Game Preview: A Chance to Gain Momentum in Miami

Portland Timbers
VS

Miami FC Blues
Saturday June 11th
4:30 pm @ Lockhart Stadium
Streaming LIVE @ PortlandTimbers.com/live
Radio on 95.5 The Game

Miami is (1-2-7) in league play, they love to earn a draw as they did with Baltimore this week in 3-3 high scoring game. Portland (3-3-4) has gotten their fair share of draws, including last weeks last minute heartbreaking draw with Carolina and the Wednesday draw with the Aztex of Austin. The draw with Austin was a solid performance by the Timbers, as they were the first team to shutout the Aztex.

Portland's glaring problem is the lack of finishing or in some cases luck. The woodwork has been unfriendly, as game after game we see great shots bounce off and not in. Other times great shots end right in the keepers arms. We continue to lead game in shots, but can't seem to convert that into much needed goals. The likely starts for this match will be Dike, who is coming off a solid couple games and King Keita, who at some point will light up the stat sheet. This is a big game for the offense to prove they can put up points, we'd like to see them light it up! Checkout last our post Moving Forward from last week.

Miami has only had one win so far this season, but has managed 7 draws in 10 games. That has to be close to a record, their only win comes from a 1-nil victory over the not so hot Minnesota NSC. The Miami attack is headed up by Argentinian veteran Christian Gómez and the young Brazilian Paulo Araujo Jr. Gomez had 48 goals in five years of play for both DC United and the Rapids. Paulo a 21 year old Brazilian is playing his second season with Miami FC and has tallied 4 goals and 2 assists in 10 games.

The weather in Miami is predicted to be around 80 plus degrees at game time and with a slight chance of thunderstorms. We can hope that a solid start to the road trip will end with a solid win. Come on boys!


Checkout our friends at Football in Miami and Beyond, who keep a fun blog covering all things Miami. These guys and the Miami Ultras are trying their best to keep the MLS dream alive, something some of us can relate to.