The New York Red Bulls look to gain vital ground in the Supporter’s Shield race as they host the Portland Timbers at Red Bull Arena. The Red Bulls (12-7-5, 8-0-3 at home) look to impose their home form on the Timbers (5-12-6, 0-8-3 on the road) who are the worst road team in MLS this season. New York is coming off a 2-0 win over the Houston Dynamo in a top of the east clash, while Portland played midweek in Toronto and gave up a lead to walk away with a draw and their first road goals since April.
The Red Bulls had a clear injury list for the first time all season to start off the week. Rookie goalkeeper Ryan Meara returned to practice along with maligned designated player Rafa Marquez. However, both players’ returns were short lived, as neither will be available for selection for the match against the Timbers. It is also not known how long both will be out after aggravating their respective injuries. Brandon Barklage has finally recovered and taken part in full training ahead of this Sunday’s matchup and should be available off the bench for Backe. Newly acquired winger Lloyd Sam will not be available as he awaits paperwork to be completed. With this team finally almost 100% healthy, Backe will have the depth he has always wanted for this team. He will face some roster decisions as Joel Lindpere and Roy Miller flew back to their home countries for midweek international friendlies and with the amount of players on this roster that can play multiple positions, Backe is in a good position with whom he has to pick.
The Timbers are coming off that draw with Toronto in a game where they doubled their road goals scored this season. Portland has only scored four goals on the road this season and has allowed 22 goals while away from Jeld-Wen. They will be playing their second game with their new keeper Donovan Ricketts, who had a howler of a game earlier this season with Montreal losing 5-2 in Red Bull Arena. Portland has the ability to be a dangerous team with Kris Boyd and Darlington Nagbe but their amount of weapons pales in comparison to the Red Bulls vastly superior firepower. Scottish DP Kris Boyd comes into this match with seven goals and an assist but he hasn’t lived up to the billing as the best goal scorer in the SPL. Not only will he have to deal with Dax McCarty breaking up his play but also Boyd will then have to traverse into the box against Markus Holgersson, who is really starting to show why Hans Backe entrusts him on that backline. Holgersson can be a big, physical defender who can read a play but he does get beat by speed. Boyd is only as good as the service he receives though and Portland has struggled to find Boyd. The key matchup will be Dax (or Tainio if he gets the start) against the timbers central midfield, breaking up the service to Boyd and slowing down the attack by the Timbers midfield. The Red Bulls backline also plays much more composed with Dax in front of them, where he will sometimes slot in between the center backs as the Red Bulls change formation to go with three defenders in the back as the full backs charge into the attack.
Portland has been blown away on the road over the last few matches and once even at home. That being said, it could very well be a trap game for New York who may already be looking ahead to their future matches against Sporting KC and DC United. Either way, New York needs to pick up three points as other teams in the east picked up major wins and the gap between the top five teams keeps shrinking. With the new rules regarding tiebreaking, New York may want to put as many goals past Ricketts as they can.
(image courtesy of newyorkredbulls.com)
