Portland Timbers

Breakdown

The Timbers are now undefeated in their past six matches, with four wins and two draws since a 1-0 loss to Rochester at PGE Park on May 19. Over the next two nights the Timbers will take on two teams that have been among the league's better teams in the past several years, but two teams the Timbers have had much different results against.

The Timbers have played the Rochester Raging Rhinos five times since they joined the USL in 2001, and are still looking for their first goal in the run of play. The Timbers have in fact scored twice, in a 2-1 loss on June 17, 2004, and in a 3-1 loss in Rochester on June 3, 2005, but in both cases, the Timbers goals were on penalty kicks. Despite an embarassing 5-0 loss to the Rhinos at home on June 18, 2005, the Timbers played very evenly with the Rhinos in the match earlier this year at PGE Park, a 1-0 victory for the Rhinos.

The Montreal Impact, on the other hand, are a team the Timbers have fared much better against. They have played them three times, beating them twice, a 3-0 victory over the Impact on August 29, 2002, and a 1-0 victory in Montreal on August 10, 2005. Sandwiched between those two Timbers wins, the Impact did win at Portland on June 30, 2005, on one of the more memorable (if frustrating) goals of the 2005 season for Timbers fans, a 45 yard floater by Sandro Grande that caught goalkeeper Josh Saunders out of position.

The Timbers defense has remained sharp over the past few matches, giving up only two goals in the past five matches, and not giving up more than a goal a match for over a month (a span of seven matches). Three players have anchored the Timbers defense, with Scot Thompson, Jacobi Goodfellow, and Mike Randolph all having been solid in the back. After the loss of Michael Nsien to injury on June 2, the Timbers have used Josh Brown, Salim Bullen, Garrett Marcum, and even assistant coach Gavin Wilkinson to fill the fourth spot. But despite having to adjust to a different fourth player each match, or even going to a three-man back at times, the Timbers defense has been up to the challenge.

The offense continues to perplex defenses as no one player has stood out to the point of being the player to "mark out of the match.". In the 2-1 victory in Minnesota on Thursday, Luke Kreamalmeyer and Oral Bullen each scored their second goals of the season, meaning there are now six different Timbers players with two goals (along with Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar, Mambi Chisoni, Alejandro Gutierrez, and Byron Alvarez). Eight different Timbers have found the net so far this year, with nobody having more than two goals.

Josh Saunders has started in goal every match so far this year but backup Bayard Elfvin is expected to start one of matches this weekend. Saunders has a 1.09 GAA with three shutouts, all in the past five matches.

Current form

The Timbers are undefeated in their past six matches, with four wins and two draws, including the 2-1 road victory on Thursday in Minnesota. The Timbers are still tied for second place in the league with 15 points after the results last weekend, but with more games played that any other team, this is still misleading. But in terms of points per match, the Timbers have moved up from 10th to 5th over this six game undefeated stretch.

Rochester Raging Rhinos

Breakdown

Though the Rhinos have always been the "showcase team" of the USL First Division, it has now been almost five years (since 2001) since they made it as far as the league final, though they hope their brand-new stadium, which opened only two weeks ago in a 2-2 draw to Virginia Beach, will help them find their former glory. The Timbers hope to not go down as the first team to lose in the new stadium. The new stadium is Field Turf, unlike the Rhinos old stadium Frontier Field which was grass (and dirt), and the Timbers are 1-0-1 on Field Turf this year, winning 2-1 in Minnesota and drawing 0-0 with Seattle at Qwest Field.

The Rhinos have two former Timbers, in midfielders Aaron Lines (2005) and Greg Howes (2001-2002). Fans who have followed the Timbers for several years will recognize many other names as the Rhinos acquired many of the league's best players in the past few years. Players such as Johnny Menyongar (Minnesota), John Ball (Atlanta, Milwaukee, Charleston), Matthew Delicate (Richmond), Charles Gbeke (Montreal, Toronto) as well as 2006 Timbers draft pick Kenney Bertz will all be familiar names to Timbers fans.

Delicate leads the Rhinos in goals with three (including the only goal in the 1-0 Rhinos win at PGE Park earlier this year) along with John Ball. Goalkeeper Scott Vallow has given up only three goals all year, but two of them were in the 2-2 draw that opened PAETEC Park on June 3.

Other Rhinos players that have seen significant time this year are defenders Frankie Sanfillippo, Scott Palagua (who has played every minute), and Bertz. Delicate and Ball have seen the most time at midfield and forward, with Gbeke and Howes also getting more than 400 minutes in the first eight matches (along with Craft in defense).

Current form

After an impressive run of five consecutive road wins to start the season, the Rhinos are winless (and undefeated) in their past four matches, all draws, so picking up only four points in four matches has barely kept them at the top of the table, though in points per match, the Impact have passed the Rhinos into first place. The last Rhinos win was their 1-0 victory in Portland last month.

Series history

• The Timbers have never beaten the Rhinos in five tries
• The Timbers have yet to score a goal in the run of play against Rochester, though have two penalty kick goals

Montreal Impact

Breakdown

The Impact won the 2004 USL First Division title (the year the Timbers won the league Regular Season Championship), but after winning the Regular Season title last year, the Impact were ousted in the playoffs by eventual champions Seattle.

The Impact also have a former Timber in striker Dan Antoniuk (2003-2005). Antoinuk actually went to Vancouver in the off-season, but was traded to Montreal for forward Eduardo Sebrango before the season started. Antoniuk has two goals on the season, tied fot the team lead along with fomer Puerto Rico forward Mauricio Salles. Three other Montreal players have netted one goal each.

Dizzy (Antoniuk) has only played 144 minutes up front this season, with Mauro Biello and Salles playing most of the minutes at forward. Antonio Ribero, Ze Roberto, Leonardo Di Lorenzo, and Lars Lyssand have seen most of the time at midfield.

The Impact have shut out six of their eight opponents so far this year, with Adam Braz, Gabriel Gervais, Patrick Leduc, Nevio Pizzolitto, and Mauricio Vincello seeing almost all of the time on the backline.

At goalkeeper, Greg Sutton, considered one of the top keepers in the league, had started every match up until he broke his index finger in training last Saturday, and will miss six to eight weeks. Andrew Weber will likely be between the pipes for the Impact on Sunday, with a GAA average of 1.00 after his lone start, a 4-1 win over Atlanta at home on Wednesday.

Current form

After a slow 1-1-1 start, the Impact are 4-0-1 in their last five matches, with four shutouts. They sit tied for third in the league on total points, but have played the fewest games so far this year (along with Atlanta) at eight. In points per match, the Impact are in first place.

Series history

• The Timbers lead 2-1, and lead 4-1 on goals.
• The Timbers won the only match between the two teams in Montreal, 1-0 in 2005 on a goal by current Impact forward Dan Antoiniuk.