Portland Timbers vs. Chivas USA | MLS Match Preview

PORTLAND TIMBERS vs CHIVAS USA
PROVIDENCE PARK, Portland, Ore.
April 12, 2014 (WEEK 6, MLS Game #51)
7:30 p.m. PT (KPDX/Estrella)

Two Western Conference clubs looking for a victory to get back on track meet on Saturday evening when the Portland Timbers play host to Chivas USA at Providence Park. The Timbers are still searching for win No. 1 of 2014, after being hauled back into a late 4-4 draw by arch-rivals Seattle Sounders FC at home last weekend. Chivas USA have now gone four games without a win after opening the season with a victory, following their 3-0 home loss to arch-rivals LA Galaxy.

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REFEREE: Baldomero Toledo. AR1 (bench): Matthew Kreitzer; AR2 (opposite): Kevin Klinger; 4th: Daniel Radford
MLS Career: 168 games; FC/gm: 25.2; Y/gm: 3.4; R: 60; pens: 62

SUSPENDED: none
DISABLED LIST: none
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none

HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (8 meetings): Timbers 3 wins, 11 goals … Chivas USA 4 wins, 6 goals … Ties 1
AT PORTLAND (4 meetings): Timbers 2 wins, 5 goals … Chivas USA 2 wins, 3 goals … Ties 0
RETURN MATCHES: 5/28: Chivas USA vs. Portland Timbers, 7:30 p.m. PT; 8/9: Portland Timbers vs. Chivas USA, 7:30 p.m. PT

LAST YEAR (MLS):
5/12: POR 3, CHV 0 (Wallace 34; Valeri 70; W. Johnson 92+)
9/14: CHV 1, POR 1 (de la Fuente 23 – Valeri 50)
10/26: CHV 0, POR 5 (Valeri 16, 29; Wallace 34; R. Johnson 72; W. Johnson 76)

• The Timbers won two of three meetings between the teams a season ago, with one draw, outscoring Chivas USA 9-1. The season before, Chivas USA had won all three meetings between the teams.
• When the Timbers defeated Chivas USA 5-0 last Oct. 26, it was their first win ever at StubHub Center. They were 0-5-2 combined previously in Carson against both Chivas USA and the LA Galaxy.
• Coaches record: Caleb Porter vs. CHV: P3 W2 L0 T1 … Wilmer Cabrera vs. POR: first game

PORTLAND TIMBERS
The Portland Timbers saw their winless start to 2014 extended in the cruelest fashion, Seattle Sounders FC hitting for two late goals to leave the teams in a 4-4 draw on Saturday afternoon at Providence Park. The Timbers are in eighth place in the Western Conference with 3 points from 5 games.

LAST MATCH

• Sounders FC opened the scoring in the third minute when a corner kick was served in by Jalil Anibaba and slammed into the roof of the goal by an unmarked Kenny Cooper. But Portland answered six minutes later when Diego Chara stripped a defender, ran through the defense down the middle of the field and slotted home a shot from outside the area.
• The Timbers took the lead in the 14th minute. Diego Valeri took a pass from Michael Harrington in the corner of the goal area with his back to the goal, spun away and chipped perfectly with his left foot off the crossbar and over the line. But the scores were level again in the 24th minute when Obafemi Martins found a streaking Clint Dempsey, who slotted past Timbers goalkeeper Andrew Weber as he charged off his line.
• The Timbers hit for two quick goals early in the second half, the first coming when Chara found open space in midfield, hared forward and uncorked a right-footed blast from 25 yards out that sailed into the top corner. Just a minute later, Maximiliano Urruti stripped a defender on the left wing and left fly a drive that curled just inside the far post and outside the reach of a diving Stefan Frei.
• But Sounders FC still had another answer. First, in the 86th minute, a cross from Lamar Neagle received a slight flick by Martins and Dempsey tapped in from close range. Then, substitute Ben Zemanski tripped DeAndre Yedlin in the area and was whistled for a penalty. Dempsey calmly converted the spot kick to complete the hat trick and comeback.
• Timbers head coach Caleb Porter made two changes that suffered a 2-1 loss to FC Dallas at Toyota Stadium. Alvas Powell came into the back four for Jack Jewsbury, and Kalif Alhassan started in place of Gaston Fernandez.
• PORTLAND TIMBERS (4-1-2-3): Andrew Weber - Alvas Powell, Norberto Paparatto, Pa Modou Kah, Michael Harrington - Diego Valeri - Diego Chara, Will Johnson (Steve Zakuani 89) - Kalif Alhassan, Maximiliano Urruti (Frederic Piquionne 84), Darlington Nagbe (Ben Zemanski 85).

TEAM NEWS

• With the incredible late draw with Seattle, the Timbers had their season-opening winless streak extended to five games, their longest to start the year in four MLS seasons.
• “We had our foot on their throat at 4-2, could have got the fifth goal. We had several chances, but you shouldn’t need to get the fifth goal when you’re up 4-2,” said Timbers head coach Caleb Porter. “For me, the way we played in the attack was encouraging, but the mistakes that we made in around our box, in around our backs, as encouraging as our performance was, that part of our team was very discouraging and concerning.”
• Coming into the Seattle match, Diego Chará had scored two goals in 91 career league matches in MLS. Chará scored twice against Seattle – both on stunning long-range strikes from well outside the box.
• “We should have won that game. So to score two goals for me is good, but I’d rather see a win than see two goals,” Chara said. “ … It is definitely special to score two goals on my birthday, but like I said earlier, to win the game would be greater satisfaction. We have to keep working hard until we do that.”
• Diego Valeri scored his first goal of the season, netting in the first half. Valeri had 10 goals a season ago, his first in MLS.
• Maximiliano Urruti scored his first goal of the season, his second in 12 MLS games. His first came last Sept. 29, for the Timbers, vs. the LA Galaxy.
• “Diego Valeri, I thought was back to himself, absolutely tremendous today, got his first goal, he will be unlocked now. Maxi Urruti, I thought really had a solid game, got his first goal. I thought Kalif [Alhassan] and Darlington [Nagbe] were very threatening. I thought the midfield, Will Johnson and [Diego] Chara, were also tremendous,” said Porter.
• All four goals scored by the Timbers came from open play. Of their first three, just one had come from run of play.
• “We played better in the attack and pressed better as well, and that’s a big part of our DNA. It’s being dynamic, it’s being skillful and intelligent in how we connect and combine, but you have to be dynamic 1-v-1 and you have to be dynamic in penetrating and threatening off the ball,” said Porter. “If you don’t, you die in beauty, you have too much of the ball, you don’t penetrate enough and you don’t have enough purpose and you don’t create enough. I think having two wingers that run at guys and wingers that get in behind helped us.”
• For a second consecutive match, the Timbers allowed the match-deciding goal in the final 10 minutes, after Mauro Diaz hit for the 84th-minute game-winner in the 2-1 loss to FC Dallas.
• “We’ve got to be able to shut that game down, and shutting it down means you’re making plays, stopping guys from serving, you’re tracking runners, because late in the game you know guys are going to get a little bit more reckless throwing numbers forward, throwing balls forward,” Porter said. “To win games, we have to stop guys from getting service in the box and be able to cut off crosses, because late in games, this is what teams will do.”

CHIVAS USA
Chivas USA returned home and had their winless run extended to four games, falling 3-0 to the LA Galaxy in the first SuperClásico at StubHub Center. Chivas USA sit in sixth place in the Western Conference with 5 points from 5 games.

LAST MATCH

• The Galaxy put the game in a 20-minute flurry on either side of halftime. First, in the 37th minute, Galaxy right back Dan Gargan sent a header into the box that snuck past Chivas USA goalkeeper Dan Kennedy to a waiting Robbie Keane, who walked the ball over the line for the opener.
• Four minutes later, Stefan Ishizaki collected a well-placed pass from Juninho, raced past the Chivas defense and hit home with a stellar chip to the far-side netting.
• Nine minutes into the second half, it was 3-0 to the Galaxy. After a give-and-go from Keane to Landon Donovan, Baggio Husidic found just enough space at the top of the box and beat Kennedy with a low drive to the left corner.
• Chivas USA head coach Wilmer Cabrera made two changes to the team that reached a late 1-1 draw with the New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena. Andrew Jean-Baptiste came into the back four for Tony Lochhead, and Luke Moore started in place of Leandro Barrera.
• CHIVAS USA (4-4-2): Dan Kennedy - Eric Avila, Eriq Zavaleta, Carlos Bocanegra, Andrew Jean-Baptiste - Mauro Rosales, Agustin Pelletieri, Carlos Alvarez, Thomas McNamara (Kris Tyrpak 66) - Luke Moore (Leandro Barrera 46), Erick Torres (Adolfo Bautista 79).

TEAM NEWS

• Chivas USA had their winless run extended to four games in the loss to the Galaxy. The Galaxy have a six-game undefeated streak alive in SuperClásicos.
• “Since I’ve been here, this was the worst game,” Chivas USA head coach Wilmer Cabrera said. “As a team, individually and collectively, we didn’t play well. From the beginning it didn’t feel good and the team never looked good. This was not a game we could take lightly, especially with the LA Galaxy. They outplayed us and we were never a threat. We never came back. It was a very, very bad day for all of us.”
• Chivas USA have now allowed 10 goals for the season, through five games, tied for most in MLS along with the Portland Timbers.
• “I think you can see, even up to this point, you can see the quality of players that we have; it’s definitely a different group. We’ve got to make sure that we’re tough. We knew this was going to be a hard season, and mentally we have to stay motivated and after a game like today, we should have everything to prove,” said goalkeeper Dan Kennedy.
• Erick Torres saw his streak of four games with a goal come to an end, as Chivas were held without a goal for the first time this season. The MLS record for goals from the start of the season was 5 consecutive games, set by Brian McBride in 1998.
• “I think we have to see we haven’t played that bad throughout the year, so today we didn’t find a good shape, we didn’t find the ball, we didn’t combine, we didn’t create options,” said Cabrera. Said Torres: “Psychologically, you’re left hurt. We’ve got to try to lift ourselves and see what comes ahead. We don’t have a choice but to close our mouths and work hard.”
• Andrew Jean-Baptiste made his Chivas USA debut, coming in at left back in favor of Tony Lochhead. “It’s a new position. I have not played outside back in some years, but whatever coach needs me in I’m going to just go out there and try and put in 100 percent,” Jean-Baptiste said.
• For the first match this season, Leandro Barrera was held out of the first XI, coming on at halftime off the substitutes’ bench in place of Luke Moore. “Our lines were too separated,” Torres said. “We came out with too much respect for what the Galaxy can do offensively. We can’t let that happen.”