BEAVERTON, ORE -- With only two matches left to go in the regular season, the Portland Timbers are on the outside of the Audi 2016 MLS Cup Playoffs and looking in.
They're on familiar ground, though, and have already proven their ability to come up big when it counts. After falling just short of the postseason in 2014, the 2015 Timbers closed the regular season 3-0-0 to get above the red line -- and then went all the way to their first MLS Cup title.
“It is not where you want to be at this point in the season,” goalkeeper Jake Gleeson told reporters after Wednesday’s training session, “but we have been here before. We are a team that fights back when our backs are against the wall, so I am excited to see what this week brings and I am excited for the games.
"When there is a challenge, this team rises to it.”
There's definitely a challenge facing Portland in the last two weeks of the regular season. Trailing sixth-place Sporting Kansas City by two points, the Timbers need Sporting to stumble if they are going to make their way into the postseason.
What’s more, the Timbers have Supporters’ Shield contenders Colorado Rapids coming to town on Sunday(5 p.m. ET, ESPN in the US, MLS LIVE in Canada), giving the home side a chance to play the role of the spoiler against the team that beat them 1-0 before the international break.
The Timbers' can't afford to worry about Colorado's place on the West table, though.
“We have to focus on what we need to do,” Gleeson said, “because they are going to focus on what they need to do. At the end of the end of the day we need to get three points and that is all we are focusing on. We aren’t too worried about them getting the Supporters’ Shield.”
Gleeson is recovering from a minor groin injury that kept him from suiting up for New Zealand's national team in the All Whites' 1-1 draw with the United States on Tuesday, but the Timbers’ keeper expects to be healthy for Sunday's match.
“The boys know what we have to do,” he said. “It’s three points in every game to secure that playoff spot. It’s a pretty simple task: go out there and win. That is how we are training and that is how we are mentally preparing.”
