BEAVERTON, Ore. – The Portland Timbers have made it clear that they want to keep FC Dallas off the board when the two teams meet on Sunday (7:30 pm ET; FS1, FOX Deportes, TSN5).
Easier said than done.
The Dallas attack, of course, is powered by a fearsome trio of young attacking midfielders, anchored by playmaker Mauro Diaz – who is in turn flanked by two of the quickest wingers in MLS in 2015 24 Under 24 winner Fabian Castillo and newcomer Michael Barrios.
The young group (average age: 23.6) wowed the league with their attacking play over the course of the 2015 regular season and tormented opposing teams to the tune of 24 goals and 21 assists. They figure to be key in Dallas’ attempts to overcome Portland when they begin their Western Conference Championship series in the Audi 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs. So, how do you contain them?
“I’m not sure if you can really contain them,” Timbers defender Nat Borchers told reporters on Saturday. “I think that they’re going to have their chances, we’re just going to have to limit the amount of space they have. [It’s] really just about getting guys to help defensively, getting guys behind the ball when the ball does turn over because those guys are obviously very fast and can score very good goals.”
Castillo is the most prominent figure in the group, and has recently been the subject of interest from abroad, including reportedly from Liga MX giants Club América. And while the 23-year-old Colombian certainly deserves all the plaudits that have come his way over the last couple of years, Portland head coach Caleb Porter warned that his team cannot focus too much of their attention on one single player.
“If you start putting too much attention on Castillo, then Barrios pops up,” Porter told reporters after Timbers training on Friday. “And that’s why Barrios this year has scored [seven] goals, because a lot of teams have kind of shaded to that side and Barrios has been in a lot of 1-v-1 situations and he’s punished teams because of that. When we lost 4-1 [at Dallas in the regular season], that was the case.”
If the Castillo-Diaz-Barrios trio wasn’t enough to deal with, Portland will also have to contend with likely starting forward David Texeira, who put up a fairly modest six goals in the 2015 regular season, but finished the campaign in strong form with three goals in October. Add veteran forward Blas Perez and up-and-coming Canadian international Tesho Akindele – who scored a crucial goal for Dallas in the Conference Semifinals – off the bench, and Dallas have no shortage of attacking weapons to let loose.
Dealing with such a variety of threats is no easy task, though Portland have the advantage of having faced a similar type of team in the Vancouver Whitecaps in the previous round of the playoffs. And though FC Dallas have been the cream of the crop in MLS so far this year, the Timbers feel like they're experience against Vancouver, who they shutout in two legs last round, have them prepared for FC Dallas.
“I think every team in this league has a good number 10, a good wide man and a good center forward and we’ve played up against it all season, so it’s no different. We’re just going into the game, trying to concentrate on trying to keep a clean sheet,” defender Liam Ridgewell told reporters on Saturday. “That’s the only thing you can do and hopefully we can do that better than them.
"We’re looking forward to the game, I’m sure there will be a few twists and turns and me and Nat will trying to be helping everyone out.”
