Kickoff: 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill.
TV/radio: ROOT Sports (Cable Ch. 34/734) / AM 750
Where they stand: Portland has 5 wins, 1 loss and 7 ties and sits third in the West; Chicago (3-7-2) sits eighth in the East.
Head to head: The Timbers have won all three matches between the clubs, outscoring the Fire 8-3. This is the only league game this season between the teams.
Timbers’ tale: On a franchise-record 11-game unbeaten string in MLS, the Timbers won 2-0 at D.C. United on May 25 in their last league match. They beat the Wilmington Hammerheads of USL PRO 5-1 on May 29 in a U.S. Open Cup match. Portland will be without four key players who are away on international duty. Forward Ryan Johnson (Jamaica), goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts (Jamaica), midfielder Rodney Wallace (Costa Rica), and defender Futty Danso (The Gambia) are with their national teams for World Cup qualifiers. So Portland’s depth will be tested again. The attack has weapons to step in for Ryan Johnson and Wallace. Striker Frederic Piquionne will look to build on his four-goal outburst in last week’s Open Cup match. Coach Caleb Porter has options on how to use Diego Valeri and Darlington Nagbe, and whether an attack-minded player (Kalif Alhassan, Sal Zizzo, Jose Valencia) or the more defensive midfielder (such as Ben Zemanski) gets the start for Wallace. In goal, Ricketts has made one or two big saves a game during Portland’s 11-game unbeaten run, but Milos Kocic, 28, faced plenty of shots last season as the goalkeeper for Toronto FC.
Chicago story: Not surprisingly, the Fire are much more successful at home (3-3) than on the road (0-4-2). Chicago has scored seven of its nine goals at home. Mike Magee, acquired last month from Los Angeles, should make his second start for Chicago. He has seven MLS goals (third best in the league) this season, and scored a goal on Sunday Chicago’s 2-0 win over D.C. United, and in an Open Cup win for the Fire. That marked only the second time this season that Chicago has scored more than one goal in a game. The Fire also strengthened their defense two weeks ago with the acquisition of veteran center back Bakary Soumare in a trade with Philadelphia. Fire midfielder Joel Lindpere will miss the game on international duty with Estonia.
