PORTLAND TIMBERS vs CHIVAS USA
JELD-WEN FIELD, Portland, Ore.
July 28, 2012 (WEEK 21, MLS Game #204)
11 pm ET / 8 p.m. PT (ROOT-NW; PT; KWHY)
A pair of clubs looking to shake off recent defeats meet on Saturday evening when the Portland Timbers play host to Chivas USA at JELD-WEN Field. The Timbers are coming off a crushing 5-0 loss at FC Dallas last weekend, extending their road winless streak. Chivas USA saw their four-game unbeaten stretch come to an end, dropping a 3-1 decision to the LA Galaxy in the second SuperClásico of the season.
REFEREE: Silviu Petrescu. SAR (bench): Mike Kampmeinert; JAR (opposite): Marco Arruda; 4th: Jesus Cisneros
MLS Career: 49 games; FC/gm: 27.5; Y/gm: 3.8; R: 8; pens: 7
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INJURY REPORT:
- PORTLAND TIMBERS – OUT: DF Eric Brunner (concussion symptoms); DF Chris Taylor (R hip surgery); PROBABLE: DF Steven Smith (R patellar tendinitis)
- CHIVAS USA – OUT: MF Marvin Iraheta (L knee ACL); MF Oswaldo Minda (L shoulder); MF Peter Vagenas (R hamstring strain); MF Ryan Smith (R hamstring strain); FW PROBABLE: Juan Agudelo (L knee)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: POR: Jake Gleeson (New Zealand; Olympic Games)
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
- SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: POR: Jack Jewsbury, Lovel Palmer
- SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: POR: Kris Boyd, Diego Chara, Steven Smith, Kosuke Kimura, Franck Songo’o … CHV: Ryan Smith
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (4 meetings): Timbers 1 win, 2 goals … Chivas USA 3 wins, 4 goals …Ties 0
AT PORTLAND (2 meetings): Timbers 1 win, 2 goals … Chivas USA 1 win, 3 goals … Ties 0
2012 (MLS):
4/7: POR 1, CHV 2 (Boyd 16 – Moreno 48, LaBrocca 82)
7/18: CHV 1, POR (Bolaños 16)
• The teams are meeting for the third time this season, and Chivas USA have won the first two. A late goal from Nick LaBrocca gave Chivas USA a 2-1 win April 7 at JELD-WEN Field, then Miller Bolaños scored the game’s lone goal for a Chivas victory on July 18 at The Home Depot Center.
• The teams split 1-0 decisions, each winning at home, in Portland’s inaugural season in MLS in 2011. Portland also won a US Open Cup play-in match between the teams.
• Coaches record: Gavin Wilkinson vs. CHV: P1 W0 L1 D0 … Robin Fraser vs. POR: P4 W3 L1 D0
LAST MEETING
• The game's only goal came in the 16th minute. Timbers goalkeeper Troy Perkins got his hands to a shot from Ryan Smith on the right of the area, but Miller Bolaños was quickest on the back side to drive the rebound into the goal.
• CHIVAS USA (4-2-3-1): Dan Kennedy - James Riley, John Valencia, Danny Califf, Ante Jazic - Nick LaBrocca, Ben Zemanski - Miller Bolanos (Jorge Villafana 62), Paolo Cardozo (Peter Vagenas 75), Ryan Smith - Alejandro Moreno (Juan Pablo Angel 56).
• PORTLAND TIMBERS (4-2-3-1): Troy Perkins - Kosuke Kimura, Hanyer Mosquera, Mamadou Danso, Steven Smith - Jack Jewsbury, Diego Chara - Kalif Alhassan (Danny Mwanga 77), Darlington Nagbe (Franck Songo'o 61), Eric Alexander (Sal Zizzo 70) - Kris Boyd.
PORTLAND TIMBERS
The Portland Timbers lost their fourth consecutive game, suffering a 5-0 defeat to FC Dallas on Saturday evening at FC Dallas Stadium. The Timbers are in ninth place in the Western Conference with 19 points from 20 games.
LAST MATCH
HIGHLIGHTS: DAL 5, POR 0
• The home side were in the lead in the 16th minute, when Jair Benitez sent in a low, hard cross that Portland defender Hanyer Mosquera was unlucky to deflect past goalkeeper Troy Perkins.
• FCD doubled their advantage 10 minutes later. Zach Loyd laid off a David Ferreira pass on the right side, and Andrew Jacobson ran onto the lay-off and blasted a shot past Perkins from outside the box.
• FC Dallas made it 3-0 three minutes into the second half. Ferreira fed Jackson in the center of the park and the Brazilian midfielder beat two Timbers before sending in a shot that deflected off Futty Danso and into the Portland goal.
• The score was 4-0 in the 69th minute when Scott Sealy was played through on goal by Jackson and slipped it past Perkins from the heart of the area.
• The rout was completed in the 81st minute, when homegrown forward Ruben Luna scored his second career goal, turning home a Jackson cross from close range.
• Timbers interim head coach Gavin Wilkinson made four changes to the side that fell 1-0 to Chivas USA at The Home Depot Center. Mike Chabala came into the back four for Steven Smith, and Franck Songo'o, Danny Mwanga and Mike Fucito came into the side in place of Kris Boyd , Jack Jewsbury and Darlington Nagbe.
• PORTLAND TIMBERS (4-4-2): Troy Perkins - Kosuke Kimura, Hanyer Mosquera, Mamadou Danso, Mike Chabala - Kalif Alhassan (Jack Jewsbury 54), Diego Chara (Brent Richards 74), Eric Alexander, Franck Songo'o - Danny Mwanga (Kris Boyd 57), Mike Fucito.
TEAM NEWS
• The Timbers are now winless in 10 games away from JELD-WEN Field this season, with an 0-8-2 record. They have not won on the road in since last October. 19, a span of 12 games.
• “We are embarrassed tonight. We found a way to lose the game, scored an own goal, and then dug a deeper hole and didn’t track runners,” said interim head coach Gavin Wilkinson. “You can’t tactically allow for players to not track runners. They’ve got a job to do. It’s up to us collectively to get the jobs done. But this is unacceptable, completely unacceptable.”
• The Timbers have also set the all-time MLS record for minutes on the road without scoring a goal, now up to 697 minutes since their last away goal (April 14 in a 3-1 loss to the LA Galaxy), breaking the mark of 683 minutes set by New York in 2009.
• “We’ve struggled on the road and they just took advantage of that," said defender Kosuke Kimura. "They know that we are not strong enough as a unit in away games and somehow we need to stop that. We can’t just say one thing on how we’re going to stop it. But it’s one by one. Maybe it’s the training. We have to change our mental setting in training a little more. We have to work on defense a little more. We have to tighten up our defense and win more one-on-one battles and collectively, when you win those battles on the field most likely you win the game. Those one-on-one stretches are really important.”
WATCH: Timbers preview home match with Chivas
• Since Wilkinson took over for John Spencer, the Timbers have lost their three league games, conceding 11 goals.
• “I feel humiliated,” Wilkinson said. “I feel terrible for the organization. We talk about how great our fan support is. We had a group of fans that traveled tonight, and I apologize to them. And that’s me and the organization apologizing. It’s important that we readdress the situation.”
• For the first time this season, Jack Jewsbury came off the substitutes’ bench. The only other start he had missed this season was due to injury.
• “Defending as a group, we’ve changed nothing that we’ve done as a group in how we defend, yet we’re breaking down. Time and time again, we’re breaking down,” said Wilkinson. “We included a few new players with fresh legs with the potential to play extremely well and they failed.”
• On Tuesday, the Timbers played to a 2-2 draw with English Premier League side Aston Villa. Goals from Sebastian Rincon and Rodney Wallace answered tallies from Villa’s Ciaran Clark and Matthew Lowton.
• Here’s the Timbers side: GK Perkins (Bendik, 45), D Kawulok, D Purdy, D Horst (Jean-Baptiste, 62), D Chabala (Renken, 88), M Zizzo (Fucito, 71), M Jewsbury (Braun, 45), M Palmer (Wallace, 74), M Nagbe (Songo’o, 45), F Richards (Rincón, 69), F Boyd (Dike, 45)
CHIVAS USA
Chivas USA saw their unbeaten streak come to an end at four games, falling 3-1 to the LA Galaxy on Saturday evening at The Home Depot Center. Chivas USA are in sixth place in the Western Conference with 23 points from 19 games.
LAST MATCH
HIGHLIGHTS: LA 3, CHV 1
• The Galaxy took the lead in the 14th minute. Robbie Keane ran onto a through ball from David Beckham past the Chivas backline and slotted past goalkeeper Dan Kennedy.
• Three minutes into the second half, the Galaxy doubled their advantage. Landon Donovan took a pass from Keane, sped past the Chivas defense and fired past Kennedy from the left side of the area.
• In the 52nd minute, Paolo Cardozo punished his former team when he rifled a shot from the top of the box and past LA 'keeper Josh Saunders.
• But the Galaxy restored the final margin in the 78th minute when Donovan turned and home from very close range after a corner kick was headed on in the goalmouth scramble.
• Chivas USA head coach Robin Fraser made three changes to the team that defeated the Portland Timbers 1-0 at The Home Depot Center. Rauwshan McKenzie came into the back four for John Valencia, Blair Gavin came into midfield for Paolo Cardozo, and Jose Correa started up top for Alejandro Moreno.
• CHIVAS USA (4-2-3-1): Dan Kennedy - James Riley, Rauwshan McKenzie, Danny Califf, Ante Jazic - Ben Zemanski, Nick LaBrocca - Blair Gavin (Paolo Cardozo 46), Miller Bolanos, Ryan Smith (Juan Pablo Angel 57) - Jose Correa.
TEAM NEWS
• Chivas USA lost for the first time in league play in more than a month, since a June 16 defeat by Real Salt Lake, and for just the second time since three consecutive losses from April 21 to May 4.
• “We had moments where we just turned the ball over in bad spots and kept ourselves under pressure," said Chivas head coach Robin Fraser. "In the second half we certainly had a very bright spell, where we were aggressive and obviously scored the goal. We created some chances, we had been pushing for a while there. We definitely had good moments but at the end of the day, again, self-inflicted wounds, I feel like it is the story for us.”
• Chivas USA saw their shutout streak put to an end at 332 minutes, the sixth-longest in MLS this season.
• “We have to really take a look at these last two games,” defender Danny Califf said, "really in-depth take a look at what we did well against Portland and how we came out, how we played, how we were sharp, how we put them under pressure, how we didn’t come out like that against Galaxy and what changes we need to make going forward."
WATCH: Chivas USA preview Portland
• For the 17th time in 19 league games, Chivas USA were held to one goal or fewer. They have not scored more than two goals in a game this season.
• “We had some chances. It’s been our Achilles heel this year — we haven’t put away our chances,” Chivas defender Ante Jazic said. "We created chances to get back into the game, but it’s tough when we gave up that third one on the set piece. The guys’ heads didn’t drop. They played for the 90 minutes.”
• After making four consecutive league starts, Paolo Cardozo returned to the substitutes’ bench, but came on at halftime and scored his first goal with Chivas.
• “Paolo brought us some life in the middle part of the field, in the attacking part of the field, and as a result obviously he scored a goal. He was involved in a number of good attacks,” Fraser said.
• Ryan Smith recorded his first assist since setting up both Chivas goals in the 2-1 win at Portland on April 7.
• “I think today we just didn’t show up. From the first whistle we just didn’t play how we know we can,” Smith said. “For me it’s a game obviously of huge importance, probably the biggest importance of the lot. At the end of the day three points were at stake and we can’t get over hurt on this fixture because it’s L.A, it’s like any other game.”
• Blair Gavin made his first start since June 16, not figuring in the last four matches.
