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Revolution-Timbers Preview

The New England Revolution couldn't halt their winless skid despite having back-to-back home games to close May.

They'll have to try to end it on the road and likely won't have Jermaine Jones available for Saturday night's matchup against the Portland Timbers.

New England is 0-1-4 since winning three in a row, playing to draws at home in its past two games and needing Diego Fagundez's goal Sunday to avoid its second loss in 12 contests. The Revolution (5-3-6) also lost Jones to an injured left groin in the first half of their 2-all tie with Los Angeles, and the U.S. national team midfielder won't participate in a friendly against Germany on Wednesday.

His status for upcoming Revs' games is unclear.

"We're seeing how things kind of play out," coach Jay Heaps told the team's official website. "But we feel that we have a good, strong midfield and we'll continue to move forward."

New England will try to deny Portland a third consecutive victory.

The Timbers (5-5-4) secured their first win streak of the season with a 2-1 victory at Colorado last Saturday on Jack Jewsbury's 93rd-minute goal, four minutes after the Rapids tallied the tying score.

"I think we've believed in ourselves the whole year, and I think we've been saying it every week if we haven't gotten a result we've played very well," defender Nat Borchers told the league's official website. "And I think we've believed in the quality of this group and that the soccer is going to come. It's starting to come and definitely we can be happy with the effort we put in in the last two games."

Portland has played to ties in each of the past two meetings with the Revolution after Liam Ridgewell's goal in the 65th minute forced a 1-all draw at New England in last year's lone matchup.

The Timbers haven't given up a goal in two home games against New England, including a 3-0 win in 2011 for its only victory in five all-time meetings. The Revolution's lone victory in the series came in 2012.

Portland has scored one goal in its past three home games combined while New England has allowed a total of six in its last two on the road, most recently losing 4-2 to Sporting Kansas City on May 20.

This visit to Portland is easily the farthest the Revolution will have to travel for the rest of this season with the next-longest trip to FC Dallas on July 4. It's only their second game on the West Coast after a 3-0 loss in Seattle in the season opener March 8.

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