Providence Park in Portland, Oregon will host the second game in the span of a week between the Portland Timbers and the San Jose Earthquakes. The Timbers eliminated the Earthquakes from playoff contention over the weekend in a 2-1 battle at Buck Shaw Stadium. Coach Caleb Porter is all in the MLS playoffs and will not take his foot off the gas going into the short week.
Portland may have gotten a little bit lucky on the game winning goal on Saturday, but there aren't many fans complaining about the result. Liam Ridgewell was on the receiving end of a cross, who headed the ball off of Rodney Wallace for a deflected goal in the 74th minute. That goal was Wallace's second of the game. His first came just three minutes prior to tie San Jose 1-1. San Jose forward Chris Wondolowski put the home side up in the 56th minute, but his team could not hold the lead and were ultimately bounced from the playoffs. Look the highlights below.
While San Jose will be looking for a little bit of revenge, the Timbers will be head strong in their continued effort to make the playoffs. The Timbers currently sit sixth in the Western Conference standings behind Cascadian rivals the Vancouver Whitecaps. Portland has been relying on their attack all year and it has only been getting better as the season has progressed. Diego Valeri is having another MVP caliber season as he ties the team lead in goals (nine) with Maxi Urruti and Fanendo Adi, one shy of his 2013 total. Valeri also currently has 14 assists which bests his last season by one.
Fanendo Adi may not be the starting forward for the Timbers this Wednesday despite current trends. He has been splitting time with Urruti all season, and seems to have the higher position on the forward depth chart, but there's a good chance we'll see Urruti get the start coming off of the short turn around.
The San Jose Earthquakes don't have much to look forward to. They have been eliminated from the playoffs and haven't fared well in Portland in their last few games. The last game at Providence Park was a shootout between the two, but San Jose failed to hold onto two different leads and split points. Chris Wondolowski has once again been one of the few bright spots for San Jose this season. Wondo has three of the last four San Jose goals against the Timbers. The Earthquakes will field a stronger team this time around, with Matias Perez Garcia returning from a knock.
San Jose will be without Victor Bernardez, who was pegged for international duty. Bernardez is also expected to miss their game against Real Salt Lake. This may make way for Ty Harden, who has seen sparse time this season. Whoever will be playing in defense for the Earthquakes will have their work cut out for them as the Timbers currently have the third most goals in MLS behind LA and Seattle. They will also be without Wondolowski as well. He was a late call-up for the USMNT as reported earlier on Tuesday.
The Timbers have been in must-win mode for a healthy portion of the season. It's even more prevalent with the battle for the final playoff spot getting more heated. Portland has the offense to propel them in front of Vancouver, but their defense has been the catalyst thus far. If the Timbers fail to win, they could kiss their season goodbye with matches against FC Dallas and RSL coming up.