Game 30: Vancouver Whitecaps v. Portland Timbers

By: mao | September 30th, 2010

   

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The fourth and final Cascadia Cup match of the 2010 season will take place at Swangard Stadium on Saturday as Portland Timbers travel north to face Vancouver Whitecaps. The match is the final regular season tie between the old rivals before both make the move up to Major League Soccer in 2011. A lot is on the line, though mainly for Vancouver, as their playoff position hangs in the balance. The Timbers are guaranteed to finish in the top four regardless of the result.

In last weekend’s 3-1 rout of Crystal Palace Baltimore, Gavin Wilkinson rested many of his starting XI in favor of younger players and debutants. The strategy worked as several key starters did not have to travel across the country for the third of this season-ending four-game road trip. Now Portland will have a rested line-up for what they hope will be their tenth consecutive match without a loss.

With one goal against Vancouver, Bright Dike can reach ten and give the Timbers two double-digit goal scorers this season. The Whitecaps have the league’s second best defense, giving up only twenty goals in twenty-nine games this season. But Portland has managed three against them over the first three Cascadia Cup matches, including Futty Danso’s late winner in Burnaby back in July.

There is a very real possibility of Vancouver finishing in fifth place in the playoff table, a scenario that would see the Timbers and Whitecaps play three times in the space of eight days, twice in Burnaby. Though that outcome will not be known until after the results of this weekend, Portland need to examine their tactics as this Saturday’s match-up could be a barometer of how the Timbers might fare in the quarter-final round of the playoffs.

Category: Cascadia Cup, Portland Timbers, USSF Division II

   

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Comments  

• Brenton |  October 1st, 2010 at 8:42 pm

  
  
  

  We will crush you! (See my preview for why we won’t crush you.)

  

• Lucas |  October 2nd, 2010 at 9:38 am

  
  
  

  Brenton sent me over here to trash talk, but honestly I don’t have much bad to say. Really I’m just happy we don’t have to play those weasels in Montreal three times in a week. However, by the second game I’ll probably have grown to dislike the Timbers more, so while I’m still in a friendly mood: good luck in the game tonight, and in the MLS next year, and in this year’s playoff as you pursue your first ever championship of anything.

  

• Brenton |  October 3rd, 2010 at 8:52 pm

  
  
  

  Oooh, snuck that underhanded insult in there. Nice work, Lucas.

  Well done on the season. I really enjoyed the match, and unlike Montreal your players actually seemed intent on playing and winning rather than fouling and whining.

  

• mao |  October 4th, 2010 at 6:36 am

  
  
  

  Glad to hear you guys don’t hate us as much as those bastards from Montreal (sorry Franck). It was a pretty chippy game there for a while on Saturday but I thought shared points was probably a fair result. We obviously would have preferred to win three of our four Cascadia Cup matches this year but we’ll take two wins and two draws.

  But your point about the playoffs is a fair one. The Timbers have a long history of strong seasons followed by playoff choking. Hopefully that will change this year, this side is as deep as any we’ve had and easily as talented as any group since the NASL.

  

• Brenton |  October 4th, 2010 at 10:20 am

  
  
  

  Yah, I like your chances in the play-offs. I think our round will come down to one or two defensive mistakes.