The Cascadia Cup is over for Portland. While there’s no shot at winning, they can still do the next best thing: Keep the Cup out of Seattle. Three points also moves then one step closer to the Supporter’s Shield and a number one playoff seed. This evening at Jeld-Wen Field is shaping up to be one of the most important in Timbers history.
Last week Portland drew the Whitecaps 2-2 with three of the four goals scored in just two minutes. Darlington Nagbe and team captain Will Johnson both scored to extend the team’s undefeated streak to five. The point kept Portland in third place with 50 points, one behind Seattle and two behind RSL.
The Sounders are floundering. They have lost their last two matches and are winless in four. Through those four games they have scored once in each while giving up a total of 11 goals, nine of them in the last two weeks. Portland needs to capitalize on Seattle’s bad form and heavy legs to go up early and secure a win.
Both teams are missing players this week due to international duty. Portland is without Rodney Wallace, Ryan Johnson, and Alvas Powell and the Sounders lack Brad Evans and Eddie Johnson. Of the two teams I think Seattle is hit hardest. Eddie Johnson is their leading goalscorer with nine and Brad Evans has four goals and five assists. Johnson isn’t just the leading scorer, he is their target in the middle. Losing him means Portland can worry a bit less about their shoddy set piece defense and concentrate on shutting down Obafemi Martins, Lamar Neagle, Mauro Rosales, and Clint Dempsey through the middle. That’s still a lot, but it could give Portland a slight edge.
Portland’s worst loss is debatable. Ryan Johnson has eight goals and is the team’s best hold up striker. Rodney Wallace totals six goals and assists and is great at slipping past the defense with his speed, something that has bothered Seattle as of late. If Frederic Piquionne is fit enough for the 18 then Wallace hurts the most, but if he isn’t losing RJ could be a real problem. Urruti will start up top and either Kalif Alhassan or Ben Zemanski will come on for Wallace. If Kalif starts then I would bet that Jewsbury starts at RB letting Portland focus on an early attack. Zemanski starting would shift Portland into a more defensive squad, especially if Jack stays in the lineup at either RB or as a defensive midfielder.
Another player to consider is maestro Diego Valeri. He subbed on late in the game last week due to a nagging injury. If he can’t go the whole game then Porter has a decision to make. One thing I think might work out is Urruti and Valencia alongside each other in a 4-4-2 diamond. Urruti can harass the backline and open them up for Valencia to work his way past them. Nagbe could start at the point, WJ and Chara behind him, Jewsbury at CDM, and Zemanski at RB. Alternatively, Kalif could come on instead of Zemanski and shift Chara to CDM, but I think Jewsbury is the better call. He has played CDM in both previous match against Seattle and done wonderfully. Plus, with Eddie Johnson out Zemanski would be less of a liability defending the wing.
Tonight is a proving ground for Portland. They haven’t had a lot of success defeating solid teams in important matches this season. Something they’ll need to do to succeed in both the playoffs and the Champions League.
Projected Lineups:
Portland: Donovan Ricketts; Jack Jewsbury, Futty Danso, Pa Modou Kah, Michael Harrington; Diego Valeri, Will Johnson, Diego Chara; Darlington Nagbe, Maximiliano Urruti, Kalif Alhassan
Seattle: Michael Gspurning; DeAndre Yedlin, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Patrick Ianni, Marc Burch; Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Adam Moffat, Clint Dempsey; Lamar Neagle, Obafemi Martins
