Lions sense bit of familiarity with Timbers
Last week, Orlando City faced a dangerous attacking team with a fervent fan base in Atlanta.
This week, the Lions will face a dangerous attacking team with a fervent fan base in Portland.
The former ended in a 3-3 draw. The Lions (9-12-8, 35 points) want three points from the latter and feel those similarities, and more, will help them against the Portland Timbers (12-10-8, 44 points) Sunday night at Providence Park. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. and Fox Sports 1 will broadcast the match nationally.
“I think the really nice thing about playing Portland right now is it's very similar to Atlanta,” Lions coach Jason Kreis said. “Portland’s [Diego] Valeri is similar to Atlanta’s [Miguel] Almirón. Both occupy very similar spaces, both are looking for the ball in the same sorts of areas, both are very lethal when they have the ball at their foot, and so I think that we’ll be fully prepared.”
Valeri leads Portland in goals (18) and assists (9), and he broke a MLS record last week when he scored in his eighth consecutive match. Valeri is tied with Chicago’s Nemanja Nikolic for second-most goals scored in the league, both a goal behind David Villa of NYCFC.
The Timbers also could see the return of their No. 2 all-time scorer, Fanendo Adi, who scored 10 goals before injuring his hamstring in August. The 26-year-old Nigerian forward missed the last six matches, but he trained with the team Friday and Timbers coach Caleb Porter told the Oregonian he could see minutes off the bench.
“He’s had a great career already and he’s very big target-forward for Portland, and I think that’s something we definitely need to watch out for,” Orlando City centerback Tommy Redding said. “But we’re well-prepared and ready for anything they throw at us.”
While there won’t be an announced attendance of more than 70,000 people in Portland like there was in Atlanta, the Timbers are known to have one of the best soccer fan bases and game-day atmospheres in the league.
Kaká returned to Orlando City training this week after spending last week in Brazil while his son underwent a minor surgery and serving a onegame suspension for yellow card accumulation. Kreis will need to decide whether to start the captain and disrupt a lineup — where Giles Barnes plays in the No. 10 position — that’s earned four points in the past two games.
This match also is the first of three in the next six days. In the past, that affected Kreis’ lineup choices, wanting to have fresh players for each game, but he said last week there is no time left for saving starters and he will field what he believes is the best available starting XI.
Plus, general manager Niki Budalic said he wants to see if the team can continue to correct its previous bad string of results.
“We knew that we weren’t as good as we were after those first seven games, and we also know we’re much better than what we showed across the summer,” Budalic said. “… So really, it’s just about proving to ourselves and to the fans and the community and the league that we are a better team than what our record shows. And I think that we want to end the season on a positive note and work with the players that we have so that we’re confident with the decisions that we make in the offseason to be where we want to be next year.”