By Matt Hoffman
The Portland Timbers will host FC Dallas at Providence Park 4:30pm (Fox Sports 1) on Sunday in the first leg of a two game home-and-home series. Oscar Pareja would like nothing more than to score that coveted away goal while the TImbers want to want to come up big in their final home match of 2015.
The teams, like the regions themselves, are a study in contrast. Pareja was a longtime FC Dallas player who took and has continued to build the FC Dallas Academy. Nine homegrown players were on the FC Dallas roster this year.
Caleb Porter went the college route, building a national powerhouse in Akron, before coming to Portland in 2013 but has built a team around shrewd foreign signings like Liam Ridgewell, Diego Valeri, and Fanendo Adi.
While Porter has shifted his emphasis on possession to a more counter-attacking style, Pareja has more-or-less stayed the course fielding a squad of speedy, technically-gifted youth who can spread the field, overload a side and can score from any position.
No Dallas player had ten goals this season, however six players score five or more. Meanwhile only two FCD players started more than ten games for Dallas and did not register an assist on the season. Finally, they are exceptionally good at driving pass defenders with the ball, ala Stevie Francis in the day.
In short: on this Dallas team: everyone can pass, everyone can shoot, anyone can be the hero.
That would complicate things for a lot of teams, however the Timbers–the backline in particular–will be the tallest test for Dallas. We already know that Portland has arguably one of the best back four tandems in Ridgewell and Borchers, but Jorge Villafana is an incredible on-man defender while Alvas Powell has made tremendous strides this season.
Will Porter keep Villafana and Powell back? He did for the first leg against Vancouver as a matter of rest (three days after the “Breath of God” match that stretched into penalty shootouts) and principle (not wanting to give up that road goal).
The former, at least, won’t be an issue as both teams have had ample time to recuperate given the FIFA open date of last weekend.
With Valeri and Wallace both out, it’s likely a defensive 4-3-3 with Chara and Jewsbury/Fochive and Nagbe in the center. That’s a good lineup choice for a team looking to keep the ball away and protect its backline.
That would mean a likely pairing of Adi up top flanked by Asprilla and Melano. It was Melano who gave FC Dallas fits with his speed in his first match against them. Melano set up the Timbers only goal, a penalty, when he burned past Dallas’s backline resulting in a takedown in the box.
FC Dallas now has ample video footage of Melano but the Argentine has proven to be crafty in his limited time on the field. Melano still looks a bit lost in the massive shift between leagues and homes but he showed flashes of brilliance against Vancouver. With two weeks to further acclimate to the playoffs, Melano could do something special.
