(3) Portland Timbers (11,6,6, 39 points) vs (6) FC Dallas (9,6,7, 28 points)
Sunday, November 22, 2020 7:00 PM PST/ 10:00 PM EST
Providence Park, Portland, Oregon
Round One Playoffs Western Conference
Portland Timbers Briefly
Despite Sebastian Blanco and Jaroslaw Niezgoda out for the season, the Portland Timbers are determined to fight this postseason.
The team went against all odds winning the MLS is Back Tournament back in July silencing all its doubters converting what looked like a hapless season. Now, the Timbers ready to rock the postseason.
The 2019 postseason ended abruptly against RSL. This time, they are looking for another repeat on FCD like they did on the 2015 conference finals, eliminating them and boosting their levels of confidence and winning it all!
Jeremy Ebobisse might return to the lineup as Felipe Mora and Andy Polo from international duty with the Chilean and Peruvian National Teams, respectively.
With no meetings in the regular season, Giovanni Savarese’s has to rely on game videos to study its foe up closely, and try to implement a very stingy defensive game as well try to see if his team can dominate the match.
One, by not allowing the opposite team to counter and not allowing it to display its dynamic attack as well not leaving any open spaces and seal the deal by preserving the win in the end.
This is a team I seriously can dub as the comeback kids as the Timbers don’t give up in spite of past performances in the season where they learned their lesson and are now looking forward to another miraculous run in the postseason.
Once again, it’s showtime for this team’s top gun. Thankfully, Diego Chara is back from his suspension and looking hungry as ever and ready to seal the deal.
All eyes will be on Valeri as the leader as always in the Rose City attack and top orchestrator up front, he won’t be alone with Dairon Aspirilla and Yimmi Chara setting the tone in the offensive game.
Another element will be the defensive game the Green and Gold will put on all evening long, with the responsibility of not allowing FCD to display its game and closing all the spaces, and not allowing them any liberties offensively.
With a positive record overall over the big D team, still, come the playoffs the Timbers shouldn’t allow any room for error and have the visitors open the score early and display a must perfect game from start to its end.
Probable Lineup:
GK Steve Clark, Marco Farfan, Larry’s Mabiala, Dario Zuparic, Jorge Villafaña; Diego Chara, Eryk Williamson; Dairon Aspirilla, Diego Valeri, Yimmi Chara; Jeremy Ebobisse
FC Dallas Briefly
2015 is still in FC Dallas’s’ minds after being eliminated by the Timbers in the Western Conference finals and the Rose City team going on to become the league champion.
So far, for Hoops manager, Luchi Gonzalez has done a magnificent job at the helm of the Big D team, with a mix of experienced and young players in his starting eleven.
The Colombians and Brazilians in its main core are being role models to several of this team’s younger players that have come from their academy touted as one of the best in MLS.
Although both teams are part of the Western Conference, the teams never played each this season in part because FC Dallas was unable to participate in the MLS is Back Tournament due to a COVID outbreak within their ranks prior to the start of that tournament.
Still, this match will have a lot of fireworks because whenever these two teams play one another we see the levels of competition escalate.
As FC Dallas losing their last regular match of the season against Minnesota United, something tells me that the Hoops will come with a lot of hunger to obtain a valuable win and make a move to the next rounds.
Probable Lineup:
GK Phelipe, Bryan Reynolds, Matt Hedges, Bressan, Ryan Hollingshead; Andres Ricaurte, Thiago Santos; Fabrice Jean Picault, Jesus Ferreira, Santiago Mosquera; Franco Jara
Meetings
June 30, 2019, Portland Timbers 1-0 FC Dallas
April 13, 2019, FC Dallas 2-1 Portland Timbers
Prediction
Even match and one exciting match lining up between these two titans looking to move on
Portland Timbers
