FC Dallas vs. Portland Timbers | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

FC Dallas vs. Portland Timbers
2018 MLS Regular Season – Week 4
Toyota Stadium — Frisco
3:30 pm ET – March 24, 2018
WATCH: UniMás, Twitter

FC Dallas came roaring back from a bye week to trounce the bruised and battered Seattle Sounders FC, 3-0, to close out Week 3, while the Portland Timbers are hoping for a similar response coming off their bye week full which was full of reflection following a 4-0 thrashing by the New York Red Bulls.

FC Dallas

The Sounders may have been vulnerable following their CCL quarterfinal ouster in Guadalajara, but FC Dallas showed no mercy in a three-goal beatdown in their second of four consecutive games at Toyota Stadium to open the season.

Mauro Diaz looks back on form as one of the league’s top playmakers, setting up the first of two Roland Lamah goals. Lamah, who won 68 percent of his aerial duels, also provided the helper on a Max Urruti goal in the 58th minute as FC Dallas punished a Sounders team reduced to 10 men following Clint Dempsey’s 37th-minute sending off.

Lamah and Diaz were both named to the MLS Team of the Week presented by Audi for Week 3.

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: F - Tesho Akindele
Injury Report: OUT: M - Kellyn Acosta (sports hernia surgery), M - Brandon Servania (compartment syndrome), F - Jesus Ferreira (Core Muscle Repair surgery); QUESTIONABLE: GK - Jesse Gonzalez (right knee)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Jimmy Maurer — Reggie Cannon, Matt Hedges, Reto Ziegler, Anton Nedyalkov — Carlos Gruezo, Jacori Hayes — Michael Barrios, Mauro Diaz, Roland Lamah — Maxi Urruti

Notes: FC Dallas are one of two MLS teams with multiple players with seven-plus chances created this season (Mauro Díaz – 8, Michael Barrios – 7). … FC Dallas have lost just one of their last 13 home matches in MLS play (6W-6D), averaging 2.2 goals per game.

Portland Timbers

There’s been plenty of time to ponder, reflect and get key players back healthy, following a 4-0 loss to the New York Red Bulls in Week 2 that head coach Giovanni Savarese called “embarrassing.”

“There has definitely been a change in the mentality,” Savarese said at his weekly press conference. “I think everybody has taken responsibility — all of us, me first — in what happened in New York. Collectively, we have understood that, and the guys are working very hard to make sure that we get to the point that we want.”

But can a change in mentality result in a change of result for a Timbers team that will play their first games away from the cozy confines of Providence Park?

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: None
International duty: M - David Guzman, F - Andy Polo
Injury Report: OUT: D - Vytas (right thigh), GK - Jeff Attinella (right thigh), D - Roy Miller (left Achilles tendon); QUESTIONABLE: M - Diego Chara (right foot), D - Alvas Powell (right foot)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Jake Gleeson — Marco Farfan, Liam Ridgewell, Larrys Mabiala, Zarek Valentin — Diego Chara, Lawrence Olum — Sebastian Blanco, Diego Valeri, Dairon Asprilla — Fanendo Adi

Notes: Diego Valeri has scored just two goals in 12 appearances against FC Dallas, his fewest against any Western Conference team. … Portland’s 4-0 loss at Red Bull Arena on March 10th was tied for the second-largest road defeat in league play in franchise history, and their worst since a 5-0 loss at the LA Galaxy on June 24, 2015.