Portland TimbersVS
Wednesday, August 12th
4:45 pm @ Montreal
Online LIVE at USLlive.com
Preview: With only nine matches remaining on the season, the Timbers head north across the border to Montreal. The 1st place Timbers play three of their next four matches on the road, all against playoff-bound teams - going to Rochester on Saturday, then a week later, home to host Puerto Rico before heading to Charleston for another tough road test. It will be a grueling gut-check moment for this team as they've already accomplished so much in this historic season. Going on 20 matches unbeaten, can this team maintain its focus and hunger as the playoff race tightens up? Fortunately for Portland, the last five games will truly be a "home" stetch. The Timbers finish the regular season with four out their last five games at PGE Park.
The Timbers will head into Montreal as the most dominant team in the USL - boasting the stingiest defense (GA 11) and the most productive offense (GF 32) - tops in the league for both. The calling card of this team has been its depth, balance, and aggresive play and as expected for a team in 1st place there are accolades to go around; the defense has been physical and intimidating, the midfield play has been exceptional, and the front six have been scoring goals. Keeper Steve Cronin, voted by the fans as the Timber's Man of the Month, deserves as much credit as anyone for the team's success with seven shutouts this year.
This will be the final meeting of the regular season between these two clubs, the first two matches in June were played at Portland, the Timbers winning both. The Impact will be looking to regain some measure of dignity after the last meeting ended in a 4-nil beating. Montreal currently sits in 6th place, with the top 7 teams making the playoffs, the Impact are a likely first round playoff opponent for the Timbers.
Players to watch...
Roberto Brown - The Panamanian-born forward leads the team in total points and goals scored. The aggresive veteran helped the Impact secure a 1-0 victory on Sunday, scoring the games only goal. He'll be a lot to handle for the defense.
Eddie Sebrango-Rodriguez - The other half of Montreal's senior citizen forward tandem, the 36-year old has logged a lot of minutes this season and has been very productive. He's been around the USl for a long time and has contributed to many winning clubs over the years, nobody to sleep on.
Rocco Placentino - After spending six seasons playing in Italy, the midfielder comes home to Montreal and has been an important cog in their offensive attack this year. He leads the team in assists with 5 and is also third on the team in shot attempts with 24, finding the back of the net on 2 of those.
Montreal is much better at home than on the road. They have 5 wins at home and only 2 on the road, this is typical of most teams but the goal differential is crazy when comparing home and away. Nice post Kevin.
ReplyDeleteGood point, Paul. I fear the unbeaten streak will come to an end sometime in the next 3-4 games. Just getting to 21 will be amazing. Expect Montreal to pack at least 10,000 plus into Saputo Stadium to see the Timbers go down. Or maybe I'm being conceited.
ReplyDeleteMontreal has played far better at home than the road this year, but the Timbers are finding ways to score regardless of where. The Timbers unbeaten streak might end soon, but it's all about the Championship this season!
ReplyDeleteTimbers aren't losing the rest of the year, especially not to Montreal. Damn Canadians.
ReplyDeletePore has scored in each of the last three games, does he make it four and start another amazing Timbers streak?
ReplyDeletePore is a pretty funny looking, geeky dude. I don't like him. Ugly people make me uncomfortable.
ReplyDelete