Portland Timbers

Breakdown

The Timbers find themselves banged up and riding a scoreless streak of more than three matches as they host Coventry City at PGE Park on Saturday. The Timbers find Mamba Chisoni, Josh Brown, Michael Nsien, Jacobi Goodfellow, and Oral Bullen all nursing injuries, and Jaime Ambriz still sitting awaiting league clearance to play. A makeshift lineup against Miami last weekend saw Luke Kreamalmeyer move to defense and Byron Alvarez drop to midfielder, but though the Timbers did not allow any goals (only a Miami PK), the Timbers were not able to score and look for a wakeup call for their offense.

Nine different Timbers have scored this season, with Luke Kreamalmeyer leading the team in scoring with three goals. Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar continues to be among the best passers and playmakers in the league, with two goals and five assists, his five assists leading the USL First Division.

With Brown, Nsien, and Goodfellow all hurt, who had solidified the Timbers inside defense, coach Chris Agnello has been forced to return Lee Morrison from his solid play as a defensive midfielder back to the defensive line. Garrett Marcum could also see playing time to shore up the shorthanded defense.

Timbers fans may get their first look at recently acquired goalkeeper Martin Hutton, who is on loan from the Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer. Hutton was on the bench in the 1-0 loss to Miami but has not yet seen action in a Timbers match. Normal starting goalkeeper Josh Saunders is among the league leaders in saves, and is 10th in the league with a 1.266 goals against average.

Current form

After an impressive road trip that saw them get five points and go undefeated in Minnesota, Rochester, and Montreal, the Timbers' injuries have taken their toll and the Timbers are now scoreless in their past three matches, and lost their last two, a 3-0 loss in Vancouver and a 1-0 loss at home against Miami last Sunday. The Timbers are currently tied for fourth in the USL First Division, but have played more matches than most of the other teams in the league. In points per match, the Timbers are ninth.

Coventry City

Breakdown

Coventry City comes to Portland after an eighth place finish in the Championship (English Second Division) last year, which is where the Sky Blues have played since being relegated from the Premiership in 2001. But their 2005-2006 record of 16 wins, 15 draws, and 15 losses and 63 points was an improvement over their 19th place finish the previous year, and was their best finish in their current stint in the Championship.

For the previous 35 seasons, Coventry City had been in the top English league, with their best finish being in 1969-1970 when they finished 6th. But their greatest success was in 1986-1987 when they defeated Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 in extra time at Wembley Stadium to win the F.A. Cup. This put to rest a long-standing Monty Python joke about Coventry City never having won the F.A. Cup.

In 2005, the Sky Blues moved from their old stadium at Highfield Road, where they had played for 106 years, to the brand new 32,000 seat Ricoh Arena, opening the new stadium with a 3-0 win over Queens Park Rangers on August 20, 2005.

Saturday's match is the first preseason match for the 2006-2007 Coventry City squad, who travel to Utah to take on the PDL BYU Cougars on Tuesday before returning to England for six more preseason matches before opening their 2006-2007 campaign on August 5. The Sky Blues open their season against Sunderland AFC, who played in Portland last year (a 0-0 draw on July 23) and who hosted 31 Timbers Army members who travelled to England to see the Black Cats play Manchester United and Newcastle United back in April. Sunderland is back down in the Championship after winning the league title in 2004-2005, but finding little success in the Premiership and being relegated after a 20th place finish last year.

Coventry City manager Micky Adams has seven new signings for this season that are all in Portland. The new players for 2006-2007 are Wayne Andrews, Colin Cameron, Elliott Ward, David McNamee, Andy Marshall, Jay Tabb and Mikkel Bischoff. Among those not making the trip to the US are Stern John, who just played for Trinidad and Tobego in the World Cup and started his professional career in the United Soccer Leagues in New Orleans, then for the Columbus Crew i MLS before moving on to Nottingham Forest in 1999.

A few notable players that have played for Coventry City are Roy Wegerle (1993-95) and Cobi Jones (1994-95 ).

Andy Marshall is expected to make his debut in the net against Portland, and U18's keeper Cameron Belford will likely be the backups bench. The other new signings are also expected to play, with 17-18 players expected to take part for the Sky Blues. After the match both sides will be attending a meet and greet session at Kells Irish Pub.

Current form

This is the first exhibition of the 2006-2007 season for Coventry City.