The Portland Timbers and Sporting Kansas City are both seeking greater consistency when they meet on Saturday night in the Pacific Northwest.
Portland (3-6-1, 10 points) has won two of its last four matches, defeating LAFC and San Diego FC—two teams expected to contend for the Western Conference elite at the start of the season. However, manager Phil Neville has been troubled by the team’s response to those victories, particularly last weekend’s 2-0 loss at Real Salt Lake following the win in San Diego. The Timbers found themselves nearly out of the contest by the 30th minute after early goals from Zavier Gozo and Diego Luna.
“It’s not a reflection of what I want from the team,” Neville said. “It’s definitely not a reflection of what this group of players are capable of. We’re taking one step forward and a couple back in the last month. We are seeing positive signs, but that consistency now needs to start coming very quickly.”
Despite scoring 13 goals as a team so far, only Kristoffer Velde (three) and Kevin Kelsy (two) have found the net multiple times for Portland this season.
Kansas City (1-7-2, 5 points) faces the opposite challenge. Striker Dejan Joveljic scored his fifth goal in last Saturday’s 1-1 home draw with the Seattle Sounders, but his teammates have combined for only three goals. First-year manager Raphael Wicky hopes that result marks the beginning of sustained improvement after a five-match MLS losing streak left his team at the bottom of the Western Conference. Wicky was particularly impressed by how the team responded after falling behind in the second minute, considering they had conceded 18 goals during that losing streak.
“I think the team reacted really well on that early goal, stayed in the game, stuck with the game plan, and was there for 90-plus minutes,” Wicky said. “And I think we felt that this was a pretty mature performance from the team. We saw some good football as well, attacking-wise. So this is what I want to see again.”
