Two clubs in the Western Conference of MLS will do battle today in a league match between the Portland Timbers and Real Salt Lake. The first-division clash scheduled for 10 p.m. ET will be held at Providence Park in Portland and can be live streamed here. Additional TV coverage can be found on NBC Sports.
Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter had this to offer ahead of today's league encounter (via MLS's official website): "It's been a tough year in terms of things not going the way maybe we think it should. Maybe it's unfair, maybe it's fair. But at the end of the day, there have been a lot of times where we've had to look at ourselves in the mirror and realize and acknowledge, myself included, it's not been good enough. Maybe it's because last year went so smooth."
"I don't know why that's been, but this team has fought through it and here we are," he added. "And I think we are a team that can make a run, and you've seen it, we are a team that can beat anybody. We are team that if we do get in the playoffs, we are talented enough to potentially make a run, but we are two steps away. We're not there yet, we are nowhere close to being there."
Tactical Preview
Player to Watch: Alvaro Saborio enjoyed a successful spell with Costa Rica during the international break. Returning to club duty, the 32-year-old has five goals in 13 appearances and is averaging three shots per match.
Portland Timbers' Projected Lineup (4-2-3-1): Ricketts - Harrington, Paparatto, Ridgewell, Villafana - Chara, Zemanski - Nagbe, Valeri, Wallace - Adi
Real Salt Lake's Projected Lineup (4-4-2 diamond): Attinella - Beltran, Borchers, Salcedo, Wingert - Mulholland, Beckerman, Grabavoy - Velasquez - Plata, Saborio
Note: Credit all statistics to officially licensed data from Opta Sports (via WhoScored).
Standings
Rnk |
Team |
MP |
W |
D |
L |
GF |
GA |
+/- |
Pts |
|||
1 |
DC United |
32 |
16 |
7 |
9 |
49 |
35 |
14 |
55 |
|||
2 |
New England Revolution |
33 |
16 |
4 |
13 |
50 |
46 |
4 |
52 |
|||
3 |
Sporting Kansas City |
32 |
14 |
7 |
11 |
47 |
37 |
10 |
49 |
|||
4 |
New York Red Bulls |
32 |
12 |
11 |
9 |
52 |
47 |
5 |
47 |
|||
5 |
Columbus Crew |
32 |
12 |
10 |
10 |
47 |
40 |
7 |
46 |
|||
6 |
Toronto FC |
32 |
11 |
7 |
14 |
43 |
52 |
-9 |
40 |
|||
7 |
Philadelphia Union |
32 |
9 |
12 |
11 |
48 |
48 |
0 |
39 |
|||
8 |
Houston Dynamo |
33 |
11 |
6 |
16 |
38 |
56 |
-18 |
39 |
|||
9 |
Chicago Fire |
32 |
5 |
18 |
9 |
38 |
48 |
-10 |
33 |
|||
10 |
Impact Montreal |
32 |
6 |
8 |
18 |
36 |
56 |
-20 |
26 |
Rnk |
Team |
MP |
W |
D |
L |
GF |
GA |
+/- |
Pts |
|||
1 |
LA Galaxy |
32 |
17 |
9 |
6 |
67 |
33 |
34 |
60 |
|||
2 |
Seattle Sounders |
32 |
19 |
3 |
10 |
61 |
48 |
13 |
60 |
|||
3 |
Real Salt Lake |
32 |
14 |
10 |
8 |
52 |
39 |
13 |
52 |
|||
4 |
FC Dallas |
32 |
15 |
6 |
11 |
54 |
43 |
11 |
51 |
|||
5 |
Vancouver Whitecaps |
32 |
11 |
13 |
8 |
41 |
40 |
1 |
46 |
|||
6 |
Portland Timbers |
32 |
11 |
12 |
9 |
59 |
52 |
7 |
45 |
|||
7 |
Colorado Rapids |
32 |
8 |
8 |
16 |
43 |
60 |
-17 |
32 |
|||
8 |
Chivas USA |
32 |
8 |
6 |
18 |
28 |
59 |
-31 |
30 |
|||
9 |
San Jose Earthquakes |
32 |
6 |
11 |
15 |
35 |
49 |
-14 |
29 |
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