Timbers-Fire Preview
The Portland Timbers didn't miss top scorer Fanendo Adi last weekend, ending their longest losing streak in four years with their highest-scoring game of the season.
Adi's status is uncertain Saturday night as the Timbers face a different kind of challenge, a road match against a Chicago Fire team that's one of the best defensive clubs in the league.
Reigning MLS Cup champion Portland (4-3-6) has been ravaged by injuries but managed to overcome its latest one. Adi, tied with Toronto's Sebastian Giovinco and New York City FC's David Villa for the league lead with eight goals, was sidelined Sunday after injuring his hamstring in a 2-1 loss to NYCFC on May 15. Timbers coach Caleb Porter had said the injury is not considered serious.
Portland had no trouble pressing on in its first test without Adi, snapping a three-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory over Cascadia Cup rival Vancouver.
''When you have a good group of guys and you don't win games you get a little angry,'' Porter said. ''Our guys looks looked like they were confident this week and had that little bit of hunger to go into this game and prove that we're better than we've been. These guys know we're a good team.''
Winning on the road would further reinforce Porter's assessment.
The Timbers are 0-4-2 away from Portland after tying for the league lead with seven road victories last season.
The club has never had problems facing the Fire, however, going 4-0-2 all time. Chicago is the only current MLS team to have never defeated Portland.
Although the Timbers have history on their side and the Fire (2-5-4) have a MLS-low 10 points, Porter knows his club can't take them lightly.
"Nothing's guaranteed in this league," he said. "The worst thing we can do is look at Chicago and look at where they're at, and because we got the result last week think that all of a sudden this is going to be an easy game. We can't relax. It's going to be a tricky game. They're a good enough team and organized defensively."
The Fire's 13 goals allowed is among the lowest totals in the league while Portland's 24 is tied for the highest.
Chicago recorded its fourth shutout last Saturday with a 1-0 win over Houston, ending a three-game losing streak for its first victory in seven matches.
"We have just two wins, but we are very tough to play against, very tough to score goals against," coach Veljko Paunovic told the team's official website. "That's our identity at this point so we build on that."
Arturo Alvarez recorded his first MLS goal since 2010 as the Fire scored for the first time in three games.
Portland won last season's lone matchup 1-0 on Aug. 7 behind Adi's second-half goal.
The Timbers will be without Darlington Nagbe, who has been called up to the U.S. national team for Saturday's match against Bolivia in Kansas City. Nagbe scored his first goal of the season last week and is tied with Lucas Melano and Diego Valeri for the team lead with three assists.