In their remaining three games, fourth-place Portland Timbers play sixth-place Real Salt Lake twice. The first of those meetings is Saturday (9:30 pm ET | TV & streaming info) and the Timbers understand the need for three points.
With the LA Galaxy lurking just four points behind, the Timbers understand they haven't qualified for the playoffs just yet. A win against RSL would just about seal it.
"We believe in ourselves 100 percent," head coach Gio Savarese said ahead of Saturday's game. "It's a crucial match, the guys understand that. It's in our hands to get the points we need to get. We need to put in the work in another difficult place in Salt Lake. Their team is having good momentum, they've been playing well. We expect the challenge, we're working on it, and we're confident we can play a good game there."
Being that the game is away from Providence Park, form suggests the Timbers will struggle. Portland have a worse record away from home than all teams currently above the playoff line bar Montreal and Salt Lake.
"We have analyzed some of these situations and we had a very good meeting with the entire group to talk about this," Savarese said. "We came to some very good conclusions that I think will help the team mentally to approach certain things. It's been very, very good, our chat.
"If we get into the playoffs, we're going to be a tough team to play against," Savarese said.
