Kickoff: 2 p.m. Sunday at Jeld-Wen Field.
TV/radio: KPTV (Channel 12) / AM 750
Tickets: 503-553-5555, portlandtimbers.com.
Where they stand: Portland has 3 wins, 6 ties and 1 loss. Chivas has 3 wins, 2 ties and 4 losses.
Head to head: Chivas has won four of the five MLS meetings between the teams, including all three last season, which helped kill any playoff dreams for Portland.
Timbers’ tale: The Timbers franchise-best unbeaten string grew to eight games with Wednesday’s 1-1 draw at FC Dallas. The disappointment was that a controversial penalty kick produced the Dallas goal. Darlington Nagbe scored his third goal of this season and 11th of his career at Dallas. With matches four days apart, coach Caleb Porter rested forward Ryan Johnson and midfielder Rodney Wallace at Dallas. After seven appearances as a substitute, Frederic Piquionne made his first MLS start at Dallas, replacing Ryan Johnson. Kalif Alhassan started for Wallace. Also at Dallas, Sal Zizzo dressed and was available for the first time since playing 18 minutes in the season opener against New York and suffering a medial meniscus tear in his left knee.
Chivas USA story: Chivas is winless in its last four matches. The Goats have won or tied each match they have scored a goal in this season. Last weekend, though, they had no offense in a 4-0 loss at Sporting Kansas City. Chivas will be without starting goalkeeper Dan Kennedy, who drew a red card for a foul that produced a penalty kick at Kansas City. Chivas recently traded striker Juan Agudelo to New England for allocation money. Steve Purdy, who was with the Timbers the previous two seasons, has played just once for Chivas this season. He played the full match at center back in a 2-2 draw with San Jose. Like Portland, Chivas has a coach who is new to MLS. Sanchez Sola is trying to bring the flair of his native Mexico to Los Angeles’ other MLS club.
