The Portland Timbers (7-6-4, 4th in West) and Timbers Army will undoubtedly make Providence Park an unpleasant place for the Seattle Sounders (9-6-2, 1st in West), when they travel to Oregon to renew one of Major League Soccer’s fiercest rivalries. Kickoff is 4 p.m. local time on Sunday, June 28.
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Seasons So Far
The Timbers’ campaign has been the definition of a roller coaster ride. They have a combination of veteran MLS talent and new, exciting players to be a deadly team in the West, but haven’t been able to string together multiple results. A perfect instance is this month of June. They won back-to-back 2-0 decisions at home against two solid teams in New England and Dallas to open up the month. But then they go on the road for a pivotal matchup with a fellow playoff contender in the LA Galaxy, and fall flat on their face, losing 5-0. Portland was showing promising form prior to that embarrassing loss, giving up one goal in four games, so maybe the Timbers will have a bounce back performance. This is a very important match and could dictate how the second half of their season unfolds.
Two things can be said about the 2015 Seattle Sounders. 1) They have one of the league’s best offenses. 2) They also have one of the league’s best defenses. Lead by one of the top strike duos in MLS, the Sounders have found the back of the net 23 times in 17 games, good for third in the league. Their backline have only given up 14 goals and the team owns an outstanding +9 goal differential, both tops of the league. The majority of the squad that won the West last season has returned and you can tell the players have good chemistry with one another. In recent weeks, the club has had to call on some of its depth players thanks to injuries and suspensions, but hasn’t skipped a beat.
FanSided
Players To Watch
POR – Fanendo Adi: The striker from Nigeria has been providing the brunt of the scoring for the Timbers. In this second year in the league, Adi has appeared in all 17 games for his club this year. At the beginning of the season, he was frequently in the starting eleven, but recently Caleb Porter has been using him off the bench. The 24-year-old made his manager look like a genius against the New England Revolution earlier this month. He was subbed in and broke a deadlock by scoring twice, giving his side the victory. All in a days work – or 23 minutes of work, depending on how you look at it.
SEA – Lamar Neagle: Manager Sigi Schmid appears to be counting on Neagle while a number of key forwards are out. He got the start at striker midweek, but failed to make much of an impact. The 28-year-old is used to being more of a defensive minded midfielder who can shutdown the opponent as well as start moves up the field, so it is an interesting selection by the manager. But it is not all doom and gloom for Seattle if Neagle gets the start. After all, he is leading the club in shots on goal and does have three goals this year. The hometown boy is also coming off a career-best nine goals in 2014.
POR – Will Johnson: One word that comes to mind when you think of Johnson is venerable. The Canadian captain perfectly embodies the Timbers Army motto of No Pity, with his uncompromising style of play in the centre of the park. He suffered a broken leg last year and has only made three appearances so far this season. For anyone familiar with the club or their captain, it will serve as no surprise that Portland has won all of the matches Johnson has played in. Moreover, the team kept clean sheets in all three of those games.
SEA – Darwin Jones: It is unlikely that the American will get a spot in the starting eleven and he may not even make an appearance, but keep an eye on him. The man from Chicago has ascended through the Sounders’ youth system, even spending time with Sounders II earlier this year. Despite only playing in four games for a total of 35 minutes, the 23-year-old has been active in the few chances he was given. He unleashed two shots last week, while trying to spark a comeback against the Philadelphia Union. Once again, keep an eye on him.
POR – Diego Chara: With Johnson missing for a long period of time, the Colombian has been logging some significant minutes. He’s an absolute workhorse on the pitch, never having been yanked from a match this season. In addition, he is not afraid to get into the trenches and take a beating for it. He has suffered a foul in all but one game in 2015. But he’s not going to be winning any Fair Play awards any time soon either – he has committed multiple fouls in every single match this year.
Head-To-Head
This will be the third of four meetings between the two Casacadian clubs in 2015, and the second of three in league play.
Seattle beat the Timbers in their first match in the league back in April. Thanks to that win, they are leading the Cascadia Cup standings with six points in two games. Vancouver is second with four points, while Portland has one point, coming in a scoreless draw with the Whitecaps in early May.
Portland would get some redemption though, when they went into Seattle earlier this month and came away with a stunning 3-1 extra time win in a match that saw the Sounders stagger across the finish line with seven men. The match was most notable for Clint Dempsey ripping the referee’s notebook in frustration after being cautioned in the 113th minute. (Skip to the 30 second mark to see the strange incident)
Injuries/Suspensions
The Timbers are as close to fully healthy as they’re going to get. The only players missing are midfielders Ben Zemanski (knee) and Dairon Asprilla (ankle), the latter of whom is expected to return very soon.
The same cannot be said for the Sounders, who have a number of key players out. Forwards Chad Barrett (hamstring) and Obafemi Martins (groin), tenacious midfielder Osvaldo Alonso (hamstring) and defender Andres Correa (hip) are all out for the game. Midfielder Gonzalo Pineda (knee) is listed as questionable and the status of Brad Evans, an important player on the backline, is uncertain due to a groin problem.
Liam Ridgewell of the Timbers is suspended for the match. He was rightfully given a red card for kicking out after being fouled in the closing minutes of a midweek loss to the LA Galaxy. Dempsey is also unavailable because he is still serving his three match ban for the incident mentioned above.
Officials
The league has assigned one of its top referees to the match. Jair Marrufo has been on the MLS staff since 2002 and on the FIFA staff for eight years now. Among the feathers in the 38-year-old Texan’s cap are more than 200 league matches, the 2008 Referee of the Year Award, and last year’s All-Star Game. He has also taken charge of matches at the Olympic Games, CONCACAF Gold Cups and U-17 World Cups.
Sounders Nation
The assistant referees are Peter Manikowski and Paul Scott. Alex Chilowicz is the fourth official.
Weather Report
The match will get underway at 4 p.m. Pacific time, which is 7 p.m. on the East Coast. It is expected to be very, very hot in Portland at game time, with temperatures possibly reaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 C). As the game wears on, it should cool off a bit…right?
Match Coverage
Since the match is being played on a Sunday, it will be shown nationally on Fox Sports 1. Timbers supporters can listen to the game on KXTG The Game (in English) and Sounders fans can tune in on KIRO 97.3 FM (English) or El Rey 1360 AM (Spanish).