Game 29: Crystal Palace Baltimore v. Portland Timbers

An eight-game unbeaten streak goes on the line on Saturday when Portland Timbers travel across the country to face Crystal Palace Baltimore. The two clubs have met three times earlier this season with Palace claiming the first two and the Timbers winning 3-0 in the most recent edition. Those two victories for Palace are fully one-third of their season total, leaving them tied for the least number of wins in the league. Baltimore have lost six straight, including being outscored 0-16 in the first five of that run.

With an important tie away to Vancouver Whitecaps in the season’s final regular season game, Gavin Wilkinson is planning on resting many of his starting XI in Baltimore. James Marcelin will already miss the game due to yellow card accumulation and reports are that Ian Joy, Stephen Keel, Steve Cronin, Johan Claesson, Quavas Kirk and Taka Suzuki will not even make the trip to the east coast. That combination would suggest that players like Josh Cameron, Doug DeMartin, Matt Pyzdrowski and Derek Gaudet could see significant minutes this weekend. There is also the possibility that Kevin Goldthwaite could finally debut in defense for the Timbers. And it is all but guaranteed that young Khalif Alhassan will feature for the green and gold.

It is obvious that Wilkinson is putting much more emphasis on the October 2 meeting with NASL-leading Vancouver than bottom-feeding Palace. But risking a long unbeaten streak seems like it could be disruptive if the Timbers’ second team does not produce a positive result. For once this season Portland have momentum and it has come at a key point in the season. Only six points separate the Timbers from the top of the table, and though there is no chance of Portland winning the league in dramatic fashion on the last day of the season, the turnaround from just two months ago has been remarkable. Getting starters healthy ahead of the playoffs is important, but so is continuing the run of form that has produced five of the Timbers twelve victories and four consecutive clean sheets.

Category: Portland Timbers, USSF Division II