In preparation for the 2017 season, the Portland Timbers preseason tournament begins Thursday with a doubleheader featuring Minnesota United FC taking on Vancouver Whitecaps FC (5pm PT) and the host Timbers squaring off with Real Salt Lake (7:30 PT, TICKETS, Webstream at Timbers.com). The round-robin tournament will also have matches on Sunday (Whitecaps FC vs. Real Salt Lake, 2:30pm PT and Timbers vs. Minnesota United, 5pm PT, TICKETS, Webstream at Timbers.com) and Wednesday, Feb. 15 (Minnesota vs. RSL, 5pm PT and Timbers vs Vancouver, 7:30pm PT, TICKETS, Webstream at Timbers.com). Here are five numbers to know in a special preseason version of Quick Strikes.
4 Since debuting with the Timbers in 2014, Fanendo Adi has steadily rose up the club's all-time and MLS career goalscoring list. The preseason is no different with Adi having tallied four goals in preseason matches, which is the most by a Timbers played in the club's MLS era.
6 This is the sixth consecutive season that the club has hosted a preseason tournament at Providence Park. The Whitecaps are making their fourth appearance in the event, while Minnesota is appearing for the second straight year. RSL is playing in the tournament for the first time.
830 Real Salt Lake's Nick Rimando and Kyle Beckerman have combined to play 830 MLS regular season matches over the course of their careers. No MLS player has played more games than Rimando's 424. Beckerman's 406 matches played rank him at the top among all outfield players in league history.
51 In their first season in MLS, Minnesota United FC is hoping that forward Christian Ramirez is able to translate his goalscoring output from the NASL. Ramirez, who won the NASL's Golden Boot in 2014 and 2016, has scored 51 league goals for the Loons.
2000 Returning to Whitecaps FC this season is 16-year-old Alphonso Davies, who made his Vancouver debut at last season's Timbers preseason tournament. In 2016, Davies became the first player to play in an MLS regular season match who was born in the year 2000 or later.
