BEAVERTON — Most Major League Soccer teams will be introduced to the 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup tournament next week by battling a lower-division opponent.
Not so for the Portland Timbers, who will make the drive to Tukwila to challenge the defending champion Seattle Sounders.
The good news for Portland entering the Tuesday match at Starfire Stadium: it has this weekend off from league play. The next MLS match is a June 20 visit from Houston, so the Timbers will have plenty of rested players to choose from for a match that coach Caleb Porter said has the full attention of the organization.
The Sounders, meanwhile, host FC Dallas on Saturday, play the Timbers on Tuesday then host San Jose on June 20. Seattle, though, has built momentum since entering MLS in 2009 by dominating the Open Cup — winning four of the last six tournaments and reaching the final five times in six years.
“This game against Seattle right now is a major priority — winning that game,” Porter said on Friday. “We have an opportunity to play for a trophy, and if we’re able to knock off the team that won it last year then they’re out of the tournament and we have now a proper chance to make a run. So we’re going to put everything into this game Tuesday.”
Whether everything includes Diego Valeri remains to be seen. The Argentine playmaker, who missed the last three games with an ankle injury — played in the first of three scrimmage sessions on Friday during the team’s 90-minute practice.
Porter said he won’t make a decision on Valeri’s status until at least after Sunday’s training session.
“If he’s available then we’ll look to play him, but we certainly won’t risk anything, and then have to again lose him for a couple of weeks,” Porter said. The coach indicated, though, that Valeri is one player who is unlikely to start both Tuesday and next Saturday.
Unlike seasons when the Timbers have played lower-division opponents early in the Open Cup, Porter said he anticipates that many of his top players will play both Tuesday and the following Saturday.
One player who won’t be available for Tuesday’s match is team captain Will Johnson, who is with Canada’s national team for its 2018 World Cup qualifying series against Dominica. Johnson did not play in Thursday’s first leg of the two-match series, which Canada won 2-0. The series concludes on Tuesday in Toronto.
