly a sense in Porter’s team selection at Columbus that it was the same type of mindset in the same type of game. The lineup against the Crew emphasized experience, effort, and attitude—and Porter isn’t about to move away from that. Not now.
With Will Johnson undergoing a minor knee operation, Jewsbury is an automatic starter for the time being. Wallace is set to keep Melano out of the team as well. Darlington Nagbe was sensational in Ohio, and he needs to bring the same type of drive to this match. If Adi can keep his scoring boots on too, the Timbers will be in good shape.
Sporting is thin in central midfield, where Paulo Nagamura is suspended, Roger Espinoza is hurt, Amobi Okugo seems to be MIA, and Soni Mustivar picked up a knock in the Open Cup game. Benny Feilhaber might have to drop deep, and while KC will be organized, fatigue has gotten to them in recent past in a late-season playoff run. The Timbers should put them on the back foot early and often here.
The Lineup
12 – Kwarasey
2 – Powell
24 – Ridgewell (C)
7 – Borchers
19 – Villafaña
13 – Jewsbury
21 – Chara
22 – Wallace
6 – Nagbe
8 – Valeri
9 – Adi
The Pick
This team has been impossible to predict all year. But it was impossible not to be heartened by the display from the Timbers last weekend. In a hard fought match, they’ll beat Sporting KC 2-0.
