The Portland Timbers will try to reverse their poor start to the 2023 season when they host the rival Seattle Sounders on Saturday night.
Portland (1-4-2, 5 points) hasn’t won since opening weekend as it navigates a rash of early-season injuries. The Timbers announced this week that impactful midfielder Eryk Williamson is lost for the season due to a torn ACL in his right knee. Sebastian Blanco, Felipe Mora and Yimmi Chara are also out injured in the attack. Dairon Asprilla and Cristhian Paredes have also missed multiple games, though they are available Saturday.
If there’s a bright spot, it’s a defense that let in only two goals in the last three matches after conceding 10 in the first three games of this 0-4-2 mwinless run. But the Timbers remain in desperate need of a momentum reversal following a 1-0 loss at the Vancouver Whitecaps last Saturday.
“The fact that this moment for us has been sensitive for not getting the results that we were looking for, for having to play with a limited group … makes it more important for us,” Portland manager Giovanni Savarese said this week. “And, hopefully, we can use this game to turn things around.”
The Sounders (5-1-1, 16 points) enter having won three in a row following an impressive 3-0 home victory over St. Louis City, in which they scored all of their goals after halftime.
Seattle’s second-half eruption was enough to secure a fifth multi-goal offensive performance of the season. And Jordan Morris still leads MLS with eight goals despite not finding the net against St. Louis.
But the Sounders might also feel a sense of urgency following three consecutive defeats against the rival Timbers in league play dating back to the 2021 season. At the very least, manager Brian Schmetzer says his team won’t be overwhelmed by any urgency the Timbers bring to the encounter.
“Three weeks in a row we’ve faced desperate teams, desperate opponents, desperate for wins, so it’s no different,” Schmetzer said. “We’ll message the same as we did against Sporting KC, the Galaxy and now this game. They’re going to be fired up. They’re at home. They’re going to want to jumpstart their season.”
–Field Level Media
