The Portland Timbers head to Ontario, Canada following back-to-back shutout victories. A 3-0 rout of the Vancouver Whitecaps and 6-0 drubbing of Guyana’s Alpha United in the CONCACAF Champions League. Saturday’s early morning, 10 AM PDT match against Toronto FC is about distance. Portland’s win over Vancouver put them into the fifth playoff spot in the West by two points. With the ‘Caps facing third place Real Salt Lake, it’s very possible that the Timbers could find themselves with a five point hold on fifth place. With Jermaine Defoe likely out, Portland must capitalize if they want to make the playoffs.
Everything seems to be clicking for the Timbers right now. They’re on a six game undefeated streak and three game winning streak across all competitions. Through those six matches, Portland has scored 21 times and allowed seven goals. Pretty good for such a leaky defense. In particular, Pa Modou Kah and Liam Ridgewell have looked great together of late. The insertion of Alvas Powell and Jorge Villafana has also helped in both attack and defense. I don’t see Toronto putting up multiple goals against Portland this week. Especially without Defoe.
As I’ve already mentioned twice, Jermaine Defoe won’t see the field Saturday. He has returned to practice, so it’s conceivable, but there’s no way he’s fit enough for this contest. In his place will be Gilberto, Luke Moore and former Timber Bright Dike. Gilberto and Moore are second and third in scoring with seven and six goals respectively. Dike has yet to score, but does have one shot on goal in his 19 minutes of playtime in 2014. Also out is the speedy Jackson due to suspension. This works well, especially as the Timbers are known to struggle against a fast attack.
This week’s most interesting matchup has to be Michael Bradley versus Will Johnson. American and Canadian midfielders fighting for clubs from each other’s country. To put them up against each other, WJ has six goals and two assists in 2014 while Bradley has one goal and two assists. After Will’s solid showing in CCL play, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get the best of Bradley and show up on the stat sheet. Plus, he’s from Toronto. You gotta show up to play in your hometown, right?
Projected Lineups:
Portland Timbers: Donovan Ricketts; Jorge Villafana, Liam Ridgewell, Pa Modou Kah, Alvas Powell; Will Johnson, Diego Chara; Rodney Wallace, Diego Valeri, Darlington Nagbe; Fanendo Adi
Toronto FC: Joe Bendik; Justin Morrow, Nick Hagglund, Steven Caldwell, Mark Bloom; Michael Bradley; Dominic Oduro, Daniel Lovitz; Jonathan Osorio; Luke Moore, Gilberto
(image courtesy of CONCACAF/Adrian Narine)
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