Matchday stats to prep you for Timbers-Sounders Round 2 of 2023. Watch free on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV or on FOX.
The Portland Timbers take a quick roadtrip up I-5 to go head-to-head with arch rival Seattle Sounders FC at Lumen Field on Saturday; kickoff is for 1:30 p.m. (Pacific).
It's one of the best rivalries in Major League Soccer and all of North American sports. The Timbers (4-7-4, 16pts) and Sounders FC (8-5-2, 26pts) meet for the second time this season on Saturday, and for the 118th all-time meeting between the two clubs dating back to 1975.
The Timbers got the better of their rival in their first match-up of the season on April 15, scoring four unanswered goals in a 4-1 victory at Providence Park, including a superb bicycle goal from Dairon Asprilla.
Portland – the current Cascadia Cup holders – leads the 2023 Cascadia Cup standings with six points.
Here are five stats to know heading into Saturday's clash.
14
In the MLS era of the Timbers-Sounders rivalry, the two sides have been evenly matched. Of the 35 MLS regular-season meetings, both clubs have captured 14 wins, drawing seven. But Portland holds the edge in total MLS matches played vs. Seattle – including regular season and playoffs – since 2011, with a 17-15-7 record overall.
4
Portland has defeated Seattle in four straight regular-season matches – twice in Seattle, and twice in Portland – a current streak that spans nearly 22 months. The Timbers' win on April 15 marked the first time in the rivalry's MLS era that a club had won four straight matches against the other. During this span of four straight wins, the Timbers have outscored Seattle, 11-2.
18
Four different goal-scorers (Asprilla, Nathan Fogaça, Jaroslaw Niezgoda, Juan David Mosquera) found the back of the net for the Timbers in the club's win over Sounders FC back in April, with all four goals coming in a span of 18 minutes and seven seconds. It was the shortest timespan Portland had scored four goals in a single match.
7
One would have to travel back in time to May 27, 2017, to experience the last time the Timbers suffered defeat in Seattle – currently seven matches unbeaten (5-0-2) at Lumen Field with a +8 goal differential.
3
Asprilla has scored in each of his last three Cascadia Derbies against Seattle. The 31-year-old Colombian is one of the longer tenured players in the rivalry, having played in 14 career matches vs. Sounders FC, recording four goals and one assist.
