Portland Timbers (10-9-4, 8th in West) vs. Chicago Fire (7-10-9, 10th in East)
The last two games, the Chicago Fire defeated a team that had lost five out of their last six in league play in Houston and then Montreal. On Wednesday, they face a team who has lost just once in their last eight and in the midst of a 10-match homestand in Portland.
The Timbers continued their climb up the West table with a 3-1 win over Vancouver on Saturday. It was their third win in their last four league matches.
Meanwhile, the Fire are coming off back-to-back wins for the first time since May and are three points adrift of the East red line, but with three teams to pass. The Fire have never won against the Timbers (0-4-5) and have won just twice in the Pacific time zone since 2010 (2-21-7).
See what happens when Bastian Schweinsteiger is more involved in the attack? That led to two of the three goals against Montreal on Saturday. The Fire will need more people involved in the attack and more effective passing from Schweinsteiger and Francisco Calvo in lieu of service from midfield.
This will be a true test for the Fire to see if they can get closer to their target of 21 points from the last ten matches of the season. They are already six points on the way there.
Kickoff is at 10pm CT on ESPN+.
INJURIES:
PORTLAND TIMBERS:
OUT: Marco Farfan (D) – left knee injury
OUT: Jeff Attinella (GK)- right shoulder injury
OUT: Modou Jadama (D)- left foot injury
CHICAGO FIRE:
OUT: M – Fabian Herbers (shoulder injury)
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW:
POR: Jorge Moreira, Larrys Mabiala
Referee: Silviu Petrescu
Assistant Referees: Ian Anderson, Michael Barwegen
4th Official: Darhad Dadkho
VAR: Jon Freemon
THIS YEAR:
3/31/18: CHI 2-2 POR
