In the first Cascadia Cup clash of the 2025 Major League Soccer (MLS) campaign, the Portland Timbers welcome the Vancouver Whitecaps to Providence Park on Sunday.
These teams previously met in the Western Conference wild-card round last year, with the Caps claiming a convincing 5-0 triumph on that occasion.
Match preview
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When it comes to entertainment value, few MLS teams were more exciting to watch in 2024 than the Portland Timbers, who scored the second-most goals in the Western Conference (65).
Finding the back of the net was rarely a problem for Phil Neville's men last season, but they collected the ball out of their own goal almost as often, conceding more than any Western Conference playoff side in 2024 (56).
The Timbers won nine matches at Providence Park in this competition last year but lost their last three MLS games played in Portland, including that defeat to the Caps in the wild card round, failing to score in each of those three losses.
Portland are unbeaten in their previous three regular-season home openers, earning clean-sheet victories in those last two such games.
They are coming off a solid pre-season in which they claimed a result in four of their six encounters, conceding a goal or fewer in five of those instances.
Only once in the 2024 regular season did Portland defeat a Canadian team, beating the Whitecaps 2-0 at Providence Park last June.
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It was another relatively successful regular season for the Whitecaps a year ago, which ended with yet another early playoff exit, losing in their opening round series against Los Angeles FC two games to one.
That appeared to be the reason why the front office chose to part ways with Vanni Sartini, who had guided them to the post-season in three of his four seasons at the helm, with the club winning three straight Canadian Championships under his watch.
The team's keys have been turned over to Jesper Sorensen, who was hired just over a month after being sacked by Danish side Brondby in December.
Sorensen will be tasked with getting a team that have been pegged to be a dark horse for several years to become a contender, with Vancouver struggling against elite MLS sides in past seasons.
One area the team did improve on last year was their form away from home, claiming seven regular-season triumphs as the visitors, equalling an MLS club record set in 2015.
The Caps have won two of their previous three visits to Providence Park across all competitions, scoring eight goals over that stretch.
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Team News
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Over the off-season, the Timbers signed Ariel Lassiter from the Chicago Fire and added former Lens midfielder David Pereira da Costa, along with Joao Ortiz of Independiente del Valle.
They traded away Evander, who had 15 goals in the regular season last year, to FC Cincinnati, dealt Eryk Williamson to Charlotte FC and declined to pick up the options of Mason Toye and Marvin Loria.
Felipe Mora and Jonathan Rodriguez scored 30 goals between them in the 2024 domestic campaign, with the former netting 14 and the latter two more.
Perhaps the biggest new addition to Vancouver in the off-season was Daniel Rios, while the club also brought in Jayden Nelson and Emmanuel Sabbi.
The Stuart Armstrong experiment was short-lived as he was transferred to Sheffield Wednesday after less than a season with the Caps, Deiber Caicedo joined Colombian side Atletico Junior, Ryan Raposo was out of contract and Fafa Picault's option was declined as he is now at Inter Miami.
Brian White and Ryan Gauld were once again the top scorers for this team in the 2024 MLS campaign, netting 16 and 15 goals respectively, with the Scotsman bagging their consolation strike in a 2-1 defeat to Deportivo Saprissa in leg one of their CONCACAF Champions Cup tie Thursday.
Portland Timbers possible starting lineup:
Crepeau; Mosquera, Zuparic, K. Miller, Fory; Ortiz, Ayala; Moreno, Da Costa, Rodriguez; Mora
Vancouver Whitecaps possible starting lineup:
Takaoka; Laborda, Blackmon, Veselinovic, Adekugbe; Berhalter, Cubas; Vite, Ahmed, Gauld; White
We say: Portland Timbers 2-2 Vancouver Whitecaps
Both teams are primarily attack-oriented units, and we expect to see them showcase that on Sunday, with plenty of individual quality shining through.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
