KeyBank Scouting Report Matchday Preview | FC Dallas vs. Portland Timbers | Oct. 25, 2014

FC DALLAS vs PORTLAND TIMBERS
TOYOTA STADIUM, Frisco, Texas
Oct. 25, 2014 (WEEK 33, MLS Game #319) 7:30 p.m. CT (TWCS-TX; ROOT-NW)


The final playoff berth still available this season will be decided when FC Dallas play host to the Portland Timbers on Saturday evening at Toyota Stadium. FC Dallas still need a result of their own, requiring a victory to finish in third place in the Western Conference, having now won back-to-back games following a 1-0 win at Colorado last week. The Timbers must defeat FCD – and hope Vancouver does not win – if they are to return to the postseason, following their home scoreless draw with Real Salt Lake last weekend.




PORTLAND TIMBERS


The Portland Timbers stretched their undefeated run to three games, gaining a scoreless draw with Real Salt Lake on Friday evening at Providence Park. The Timbers are in sixth place in the Western Conference with 46 points from 33 games.






LAST MATCH

• Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando had a stunning performance, making six saves in all as the Timbers took 16 attempts at goal (23 for the match). There was also a header from a corner kick cleared off the line by RSL midfielder Luis Gil.
  
• Timbers goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts was equally stout at the other end, credited with three saves in keeping his club's playoff hopes alive.
  
• Timbers head coach Caleb Porter made one change to the team that defeated the San Jose Earthquakes 3-0 at Providence Park. Alvas Powell came back into the side in place of Michael Harrington.
  
• PORTLAND TIMBERS (4-2-3-1): Donovan Ricketts - Alvas Powell, Norberto Paparatto, Liam Ridgewell, Jorge Villafana - Diego Chara, Ben Zemanski - Darlington Nagbe (Gaston Fernandez 82), Diego Valeri, Rodney Wallace - Fanendo Adi (Maximiliano Urruti 79).

TEAM NEWS

• The Timbers recorded a second consecutive shutout and extended their league undefeated streak to three games, and have lost just once in their last seven games.
  
• “We created enough chances to score, but they just didn’t fall. That’s sometimes the way it goes. I can’t fault our guys for anything, they played their hearts out,” said Timbers head coach Caleb Porter. “I’m proud of their effort. We went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the league, a team that was in the MLS Cup championship last year and has been to the playoffs seven straight years. I thought we deserved better on the day.”
  
• The Timbers still find their backs against the wall, entering the final weekend a point behind Vancouver for fifth place and the final playoff spot in the Western Conference; they must earn a win or a draw and hope Whitecaps FC loses to Colorado to take over the last spot.
  
• “I think we’ve gotten seven wins or so in our last 14 games. It might mean we fall short, but like I said it’s a really encouraging sign the way we have played in this last stretch of the season,” said Porter. “It’s a real credit to our guys, the locker room, their mentality, their hunger that we were able to fight our way out of that hole to put ourselves in a position where we could be the second team in the history of the league to recover from that.”
  
• The Timbers were shut out at the attacking end for the first time since July 13, the fifth time they were blanked in MLS play this season.
  
• “It’s very frustrating,” Fanendo Adi said. “We came into the game believing that we were going to win the game. We had a couple of very good chances, but we didn’t convert our chances and sometimes it works this way. … I believe if we come out the same way in the away game against Dallas we’re definitely going to get those goals.”
  
• The Timbers uncorked 23 attempts at goal for the match, their third-highest total in a match this season. Portland did have 32 attempts (13 on goal) in a 3-3 draw with San Jose on Sept. 7, and 30 in a 2-2 draw with FC Dallas on June 11.
  
• “I think every single guy had a good game. From a coaching standpoint, I can’t really ask for anything more. Obviously, you look at not scoring and you can say maybe that’s the one area we missed the mark, but it wasn’t for lack of chances,” said Porter. “From my standpoint, we got plenty of chances. We created enough to score. … Maybe a few times we could have been a little bit better, a little bit more decisive, clinical on the finish, but not many, maybe two or three, of the 23 we had, but you saw we showed up to win and for me that’s really encouraging.”
  
• On Tuesday, the Timbers had their CONCACAF Champions League cruelly put to an end, falling 3-1 to CD Olimpia in Honduras. The two clubs ended their group play with nine points from four matches, but Olimpia advances to the knockout stage on away goals, thanks to their 4-2 defeat at Providence Park.
  
• Here’s the Timbers team: Gleeson, Harrington, Paparatto, Ridgewell, Villafaña, O’Rourke (Adi, 71), Zemanski, Alhassan (Valeri, 46), Fernández, Wallace (Nagbe, 71), Urruti
  
• “We weren’t surprised by anything we saw,” Porter said. “We just didn’t deal with it as well as we should have. For me, it goes back to the first five minutes, conceding two goals. That was always going to be a very important part of this match, and we didn’t manage that part of the game well, and we didn’t manage the game well when we went 2-1, we conceded again.”

FC DALLAS
FC Dallas won their second game on the trot, getting the game’s only goal for a victory against the Colorado Rapids on Saturday evening at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. FC Dallas sit in fourth place in the Western Conference with 54 points from 33 games.


LAST MATCH

• The game's lone goal came in the 55th minute. Colorado center back Chris Klute was adjudged to have handled in the penalty area, and referee Hilario Grajeda immediately pointed to the spot. Blas Perez stutterstepped to send Clint Irwin the wrong way, scoring to the goalkeeper’s right.
  
• The Rapids were reduced to 10 men in the 78th minute when central defender Jared Watts received his second yellow of the match for a foul on Andres Escobar.
  
• FC Dallas goalkeeper Raul Fernandez was called upon to make just one save in keeping the clean sheet.
  
• FCD head coach Oscar Pareja made five changes to the team that defeated the LA Galaxy 2-1 at Toyota Stadium. Raul Fernandez came in between the posts for Chris Seitz, Je-Vaughn Watson and Jair Benitez came into the back four for Walker Zimmerman and the suspended Moises Hernandez, Adam Moffat started in midfield for Michel and Blas Perez replaced Tesho Akindele up top.
  
• FC DALLAS (4-4-2): Raul Fernandez - Je-Vaughn Watson, Zach Loyd, Matt Hedges, Jair Benitez (Kellyn Acosta 46) - Fabian Castillo (Ryan Hollingshead 79), Victor Ulloa, Adam Moffat, Andres Escobar - Blas Perez, David Texeira (Tesho Akindele 46).

TEAM NEWS

• FC Dallas won their second consecutive match, their first back-to-back wins since winning four in a row Aug. 3-22. With the win, FCD moved back into third place in the Western Conference -- they can clinch the third spot with just a tie and the failure of Real Salt Lake to win in their match against Chivas USA.
  
• “I was really worried about this game. The urgency of this game was much different for the teams. We needed to get three points. A tie didn’t work for us,” said FC Dallas head coach Oscar Pareja. “Having the responsibility to gain three points was tough considering we just played another important game against LA last weekend. Today was one of those games where you can get exposed.”
  
• Said defender Matt Hedges: “We did what we came here to do. We got the three points but it wasn’t pretty. We didn’t play that well. At the end of the day, we’re walking out with three points in third place and that was our goal. We didn’t really care how it looked.”
  
• Blas Perez scored his 11th goal – his second consecutive season with 11 goals – returning to the lineup after missing the LA Galaxy match. Perez converted his second penalty in three attempts, his first since being saved by New York’s Luis Robles on May 4.
  
• “He brings a lot of confidence and experience. He is one of the leaders on our team,” Hedges said. “It was good for him to get that penalty kick goal. He struggled a bit this season on penalties but everyone on the team was confident he would put it away when he stepped up to take it.”
  
• David Texeira made his fourth consecutive start, but Tesho Akindele came on at halftime, his third time in the last four matches he’s come off the substitutes’ bench.
  
• “Coming here to Denver was special for Tesho. I wanted him so bad to score but he works very hard. I thought what he did in the second half was great,” said Pareja. “I’m proud of him. He is all heart. He is committed to the tactical work. Normally, I play him as a striker but today I needed his work rate on the flank. It worked well. When he has chances, he puts the ball away and that makes him special.”
  
• Raúl Fernández returned to the lineup after missing the LA match while on international duty, recording his first MLS shutout since Aug. 16.
  
• Jair Benitez also returned to the starting lineup for the first time in three matches, but came off in favor of Kellyn Acosta at the halftime break.
  
• “We had a hole in the middle. Nick [LaBrocca] and Dillon [Powers] were causing us problems. I had two strikers, but there was a huge gap there,” said Pareja. “We filled that gap in the second half. It made us less aggressive up front but it gave us control. We told the guys at half to get control of the game and to be patient. The kids needed to learn how to win games like this.”

REFEREE: Jair Marrufo. AR1 (bench): Corey Rockwell; AR2 (opposite): Adam Garner; 4th: Kevin Terry Jr.
MLS Career: 174 games; FC/gm: 23.4; Y/gm: 2.8; R: 34; pens: 51
SUSPENDED: POR: Norbetto Paparatto (caution accumulation; through Oct. 26)
DISABLED LIST: DAL: Hendry Thomas (season-ending injury)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (10 meetings): FC Dallas 3 wins, 19 goals … Timbers 3 wins, 12 goals … Ties 4
AT DALLAS (5 meetings): FC Dallas 2 wins, 12 goals … Timbers 0 wins, 3 goals … Ties 3
2014 (MLS)
3/29: DAL 1, POR 1 (Perez 47+; Díaz 84 – own goal 66)
6/11: POR 2, DAL 2 (Johnson 79; Kah 94+ -- Castillo 27; Perez 39)

• The teams are meeting for the third time this season. Pa Modou Kah’s goal deep in second-half stoppage time completed a two-goal comeback for the Timbers to leave the teams in a 2-2 draw June 11 at Providence Park. A late Blas Perez goal gave FC Dallas a 2-1 victory, March 29 at Toyota Stadium.
• The road team has never won in the series, in 10 meetings all-time. FC Dallas have won three of the five meetings all-time in Frisco.
• Coaches record: Oscar Pareja vs. POR: P8 W3 L3 T2 … Caleb Porter vs. DAL: P5 W2 L1 T2

LAST MEETING (MLS)

• FC Dallas took the lead in the 27th minute. Fabian Castillo chested down a perfectly placed chip by Blas Pérez while charging down the right flank, then tucked the ball neatly past a diving Donovan Ricketts.
• Dallas added on in the 39th minute when rookie Tesho Akindele made a run down the right and sent a pass back through the middle of the area which was first dummied by Castillo before Pérez sent a blast past Ricketts top-shelf.
• The Timbers began their comeback in the 79th minute when Dallas defender Je-Vaughn Watson took down Fanendo Adi in the box and referee Alan Kelly pointed to the spot, with the penalty converted easily by Will Johnson.
• FCD were put under further pressure in the 87th minute when Moises Hernandez was shown a red card for a dangerous challenge on second-half substitute Danny O’Rourke, and then Pérez was sent off in stoppage time for stomping Pa Modou Kah to put the visitors two men down.
• The dramatic equalizer came before the final whistle after a rebound from a Maximiliano Urruti shot fell right to Kah in front of goal, and he calmly finished into an open goal from close range.
• PORTLAND TIMBERS (4-2-3-1): Donovan Ricketts - Michael Harrington (Maximiliano Urruti 82), Rauwshan McKenzie (Danny O'Rourke 46), Pa Modou Kah, Jorge Villafana - Will Johnson, Diego Chara - Darlington Nagbe, Diego Valeri, Steve Zakuani (Gaston Fernandez 60) - Fanendo Adi.
• FC DALLAS (4-4-2): Raul Fernandez - Je-Vaughn Watson, Zach Loyd, Stephen Keel, Moises Hernandez (ejected 87) - Fabian Castillo (Ryan Hollingshead 90), Adam Moffat, Victor Ulloa, Andres Escobar (Andrew Jacobson 74) - Tesho Akindele (Nicholas Walker 87), Blas Perez (ejected 92+).