Playoffs For The Portland Timbers May Come Down To The Last Day Of Games

The soccer gods came to the Portland Timbers’ aid this last Saturday, after a nail-biting 2-1 win over Columbus Crew at Mapfre Stadium in Ohio. With the win, the Timbers are now 12-10-8 ( W-L-D) for 44 points with 30 games played thus far. There are only four games left in the regular season and the Timbers are currently sitting in sixth place, a point below fifth placed Sporting Kansas City and a point above seventh placed San Jose Earthquakes. Moreover, the Timbers will need the soccer gods to smile down on them once more on Saturday night. They will play host to Sporting KC, who are looking to jump ahead to second place and tied on points with the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Last year, the Timbers failed to make the playoffs. If the rules and structure of the league were the same as in 2014, they would currently be below the red line again. A year ago, the MLS only had 19 teams; 10 teams in the East and nine teams in the West. With the current structure and addition of expansion teams, there are now 10 teams in each conference. We saw Orlando City FC and New York City FC added as well as the Chivas USA franchise being discontinued. As a result of these changes, the Houston Dynamos and Sporting KC came to the Western Conference and all the new teams were added to the Eastern Conference. Sporting KC, who has reach the MLS playoffs in the last three years, will come knocking for a fourth consecutive berth, but how will the Timbers answer?

With the season coming to a conclusion this month, the Timbers’ last opponent of the regular season will be the struggling Colorado Rapids. Currently, they are last place in the table and have one of the worst records in the MLS thus far. However, one reason why I love the MLS so much, is because despite their record (8-10-12), they could still finish above the red line and earn themselves a playoff spot. This goes to show how competitive the league has become. However, this miracle can only happen if they win out the rest of their games.

The Timbers’ last four games will be split between home and away, starting with Sporting KC on Saturday. Following that game, they will have a week off from play and will resume playing Wednesday the following week, away against a struggling Real Salt lake team. Despite their unimpressive form lately, Real Salt Lake can still pose a problem for the Timbers. In a matchup between the two a few weeks ago, we saw the Timbers coming away with a crucial 1-0 win in the 90^th minute of play. Nat Bouchers would return to Rio Tinto Stadium in Utah to haunt his old team after scoring in the dying-moments of that close game. Following that Wednesday, the Timbers will then travel to face the mighty LA Galaxy and will hope not to relive the nightmare they experienced at the StubHub Center the last time these two teams met. The LA Galaxy creamed the Timbers 5-0, which is their biggest loss of the season to this point. I’m sure that all Timbers fans will hope that history doesn’t repeat itself for this one. Especially now with the additions of Steven Gerard and Giovanni dos Santos to this already deadly LA attack. With playing two road games back-to-back, head coach Caleb Porter will have to be clever with how he goes about his lineups for both games. This is that time of the season when fatigue and injuries starts to plague players. Then comes the dreadful last day of games for every team. Luckily for the Timbers, they will face a less difficult Colorado team at Providence Park – advantage Timbers!

When its all said and done, the Timbers have their fate in their own hands. If they could get a result on the road starting with Real Salt lake (which they should on paper), this will definitely give the players some confidence heading to LA. However, we should not get ahead of ourselves and should take each game one at a time, starting with Sporting KC on Saturday. I believe the Timbers will make the playoffs, but the higher up the table they can progress, the better their advantages. I don’t think coming in at sixth place will do them much good as history has shown, because this would cause them to travel away for the opening games of playoffs. This will definitely be an exciting month for the Timbers and their fans!