The Portland Timbers will be aiming to bounce back to winning ways in the MLS when they take on their fierce rivals the Seattle Sounders at Providence Park on Sunday morning.
The hosts enter this match in seventh place in the Western Conference with 37 points after 26 games, while the visitors are two places and three points better off than their opponents.
Match preview
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Widely considered the last true derby in the MLS, these Pacific Northwest rivals will be playing their fourth match of the Cascadia Cup, which the Vancouver Whitecaps currently lead with seven points, while Portland are on three and Seattle have four points.
The Sounders come into this match off the back of an eight-goal thriller which ended 4-4 against St Louis City last week, with Portland coming back from 4-2 down to salvage a point with two late goals.
Key to the comeback was Phil Neville's number 10 Evander, who is having an almost video-game-worthy season so far, now on 12 goals and 15 assists in just 24 top-flight games.
The Brazilian scored the Timbers' leveller in the ninth minute of stoppage time with a curling free-kick last weekend, helping to extend his side's unbeaten home run to 10 consecutive matches dating back to May 15.
During that period, the Timbers have scored 30 goals, illustrating their incredible attacking prowess, but they have also developed an unwanted habit of leaking goals cheaply, as we saw in the last match.
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If anything, one outcome that seems likely in this match is that we are expecting goals, with the hosts' last nine league games in a row delivering over 2.5 goals, while three or more hit the back of the net in each of the visitors' last five MLS matches.
That said, the Sounders did play out a tight and tense US Open Cup semi-final match in midweek, which they lost in heartbreaking fashion with Denis Bouanga scoring a late penalty to take Los Angeles to the final for the first time in the club's history.
In league terms, though, Seattle have proved to be a hard nut to crack, having scored first in five of their last six matches and suffering just a single defeat in their last nine, which was also against LAFC.
Brian Schmetzer's side are also unbeaten in their last three away league games, winning two and drawing one, while they have not been shut out on the road since a 2-0 loss to Real Salt Lake in mid-May.
As far as the head-to-head record between these two go, the Sounders have been the more successful in recent times, beating Portland 2-1 at this venue earlier this year, which extended their unbeaten run against their old foe to three (W1 D2 L0).
Team News
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Portland's attacking trio of Evander, Jonathan Rodriguez and Felipe Mora have combined to score a total of 38 of the clubs 54 league goals, though they will be without the latter two for this match due to Mora's sending off last week while Rodriguez crossed the yellow card threshold.
Miguel Araujo is flagged as a minor doubt but has been called up to the Peru national team and will play his final match this weekend before departing for the next two weeks. Marvin Loria is the Timbers only long-term injury absentee.
The Sounders will have to make do without Braudilio Rodrigues and Pedro De La Vega due to injury, while Cody Baker's involvement is questionable owing to a wrist injury.
Seattle signed young winger Georgi Minoungou from MLS NEXT Pro affiliate Tacoma Defiance last week and he will be hoping to make his first start here having debuted for his new employers in the loss to LAFC in midweek.
Portland Timbers possible starting lineup:
Crepeau; Mosquera, Araujo, Zuparic, Bravo; Ayala, Chara, Moreno, Evander, Antony; Toye
Seattle Sounders possible starting lineup:
Thomas; A Roldan, Gomez, Ragen, Tolo; Vargas, Paulo; C Roldan, Rusnak, Rothrock; Morris
We say: Portland Timbers 2-2 Seattle Sounders
While Portland have been prolific in front of goal lately, the absence of Rodriguez and Mora are significant, leaving them needing to find goals from other avenues. However, given their recent home form and Seattle's short turnaround, we feel that the hosts will be able to claim at least a share of the spoils in this one.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Devesh Jaganath
