Sporting Kansas City at Timbers
Kickoff: 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Providence Park.
TV / radio: KPDX 49 (13) / AM 970.
Timbers notes: Entering the weekend, the Timbers (12-10-8, 44 points) hold the sixth and final playoff spot, one point ahead of San Jose with a game in hand, and one point behind fifth-place Sporting Kansas City. Coach Caleb Porter this week said he was glad to see San Jose on Portland’s heels because “it keeps that tension” there to perform. Of course, it would be difficult to downplay the significance of this match given that Portland plays its next two at Real Salt Lake and Los Angeles before closing the season at home against last-place Colorado. In last week’s win at Columbus, Porter went back to the same four attackers who played together with success at the end of last season. Rodney Wallace entered the lineup on the left wing, joining Diego Valeri and Darlington Nagbe as attacking midfielders. Wallace assisted on Fanendo Adi’s second goal. The result, Porter said, was a subtly improved chemistry and mentality.
“Part of that is bringing Rodney in, who’s a fighter — and part of that is guys who have been in the trenches in MLS and know what a playoff push is about,” Porter said.
The Timbers have won only one of their last five home matches (four draws and a loss) since a five-match home win streak during late May and early July. The Timbers are the more rested team entering this match, but that was also the case when the New York Red Bulls came to Portland two weeks ago and beat the Timbers.
“Now we’ve got to respond from a win,” Porter said. “Now we’ve got to respond at home playing a Western Conference (opponent).”
Midfielder Will Johnson on Wednesday this week had screws removed from his surgically repaired broken leg, hoping to improve his range of motion. His hope is to play again this season, but there is no target date for his return. Look for Jack Jewsbury to continue to play alongside Diego Chara in the midfield.
Sporting Kansas City notes: SKC entered the weekend fifth in the Western Conference (12-9-9, 45 points). On Wednesday, Sporting won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup championship by beating host Philadelphia on penalty kicks after 120 minutes. That means Portland should be the fresher team. On the other hand, goalkeeper Tim Melia, whose seven saves were a huge factor when these teams played to a scoreless draw on Sept. 9, should be confident after stopping a pair of penalty kicks in the Open Cup tiebreaker. … Both meetings between the Timbers and SKC this season have been scoreless draws. … Dom Dwyer (11), Benny Feilhaber (10) and Krisztain Nemeth (9) have scored 30 of Sporting KC’s 45 MLS goals and 42 of 59 goals in all competitions. Feilhaber is tied for second in MLS with 14 assists, and is one of only two players (Sebastian Giovincio) with double digit goals and assists this season.
Playoff picture: Vancouver visits San Jose on Saturday night. The Quakes have only two matches left after this one, so a Vancouver win would boost Portland’s playoff chances. The Whitecaps are battling Los Angeles for first place. On Sunday, Houston (which trails Portland by three points and has played one more match than the Timbers) visits FC Dallas; the Galaxy (50 points) play at Seattle (46); and Real Salt Lake (38) points visits last-place Colorado.
