Portland at New England
Kickoff: 1 p.m. Saturday at Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass.TV: ROOT Sports (Cable Channel 34/734).
Radio: AM 750 (AM 940 Spanish broadcast).
Records: Portland 1-0-1, 4 points; New England 0-2-0, 0 points.
Last season: Portland earned a 1-1 draw at New England and defeated the Revs 3-0 at home.
Storyline: Portland will try to build off a strong second-half at Dallas last week. This is the first home match for New England, which is looking for its first win — and first goal — of the season.
Lineup notes: New England forward Benny Filhaber is listed as doubtful. Portland expects wing player Franck Songo’o to make the trip and he could play as a late-game substitute.
Match notes: This is the only match this season between New England and Portland. The Revolution played most of last week’s match at Kansas City with 10 men after an early red card to defender Stephen McCarthy. McCarthy is suspended for this game.
Wanted, a better first half: Portland has been outplayed in the first half of each of its two games.
“You’ve got to go out and try to win the battles and try to possess the ball and win your individual battles,” Timbers coach John Spencer said, explaining what his team must improve to play better in the first half. “I think if we start the way that we started the second half in both games then we’ll put in a good performance.
Viewing parties: The official Timbers viewing party is at Dublin Pub in southwest Portland. The Timbers Army Northern Alliance is holding its Clark County viewing party at the Pizza Schmizza in Salmon Creek.
Follow Paul Danzer all Timbers season on Twitter at www.twitter.com/col_timbers
