KeyBank Scouting Report Matchday Preview | Portland Timbers vs. Real Salt Lake - Oct. 17, 2014

PORTLAND TIMBERS vs REAL SALT LAKE
PROVIDENCE PARK, Portland, Ore.
Oct. 17, 2014 (WEEK 32, MLS Game #306)
7 p.m. PT (NBCSN; TSN2)

A crucial match in the Western Conference playoff chase is up on Friday evening as the Portland Timbers play host to Real Salt Lake at Providence Park before an NBC Sports Network audience. The Timbers enter the week one point out of fifth place and the final postseason position in the Western Conference, returning to action after a 3-0 home win against the San Jose Earthquakes nine days ago. RSL have secured their berth in the MLS Cup Playoffs and now are aiming to finish in the top three in the conference following their 2-0 home win against San Jose over the weekend.

PORTLAND TIMBERS
The Portland Timbers return to action following their second victory against the San Jose Earthquakes in four days, this time a 3-0 result on Oct. 8 at Providence Park in the back end of their home-and-home series. The Timbers are in sixth place in the Western Conference with 45 points from 32 games.

LAST MATCH

• The Timbers finally broke through in the 41st minute. A series of passes in the Quakes penalty area resulted in Darlington Nagbe finding Rodney Wallace on the left wing, and he fired an angled shot past goalkeeper Jon Busch and inside the far post.
  
• Portland extended their lead in the 50th minute when San Jose defender Jason Hernandez was whistled for a foul by referee Baldomero Toledo for taking down Wallace in the box as a free kick was swung into the danger zone. Valeri easily converted the resulting spot kick.
  
• The scoreline was complete in the 73rd minute. A flowing counterattack from right to left from the Portland end saw Wallace attempt a shot from the left side of the penalty area. Busch parried away the effort, but the rebound fell right to Valeri, who calmly slammed it into the back of the net.
  
• Timbers head coach Caleb Porter made two changes to the team that won 2-1 against the Earthquakes at Buck Shaw Stadium. Michael Harrington came into the back four for Alvas Powell, and Diego Valeri came into the midfield in place of Gaston Fernandez.
  
• PORTLAND TIMBERS (4-2-3-1): Donovan Ricketts - Michael Harrington, Norberto Paparatto, Liam Ridgewell, Jorge Villafana - Diego Chara (Jack Jewsbury 79), Ben Zemanski - Darlington Nagbe, Diego Valeri, Rodney Wallace (Gaston Fernandez 79) - Fanendo Adi (Maximiliano Urruti 84).

TEAM NEWS

• The Timbers won for a second consecutive match with the back-to-back victory against San Jose, the third time this season they’ve won two games in a row and the first since mid-July. The Timbers have not won three consecutive league games this season.
  
• “These types games can be tricky sometimes. We knew they were going to have some guys out. Then we see the start sheet and there are a few more guys out,” said Timbers head coach Caleb Porter. “Sometimes these are games where you let your guard down and you see it happen in this league, and in leagues all over the world, teams don’t get out of these games with the result they should. I think it just says a lot about our hunger right now, our focus, we weren’t going to let that happen.”
  
• The Timbers cannot secure a place in the MLS Cup Playoffs, but they can be eliminated, if they lost to Real Salt Lake and Vancouver Whitecaps FC defeat the San Jose Earthquakes.
  
• “I think we are a team that can make a run, and you’ve seen it, we are a team that can beat anybody," said Porter of his team's playoff abilities. "We are team that if we do get in the playoffs we are talented enough to potentially make a run, but we are two steps away. We’re not there yet, we are nowhere close to being there.”
  
• Diego Valeri scored two goals in a game for the first time in his MLS career. Since the start of July, Valeri has nine goals and six assists over a 14-game span.
  
• “I told you guys before he’s one of the best players in the league and he showed that again. That’s huge,” said Porter. “We’ve got guys performing well right now. We need that. If we are going to make a push for the postseason, if we are going to make some noise when we get into the postseason, you need your big players to step up. You see that on the teams that are doing really well.”
  
• Valeri also has a new single-season career-high in MLS with 11 goals this season, one more than he netted a year ago in his inaugural MLS campaign, and the most by a single player in the club’s MLS history. Valeri has 21 goals and 27 assists in 62 career MLS league appearances.
  
• “Since I’ve come here, he’s been fantastic,” defender Liam Ridgewell. “You can see how good a player he is and what he means to the team … He’s a brilliant player, especially on the ball. When I first came to watch the Timbers, you can see him out on the field. He’s a great player and I’m glad he’s in our team rather than against us. Hopefully he can continue that form and hopefully into the playoffs and take us a long way.”
  
• Rodney Wallace scored his third goal in the last two matches, and now has five for the season in 15 appearances since returning from knee surgery just before the start of the season.
  
• “I feel like I’m at 100 percent right now. There’s still work to be done. I’m never satisfied with one performance, one game. I’m always striving to get better and so is the team,” said Wallace. “Especially with this performance, it’s going to carry us on and give us confidence. But it gives us more belief in the long run.”
  
• Said Porter: “We are becoming a very diverse team in the attack.  [Fanendo] Adi didn’t score tonight, but I thought he was one of the best players on the field the way he held the ball. There have been some games where we have good possession, but not enough purpose, not enough penetration. What I like about our team right now is that we’re controlling the play, for periods, but we’re also able to if we need to go big and play off second balls we can and that makes us unpredictable and tougher to manage.”
  
• With Alvas Powell away on international duty with Jamaica, Michael Harrington made his first start in the back four since Aug. 14, playing 90 minutes at right back. Norberto Paparatto made his second consecutive start, after missing six consecutive league matches.

REAL SALT LAKE
Real Salt Lake put an end to their two-game losing run and booked their ticket for the MLS Cup Playoffs, defeating the San Jose Earthquakes 2-0 on Saturday evening at Rio Tinto Stadium. RSL are in third place in the Western Conference with 52 points from 32 matches.

LAST MATCH

• Both of the game's goals came five minutes apart midway through in the first half. In the 24th minute, Tony Beltran put in a cross from the right that San Jose was unable to clear. The ball rolled out to Ned Grabavoy just outside the area, and he fired a low, swerving shot that made it through traffic into the right corner.
  
• Real doubled their lead in the 28th minute. From a corner kick, Luke Mulholland whipped the service to the far post and Sebastian Velasquez was there to knock home the final touch with his knee from close range for his first career league goal.
  
• RSL head coach Jeff Cassar made four changes to the team that fell 1-0 to Chivas USA at StubHub Center. Tony Beltran came into the back four for Chris Schuler, Sebastian Velasquez started in midfield for the suspended Javier Morales, and Sebastian Jaime and Robbie Findley were the new strike partnership, with Alvaro Saborio and Joao Plata away on international duty.
  
• REAL SALT LAKE (4-3-1-2): Jeff Attinella - Tony Beltran, Nat Borchers, Carlos Salcedo, Chris Wingert - Luke Mulholland (Cole Grossman 88), Kyle Beckerman, Ned Grabavoy - Sebastian Velasquez (Luis Gil 77) - Sebastian Jaime (Olmes Garcia 63), Robbie Findley.

TEAM NEWS

• Real Salt Lake ensured their place in the MLS Cup Playoffs for a seventh consecutive season with the win against San Jose. The seven-year streak of reaching the postseason is the longest active run in MLS, and is tied for the third-longest such streak in MLS history.
  
• “It’s been a learning year for me, personally, and I’m so pleased for the guys in the locker room to have qualified. If you would have said ‘would you take 52 points’ at the beginning of the year, I would have jumped at it,” said RSL head coach Jeff Cassar. “Super pleased where we are at. We have some business to finish up at the end of the year, we have a lot to play for still, and now it’s getting ourselves ready to head into the playoffs and position ourselves right.”
  
• Sebastian Velasquez scored his first career league goal, in his third MLS season. It was his 38th career league appearance.
  
• Velasquez was making his first start of the season, stepping into the attacking midfield role with Javier Morales away on international duty. It was his first start since last Sept. 28.
  
• “Very bright in the attack, putting it in on the defensive, making good choices, and he’s been training well since that game,” said Cassar. “So I felt very comfortable putting him into that position because he has been playing well. Super proud of him. It’s not easy to step in to Javier Morales’ shoes but I thought Sebastian [Velasquez] did an excellent job of that.”
• Ned Grabavoy also netted his first goal since April 19. Grabavoy has played all but one match this season, having missed the June 28 match through injury.
  
• “The soccer stuff maybe wasn’t the best that we know we can play, but the energy was certainly there, and we kind of got our chances and our opportunities from that,” said Grabavoy. “I felt like that kind of got us going, especially through the rest of that half as well. When you get some chances, you’ve got to put some stuff away and change the game, and we did that.”
  
• Sebastian Jaime returned to the starting lineup for his second MLS start, his second in the last four matches, and Robbie Findley made his first start since Sept. 12, with Alvaro Saborio and Joao Plata away on national team duty.
  
• “It was something that we talked about after the Chivas game. We were moving the ball but not penetrating, not being aggressive, not forcing their goalkeeper to make any saves,” said Cassar. “We definitely wanted to not come out like that at home. … We just kept our foot on the gas. We knew that if we stayed aggressive, that their dam would break, and give credit to the players.”
  
• Jeff Attinella also recorded his third shutout, deputizing for Nick Rimando, who was with the U.S. national team. It was Attinella’s first victory by shutout this season – he had been in goal for two scoreless draws (April 5 vs. KC, May 24 vs. DAL).
  
• “Extremely pleased with getting a shutout. Jeff wasn’t extremely busy, but had a huge performance for us,” said Cassar. “He suffered an ankle injury yesterday in training, very painful, stepped up huge for us, and it was really important for us to get that shutout. I think that’s a big thing with us moving forward, especially heading into Portland.”

REFEREE: Mark Geiger. AR1 (bench): C.J. Morgante; AR2 (opposite): Joe Fletcher; 4th: Ricardo Salazar
Geiger MLS Career: 127 games; FC/gm: 26.6; Y/gm: 3.5; R: 31; pens: 42

SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: POR: Diego Chara, Will Johnson, Pa Modou Kah, Norbetto Paparatto … RSL: Luke Mulholland
FINED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: RSL: Olmes Garcia, Nat Borchers, Alvaro Saborio, Kyle Beckerman, Tony Beltran, Chris Schuler, Chris Wingert
DISABLED LIST: none
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: none

HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (10 meetings): Timbers 2 wins, 13 goals … Real 5 wins, 18 goals … Ties 3
AT PORTLAND (4 meetings): Timbers 1 win, 6 goals … Real 1 win, 6 goals … Ties 2

2014 (MLS):
4/19: RSL 1, POR 0 (Grabavoy 78)
6/7: RSL 1, POR 3 (Mulholland 23 – Adi 36, 45; Johnson 73)

• The teams are meeting for the third time this season. Fanendo Adi scored a pair of goals as the Timbers took a 3-1 win June 7 at Rio Tinto Stadium; Ned Grabavoy’s goal in the 77th minute was the difference in the 1-0 Real victory on April 19 in Sandy.
• The Timbers' win in the last meeting was the second all-time by the visiting team in the series in league play. RSL has won once in Portland, a 3-2 win in 2012; the Timbers’ victory in June was their first ever at Rio Tinto Stadium.
• The teams met in a thrilling Western Conference Championship last season, Real winning 4-2 in Sandy in the first leg, then taking a 1-0 win at Portland to advance to MLS Cup 2013 5-2 on aggregate.
• Coaches' records: Caleb Porter vs. RSL: P5 W1 L2 D2 … Jeff Cassar vs. POR: P2 W1 L1 D0

LAST MEETING (MLS)

• RSL took the lead in the 23rd minute. Defender Chris Schuler's header off a corner kick was deflected and the ball fell right to the feet of midfielder Luke Mulholland, who struck it hard inside the left post past Portland goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts.
• But the Timbers equalized on a corner kick of their own in the 36th minute. Midfielder Diego Valeri put in a perfect service to the heart of the area where Fanendo Adi headed home inside the right-hand post of RSL goalkeeper Jeff Attinella.
• The visitors took the lead in the 45th minute. Racing away downfield on a counterattack following a cleared Real corner, the Timbers broke on a four-on-two break. Attinella made a spectacular save on Darlington Nagbe, but Adi was there to slam home the rebound.
• Real Salt Lake went a man down less than 10 minutes into the second half when referee Ismail Elfath pulled two yellow cards out of his pocket in the space of less than two minutes. RSL defender Beltran was first cautioned for grabbing Nagbe's jersey, and sent off after taking Nagbe down with a poorly timed tackle.
• The Timbers iced the game in the 73rd minute when Schuler's arm blocked a flicked cross from Nagbe as he slid in the box, and Elfath whistled for a penalty for Portland. Will Johnson stepped up and calmly put the resulting spot kick into the net.
• REAL SALT LAKE (4-3-1-2): Jeff Attinella - Tony Beltran (ejected 54), Chris Schuler, Nat Borchers, Chris Wingert - Luis Gil (Devon Sandoval 77), Ned Grabavoy (Cole Grossman 63), Luke Mulholland - Javier Morales - Olmes Garcia, Joao Plata (Abdoulie Mansally 58).
• PORTLAND TIMBERS (4-2-3-1): Donovan Ricketts - Jack Jewsbury, Norberto Paparatto (Danny O'Rourke 60), Rauwshan McKenzie, Jorge Villafana - Will Johnson, Diego Chara - Diego Valeri, Darlington Nagbe (Kalif Alhassan 88), Gaston Fernandez (Steve Zakuani 68) - Fanendo Adi.