The Portland Timbers need points badly to hold onto their playoff position. Their 39 is only good enough for 5th place and both Vancouver and Dallas are just three points behind. While 9th place Toronto FC look like a beatable team, Portland has never won against them. The returning Will Johnson and Diego Chara will need to give their all today to get the full three points.
This week’s big news is the return of Will Johnson. Portland has missed his midfield presence badly over the last several weeks. While Ben Zemanski has filled in well, he just isn’t the same as our Captain. Another interesting, and maybe even bigger, piece of news is the possible return of Bright Dike. Dike has been working his way back from injury and just now starting to regain his fitness. With Piquionne out due to injury and Ryan Johnson playing for Jamaica, Dike could find himself in the 18 for the first in a long while. Jose Adolfo Valencia will probably get the start up top, but Dike could be in for 10-20 minutes.
In negative news are the losses of Donovan Ricketts and Alvas Powell to World Cup Qualifying and Jack Jewsbury and Ryan Miller to injury. This means that Milos Kocic will get his first start in a long while and Rauwshan McKenzie may also make his way into the 11. Needless to say, it’s going to be an interesting starting team.
Toronto is also battling the injury bug with Matias Laba and Danny Koevermans both injured. They’re also missing several players to international call ups. Combine this with having scored just seven goals on the road and Toronto looks to be in for a tough battle. Maximiliano Urruti is one player I think will feature today. He has played just 10 minutes the last few games and I think could make an appearance quite a bit earlier in Jeld-Wen.
Projected Lineups:
Portland Timbers: Milos Kocic; Michael Harrington, Pa Modou Kah, Andrew Jean-Baptiste, Rauwshan McKenzie; Diego Chara, Will Johnson; Kalif Alhassan; Rodney Wallace, Darlington Nagbe; Jose Adolfo Valencia
Toronto FC: Joe Bendik; Jonal Elmer, Gale Agbossoumonde, Steven Caldwell, Richard Eckersley; Bobby Convey, Jeremy Hall, Darel Russell, Reggie Lambe; Andrew Wiedeman, Robert Earnshaw
