Vancouver Whitecaps vs. Portland Timbers | 2020 MLS Match Preview

2020 MLS Regular Season – Week 14
Vancouver Whitecaps FC vs. Portland Timbers
Providence Park – Portland
September 27 – 10:00 PM ET

TV: TSN2

STREAMING: MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in US

LOCAL TV:ROOT Sports NW

The Vancouver Whitecaps won't enjoy any home field advantage Sunday night when they "host" the Portland Timbers in the latest clash between Cascadia rivals at Providence Park Sunday. The 'Caps, Montreal Impact and Toronto FC will play U.S.-based home games for the remainder of the regular season because of travel restrictions and quarantine requirements.

The Whitecaps (5W-8L-0D) are coming off an embarrassing 6-0 thumping at LAFC Wednesday night, while the Timbers (6W-4L-3D) are unbeaten in their last three, including back-to-back wins after beating Seattle 1-0 Wednesday.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC

It was a nightmare start for the 'Caps, who fell into a 4-0 hole after 14 minutes and trailed 5-0 at halftime. Bradley Wright-Phillips scored twice, Vancouver had a pair of own goals and it was an overall night to forget as the Whitecaps' modest winning streak came crashing down.

Suffice to say Vancouver CEO Axel Schuster was none too pleased.

“I was totally pissed yesterday. I was upset. I had to be careful with myself not to say the wrong things. So I didn't speak about the game yesterday,” the German told reporters in a conference call on Thursday afternoon. “I'm kicking everybody here in their ass to become better every day and to do better and to find solutions and to find answers.

“These mistakes that happened yesterday should not happen again. Whatever the reason was for the mistakes, and whatever the reason was for not being ready for this game, because that's my [summary] of yesterday: we have not been ready to play this game, and ready means a lot of things. We have not been ready physically, because it was one of our two worst physical outputs or physical performances in this season. This should be one of our strengths. We have not been ready at kickoff. We have not been ready, organized. We have not been ready for a situation that we go down in this game. We have not looked ready in mental freshness. So there are a lot of things in that.”

Updated team roster
Injury Report:
- OUT: Maxime Crépeau (GK) - fractured left thumb
- OUT: Jasser Khmiri (D) - undisclosed injury
- OUT: Russell Teibert (M) - undisclosed injury
- OUT: Thomas Hasal (GK) - undisclosed injury
Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: None

Portland Timbers

The Timbers celebrated their first match at Providence Park in nearly three weeks with a 1-0 victory over the Sounders. Yimmi Chara remained hot with his third goal in as many games and Gio Savarese's second-half adjustment of playing a deeper defensive line frustrated the Sounders. As a result, Portland moved level on points with Seattle atop the Western Conference table.

"The team was solid defensively," Savarese said after the match. "We closed all the spaces [in the second half] and I think the first half was a little bit more open. ... It was outstanding so very important three points for us against a good team."

Updated team roster
Injury Report:
- OUT: Dairon Asprilla (M) - left knee injury
- OUT: Blake Bodily (M) - right thigh injury
- OUT: Sebastian Blanco (M) - right ACL injury
- QUESTIONABLE: Chris Duvall (D) - right lower leg injury
- QUESTIONABLE: Jeff Attinella (GK) - lower back spasms
- QUESTIONABLE: Bill Tuiloma (D) - left thigh injury
- QUESTIONABLE: Tomas Conechny (M) - right shoulder injury
Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: Eryk Williamson (M)
International duty: None