Timbers at Seattle
Kickoff: 6:30 p.m. Sunday at CenturyLink Field.
TV / radio: FOX Sports 1 / AM 750.
Timbers match notes: At 2-2-3, the Timbers are one of five Western Conference teams with nine points in the standings, essentially tied for fifth place one point back of Seattle. They are coming off their first road win of the season, last Sunday’s 1-0 win at Yankee Stadium. But CenturyLink is a different place. The Timbers have never won a regular-season game at the stadium — they did win there in the 2013 playoffs.
With Rodney Wallace (knee) unlikely to play, look for recent addition Ishmael Yartey to get his second consecutive start. Coach Caleb Porter likes that Yartey can play either left or right wing.
Porter said he had not ruled out dressing midfielder Diego Valeri for the first time this season — though that seems unlikely since Valeri isn’t yet ready to play significant minutes. Porter said next week’s home match against Vancouver is a more likely time for Valeri’s 2015 debut. The other missing Timbers centerpiece, Will Johnson, played for Timbers 2 on Saturday in a USL match at Arizona United.
Goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey’s late kick save at NYCFC was voted MLS Save of the Week. Colombian Dairon Asprilla scored his first MLS goal last weekend in the win over New York City FC, becoming the fifth Timber to score a goal this season.
“When you get a goal and you gain confidence. We need to get some other guys their first goal as well,” Porter said. “(Asprilla) has looked good in training this week. And he’s another guy where you kind of learn as time goes on how to play him the right way.”
In recent years, early season matches against Seattle have been telling. In their third match of 2013, a very late goal from Rodney Wallace earned the Timbers a 1-1 draw. That came after a home loss to Montreal and started a 15-game unbeaten string. Last season, the Sounders scored two goals in the final minutes on April 4 to earn a 4-4 draw at Portland. Portland didn’t win until its ninth match or 2014.
This match happens six days before the 40th anniversary of the birth of the rivalry. The Sounders beat the Timbers 1-0 at then Civic Stadium on May 2, 1975.
Sounders match notes: At 3-2-1, the Sounders are fourth in the Western Conference with 10 points. Obafemi Martins has four goals and one assist in five games, and Clint Dempsey has three goals and three assists in four games played. Lamar Naegle, playing a wing position, scored his first two goals of the season in last week’s win at Colorado. Seattle has scored nine goals and allowed only five through six matches.
Seattle central defender Chad Marshall, last season’s defender of the year in MLS, is suspended for this match. “It does impact their backline. But they have other good players,” Porter said, noting that likely replacement Zach Scott is also good in the air.
Martins scored the MLS goal of the week to clinch Seattle’s 3-1 victory at Colorado. He reached a long up-field pass between and flicked the ball behind him and between two closing defenders then turned into open space for the finish.
“That was a pretty even game, but he pulls a play off like that and that’s what he’s capable of doing,” Porter said. “They’ve got other players that step up and make plays like that to win their team games.”
Porter said containing Martins and Dempsey is a different challenge than are some of the star forwards the Timbers have defended well so far this season.
One key to containing Martins and Dempsey is for Portland to possess the ball, said Timbers midfielder Jack Jewsbury.
“For myself and Diego (Chara) in the middle, we’ve always got to be aware of where Dempsey’s at because he tries to find those little pockets of space and make that final pass,” Jewsbury said. “It’s being aware of those guys, but when we’re successful it’s because we’re playing our game and we’re on the front foot.”
