The Portland Timbers looking for their first win on the road against a hardened St. Louis City
(10) Portland Timbers (2,5,2,8 points) vs (1) St. Louis City SC (6,2,1, 19 points)
Saturday, April 29, 2023 KO 5:30 PM PST
City Park, St. Louis, Missouri
Portland Timbers Briefly
What horrible luck last weekend against FC Cincinnati. Despite seeing a renewed Evander having a one-of-a-kind game and creating opportunities at goal, the Portland Timbers fell short.
In the end, the Timbers’ rally fell short even with a number of opportunities at goal the Rose City side had in the whole course of the game with a whooping seven shots off target and four on target and three blocked.
Finally, we are seeing more participation of Evander and last week against Cincinnati, the Timbers couldn’t convert all of the opportunities they had at goal. But in the end, the Timbers scored through Dairon Aspirilla’s late goal.
With a two-game road stand, the Timbers are looking for their first win of the season away from home, one way or another.
Hopefully, the Timbers will have Gio back in the bench for Portland, as Carlos Llamosa his assistant did an amazing job, but falling short of getting a win over FC Cincinnati. My conclusion is that Carlos Llamosa should be managing his own team.
Maybe we can see the return of Dario Zuparic in the starting eleven alongside Claudio Bravo to complete the backfield foursome when they along with the offense now doing its job, great things for sure can happen.
Back at Providence Park, City SC became lucky when they won over the Timbers by 2-1 and the Rose City side seemed a bit feeble when they play against expansion teams, but with a good strategy and planning, we can see a possible upset in the making.
Now that Evander is becoming that number 10 player and Santiago Moreno’s game is coming back, with Dairon Aspirilla leading the way, maybe Franck Boli and Nathan Fogaca can start shining in the frontal attack.
A must-win game for the Portland Timbers against City SC, they have all the elements for a win but in the end playing with coordination and as a team may yield positive results for the remainder of the season.
St. Louis City SC Briefly
What a heartbreaking draw against Colorado in Commerce City! Still, a point is a point and kudos to their amazing goalkeeper Roman Burki having another stellar moment under the arches.
However, in the ending minutes in Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, the unthinkable happened when a late goal from Michael Barrios in stoppage time denied City SC of three valuable points.
When City SC play at home somehow, they look invincible and unstoppable. Ask that to a surprised FC Cincinnati getting routed at home by the St. Louis crew in City Park.
Not bad for an expansion team doing a good job and maintaining itself in the top spots as they currently are running first in the table tied with Seattle and a point advantage over defending champions LAFC.
A directive that built a team from scratch and with very dependable players that are looking to carry this team not only to the postseason, but maybe they can go all the way to the MLS Cup.
Not a bad start of the season for the new Boys in Major League Soccer, making all sorts of headlines.
Meetings
03/11/2023 Portland Timbers 1-2 St. Louis City SC
Forecast
The Portland Timbers needs to convert when they create chances, playing in unison is a must
