Your Wednesday Kickoff: Austin FC need defenders, Portland Timbers need goals

What you need to know

Portland Timbers to sign Ferencváros forward Boli

The Portland Timbers are signing Ivorian forward Franck Boli from Hungarian club Ferencváros, sources tell MLSsoccer.com. Portland have been looking to add another option up top during the Primary Transfer Window and ultimately landed on Boli, via a deal that isn't guaranteed long-term, to maximize cap flexibility moving forward. The Timbers also remain in the market to add a center back after trading Bill Tuiloma to Charlotte FC last week. Boli, 29, has 42 goals and 11 assists in 126 appearances with Ferencváros, a heavyweight in the Hungarian top flight. He scored twice in 77 minutes in the UEFA Champions League group stage in 2020-21. This year, he has three goals in 428 minutes in league play for the club.

Austin FC center back Cascante out with long-term with injury

Austin FC have confirmed an early-season injury blow, announcing Tuesday that starting center back Julio Cascante is sidelined indefinitely after suffering a severe left adductor strain. The 29-year-old Costa Rican defender will be re-evaluated in eight weeks after sustaining the injury during Saturday's 3-2 Matchday 1 loss to St. Louis CITY SC. Austin confirmed Cascante won't require surgery.

Chicago Fire sign Greek striker Koutsias to U22 Initiative deal

Chicago Fire FC have signed Greek youth international striker Georgios Koutsias. The 19-year-old arrives from PAOK. Koutsias, who will occupy a U22 Initiative roster slot, is under contract through the 2026 MLS season with an option for 2027. He'll also take up an international roster position.

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Small-Sided: Maybe actually worrying about Austin, Portland in perpetual Portlandhood, and other midweek MLS notes

The season has officially started, but the offseason is unofficially still going. There’s been enough roster activity this week to constitute a quick Small-Sided to get you one day closer to Saturday. Starting with…

1

Actually worrying about Austin? Maybe? Like not in a joking way?

The first few weeks of the season occupy a weird section of the MLS analysis calendar. We move from offseason speculation into a liminal space where we’ve actually seen what teams look like on the field, but don’t have nearly enough info to say anything all that meaningful about it. Yeah, we can overreact and say teams are doomed after a Matchday 1 loss, but we all know that, in MLS, things change quickly and the speed at which those changes happen, plus a playoff system, means you really only have to be good at soccer for like two months of the season.

So don’t take me too seriously when I say this, but do understand there are some actual reasons for concern about Austin. Center back Julio Cascante is out for at least two months with a severe adductor strain. At least.

Adductor strains seem to have a tendency to drag on, even after you get past the initial recovery timeline. That’s bad news for a team that already had questions in central defense entering the year.

Former Austin center back Ruben Gabrielsen headed back home to Norway this offseason, leaving a hole at center back Austin patched up with Leo Väisänen from Swedish club IF Elfsborg. Again, we’re one game in. We don’t have any meaningful data yet. We have no real idea if he’s up to the task of replacing Gabrielsen. And now his job just got a lot more difficult as he integrates into the team.

On top of that, there’s whatever is going on right in front of the center backs with DP midfielder Alexander Ring. Eighteen-year-old Owen Wolff started ahead of him Saturday, and it seems like Ring may have outright lost the starting job. We’re now talking about unknowns or question marks at three key positions. For a team trying to surpass the highs of 2022, that’s a tough start. Not to say they’re doomed or anything, but they are facing a few more obstacles than expected for a team that seemed to have strength in continuity heading into the season.

Again, it’s Matchday 1. Austin are good enough to handle this and be fine and we may not even remember any of this in three months. But it is something to keep an eye on.

2

The dream of “A nine, please” is alive in Portland

The Timbers are reportedly taking a shot at another striker! It seems Ivorian forward Franck Boli will be joining Jaroslaw Niezgoda, Felipe Mora and Nathan Fogaça as part of a striker unit that might be one of the deepest in the league. But the Timbers are looking for a little more than that. It feels like they’ve been searching for a game-changing No. 9 for even longer than the Red Bulls at this point. I mean, they maybe had one in Jeremy Ebobisse, but they didn’t really play him there.

Anyway, I have no idea how Boli will translate to MLS, but I do know Portland’s first match of the year went down in an extremely Portland way. The Timbers, with their new DP No. 10 Evander making his debut, beat Sporting KC, 1-0, despite generating just 0.5 xG worth of chances. They do this all the time. So much so that I’ve been making a joke about Timbers playing games that end 1-0 with the xG totals finishing at like 1.1 to 0.8 for more than a year now.

I guess my point here is, if Evander, Boli, and plugging in Santiago Moreno back into the starting lineup doesn’t result in that trend changing, we eventually just have to concede Portland are just like this. This year feels like a final exam for the Timbers’ set-up. And if they don’t get the results they’re looking for in attack even with all these seemingly dynamic pieces, it’s fair to start wondering if they ever will.

3

Tiki-taka

Earlier this week we found out Rapids striker Diego Rubio will miss 2-5 weeks after an initial surgery. After losing 4-0 to Seattle, Colorado might be the only team who had a tougher opening week than Austin. Hopefully when Rubio returns he looks like the Rubio of 2022 and the Rapids can get on track.

Over the last week, Chicago Fire FC have added U22 striker Georgios Koutsias and Kei Kamara to their attacking front. We still haven’t seen the Fire in action this year, but it’s interesting to see them add to that particular unit with an MLS vet and a U22. If they’ve found the right guys here, they still have an open DP spot to add elsewhere. If they get that right too, then their roster starts to look a lot more threatening. It could be a step in the right direction is all I’m saying. Or, ya know, they just add another striker with that open DP spot like Tom and others have reported. I’m not sure I quite see the plan yet with having four No. 9s, but we’ll find out I guess.

The Galaxy moved quickly to find their Julian Araujo replacement. Lucas Calegari has come in on loan from Brazil’s Fluminese, and, like Araujo, will occupy a U22 slot. Nothing really to add here, just seems like an appropriate move. Good work everybody. Kind of felt like I needed to end with something positive after being such a bummer on this Kickoff. Thanks, Galaxy.

Other things

Toronto FC, defender Chung mutually terminate contract: Toronto FC and defender Kadin Chung have mutually agreed to terminate Chung's contract. The 24-year-old joined Toronto before the 2022 MLS season and appeared in eight regular-season matches (five starts), posting one assist in 451 minutes of play. He also appeared as a substitute in Toronto's postponed 2020 Canadian Championship (played in 2022), subbing on in the 65th minute of TFC's penalty-shootout win.

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