Sporting Kansas City fans tifo versus Portland on July 30th. Photo source: unknown
by Matt Hoffman (@mhoff)
It’s been a short week for the Timbers. After a hard fought, grueling match against a team that matches up with them remarkably well in Sporting Kansas City, the Timbers returned to CONCACAF action narrowly defeating the El Salvadoran outfit CD Dragon, another physical opponent.
It does no good to sugarcoat the grimness of the situation for Portland. The Timbers are outside of the playoffs looking in. They have yet to win a match on the road earning a shoddy five points in eleven away matches. It’s highly likely that both first choice center backs are out with Ben Zemanski out as well. Steven Taylor may make his first start but it is reasonable to expect a learning curve. Finally, Alvas Powell is one yellow card away from a suspension for card accumulation and his understudy Zarek Valentin may not be available.
To top it off, Sunday’s opponent is, spoilers!: Sporting Kansas City. In five games in Portland, Sporting won three times losing only once. This number doesn’t count the devine intervention of last year’s epic, Lollapolloza-esque double-post penalty kick playoff win. This is how close to it being Sporting, not the Timbers advancing to last year’s MLS Cup.
In fact the penalty shot is only the latest transcendental moment in what may be the league’s best rivalry. Keep in mind it was between these teams that, arguably, featured the most spectacular goal in league history if not North American soccer.
A healthy rivalry is essential to any occupation. Magic and Bird. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Rubber Soul inspired Brian Wilson to Pet Sounds. Pet Sounds blew Paul McCartey “out of the water” who would later say:
“Without Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper wouldn’t have happened… Pepper was an attempt to equal Pet Sounds.”
What was a Jem movie without The Misfits? An 18% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Once upon a time, there was a team in Kansas City who played in cavernous Arrowhead Stadium and were called “The Wiz.” Today they are among the best rivalries in American sports. Photo source: unknown.
According to Caleb Porter, the appeal of this rivalry it it all “pretty simple”:
“When two teams are evenly matched, when two teams are organized, when two teams have quality players at every position that makes for an even game.”
Seattle and Vancouver are close in proximity which makes for festive crowds at all matches. Kansas City may be far away but have been consistently close to the Timbers in terms of payroll, style, management, and payroll.
Perhaps the truest sign of a festering rivalry is the fact the road team has won four of the eight meetings all-time in the series.
Listening to the coaches and players of teams over the years you begin to pick up so-called fake praise. No such thing exists here. The lone exception being the Timbers Vytas Andriuskevisicus. The Lithuanian is expected be making his first MLS regular season start on Sunday, predicted the game will be “ten times better” given that the match is in Portland.
It doesn’t matter who is playing, it is always a battle when the Timbers play Sporting. Photo source: unknown.
With both sides speaking of the the two sides mix of both balance and equanimity, the onus falls to which side can find that first goal. It wasn’t until the third game between these two last year that someone actually found the net.
Both teams are well aware that the side that can get that first goal has a huge advantage and have said as much in training this week. While it only takes a moment to score a goal, especially with Portland being so dependent on the counter as of late, expect the opening fifteen minutes to be a tense affair with Sporting looking to bunker and withstand pressure without too many forays into the opposing end.
Portland meanwhile needs to reverse it’s fortunes and hopes aggression will be the blunt tool to achieve that results.
Sporting and Portland battled down to the wire in the Knockout round of last year’s playoffs. Photo courtesy of Diego Diaz.
Following a nine-game unbeaten streak, Portland has lost two straight and is desperate to gain some forward momentum. After Sunday there will only be ten games remaining to earn a final playoff spot. It’s helpful that the bottom of the Western Conference table is about as efficient as a good ol’ fashioned Springfield Nuclear Power Plant fire drill.
The inverse is that Colorado and FC Dallas are almost certainly making the playoffs. The only Western team within striking distance of the Timbers that remains on Portland’s schedule is the September 10th match against RSL. So to catch that sixth spot, Portland is going to not only win but will need help as well.
Portland Timbers
Sporting Kansas City
