Portland Timbers (0,1,0, 0 points) vs Houston Dynamo (1,0,0, 3 points)
Saturday April 24, 2021 7:30 PM PST/ 10:30 PM EST
Providence Park, Portland, Oregon
Portland Timbers Briefly
Not the start that Giovanni Savarese envisioned for his Portland Timbers after falling on opening day against their Cascadia rivals the Vancouver Whitecaps.
That was then, and now is the time to regroup and see what went wrong for a team that early in the week dispatched its Concacaf foe so easily at home.
Back on Sunday’s game at Rio Tinto Stadium being the temporary home of the Caps, the Rose City side did display an organized game despite many of its players showing signs of fatigue.
Still, with 33 games left in the season, the Green and Gold looks ready to rock the foundations of the Western Conference in what looks to be a very contested season.
However, I believe in Gio’s ability to revive this team offense and make some needed corrections so that slip-ups in both offense and defense do not occur again and this team can display a far better organization in its game.
GK Steve Clark, Josecarlos Van Rankin, Larry’s Mabiala, Dario Zuparic, Cluadio Bravo; Diego Chara, Eryk Williamson; Yimmy Chara, Diego Valeri, Dairon Aspirilla; Felipe Mora
Houston Dynamo Briefly
Tab Ramos and his Orange Crush opened the 2021 season with a positive in front of its faithful at home at BBVA Stadium by defeating the San Jose Earthquakes in what seemed to be a very disputed match.
So far for the Dynamo, this season looks very promising after displaying a great game and never surrendering to the push of the Quakes coming ahead with a very valuable win.
This will be a sort of homecoming for defender Zarek Valentin and forward Maxi Urruti coming to Portland, but now as the opposition and with Maxi being the game hero last week for the Dynamo. The eyes of the Timbers defenders will be set on him.
In the end, the Dynamo of Tab Ramos are looking forward to continuing its march with perfection and looking forward to winning game number 2 of the season, while Portland somehow would become worrisome with a second loss.
GK Marko Maric, Adam Lundvkist, Oscar Garcia, Tom Parker, Zarek Valentin; Joe Corona, Memo Rodriguez, Matias Vera; Tyler Pasher, Maxi Urruti, Fafa Picault
Meetings
July 18, 2020, Portland Timbers 2-1 Houston Dynamo
June 22, 2019, Portland Timbers 4-0 Houston Dynamo
May 15, 2019, Houston Dynamo 1-1 Portland Timbers
Forecast
Despite Houston winning its opener, this match can be seen as an even one for both sides
