The Portland Timbers, fresh from two straight wins, head to Southern California Saturday for a key Western Conference match against the LA Galaxy on Saturday (11:30am PT, NBCSN). Portland has 27 points, just three behind third place LA, and a win this weekend could be a deciding factor as the Timbers leapfrog their way into the playoff discussion in the Western Conference. Let's take a look at five stats to know for Saturday.
EightMaximilano Urruti is leading the Timbers with eight goals scored. In 17 appearances, the 23-year-old Argentine striker has packed away the most goals out of any Portland player, converting on 75 percent of his shots on goal. Urruti also leads the Timbers in goals scored per-90 minutes at 0.84. Fellow forward Fanendo Adi is second at 0.54 per-90 minutes.
300 Congratulations are in order for Timbers defender/midfielder Jack Jewsbury. Against Montreal Impact last week, Jewsbury reached an important milestone in MLS history, recording his 300th career appearance in MLS with his start at right back. Jewsbury also hit 100 games in a Timbers uniform this season, the second MLS Portland player to do so after Darlington Nagbe hit the mark earlier in the year.
0-0-2 Things are all knotted up between these two teams this season. Portland and LA played to a 1-1 tie in their first meeting on March 11th in Providence Park. Then, on July 4th in California, a 2-2 tie saw both take just one point away from the match. Portland would love to come out with the first win of the series on the year, and three points would mean a huge boost for their playoff chances on the West.
1 Darlington Nagbe recorded his first assist since May 28th, playing on the left side with Gastón Fernández in the middle and Diego Valeri out wide to the right. Nagbe's service on forward Maximiliano Urruti's goal was just about as clever as clever gets, with the defense literally falling down around Nagbe as he slots it through to his teammate. Notice in the .gif above too how Nagbe helps will Urruti's shot with a miming motion of his own left leg.
18 LA is tied with fellow Western Conference rival San Jose Earthquakes with the fewest games played through the end of July. The Galaxy are in good form as of late, and have just two losses since May 17.
