(8) Portland Timbers (1,2,0, 3 points) vs (1) Atlanta United (2,0,1, 7 points)
Saturday March 18, 2023 KO 4:30 PM
Mercedes Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
Portland Timbers Briefly
Finally, some good news for the Portland Timbers with a new signing of center forward Franck Boli coming from Hungarian side Ferenvarosi TC and looking forward to build up on their feeble attack.
Overconfidence certainly spoils good games and for the Timbers supposedly being a fortress at home, that stunning defeat at home from expansion side St. Louis City exposed the team multiple problems in its attack.
This comes when both goals probably would have been prevented and the defensive backfield became too confident and results speak louder than words with a 2-1 defeat with both goal scorers being defenders.
With another player or two in mind, a center back and another winger, maybe the Timbers can see a turnaround this season, especially its record on the road.
So far, three defensive players have scored for the Timbers and all of them being defensive players like Juan Mosquera, Zac McGraw, and Cristhian Paredes and just one from the attacking side from newcomer Evander.
With a 5-3-2 formation manager, Giovanni Savarese tried to stop City SC’s momentum, but the team somehow became too complacent for the remainder of the game and got surprised by a couple of scores from the visitors.
Once again, the Portland Timbers had a number of notable players on the injured list with Yimmi Chara and Cristhian Paredes out with hamstrings and Dairon Aspirilla along with David Ayala out with knee surgeries. Adding to the list Felipe Mora, Sebastian Blanco, and starting keeper Aljaz Ivacic were also out.
Until his arrival and getting adjusted to Gio’s system, the likes of Boli will be involved in all the plays and offensive attack of the team. In addition with the arrival of a new winger, maybe the Timbers can see a turnaround in the season and aspire for a postseason spot.
For now, it’s one game at a time for these embattled Timbers as not everything is lost and the season is just in its early stages and this team knows how to make a rebound in the final stretch of the season.
When will we see Evander’s magic in the field?
Atlanta United Briefly
What a start for third year manager Gonzalo Pineda with the Five Stripes and so far after just missing the postseason last season, so far this season the team looks like an all-around contender.
Still, the team will be another tough test for the visiting Portland Timbers in what they see it as their house of horrors Mercedes Benz Stadium being a tough venue for the Rose City side to get a positive result.
However, for manager Giovanni Savarese, the defense will be put to another test with a formation seen as manager Pineda favors a 4-2-3-1 with a lone attacker in Spaniard Miguel Berry and accompanied by the terrible threesome of Thiago Almada, Luis Araujo, and Caleb Wiley.
The season has put Atlanta United top of the Eastern Conference with seven points and with back-to-back games where rookie homegrown Caleb Wiley has delivered wonders for his manager with two consecutive games scoring a brace.
Once again, it’s not going to be an easy endeavor for the Portland Timbers visiting Atlanta on the road as these are seen as not strong team playing on the road, but nothing is written in the game of football!
Meetings
09/04/2022 Portland Timbers 2-1 Atlanta United
08/18/2019 Portland Timbers 0-2 Atlanta United
12/08/2018 Atlanta United 2-0 Portland Timbers
Forecast
The question arises if the Portland Timbers can shake off the Five Stripes dominance?
Portland Timbers
Atlanta United FC
