Portland Timbers vs. Colorado Rapids | 2017 MLS Match Preview

Steve Brisendine

Portland Timbers vs. Colorado Rapids
2017 MLS Regular Season
Providence Park - Portland, Ore.
Wednesday, Aug. 23 - 10:30 pm ET
WATCH: MLS LIVE

They'd need some help to do it, but the Portland Timbers have a chance to exit midweek with a share of the Western Conference points lead.

The Timbers are on 37 points, three back of Seattle and Sporting Kansas City, headed into Wednesday night's home meeting with the Colorado Rapids. A three-point take against the West's last-place team, and a Seattle loss at Vancouver on Wednesday, would vault Portland into the crowd atop the conference.

On paper, those three points might look a safe bet. The Rapids are on 22 points, in a three-way tie for the league's worst record, and haven't won since July 1. Saturday's 1-0 loss to D.C. United left them on a six-match winless skid and still looking for their first goal under interim coach Steve Cooke.

At the same time, Portland -- while they've won three of their last five after beating the New York Red Bulls 2-0 over the weekend -- haven't managed back-to-back victories since early June.

Portland Timbers

Suspended: D Larrys Mabiala
Int'l duty: None
Injuries: OUT: D - Gbenga Arokoyo (Achilles tear, out for season), Chance Myers (hamstring injury); QUESTIONABLE: D Marco Farfan (ankle injury), D Liam Ridgewell (quad injury), F Fanendo Adi (hamstring injury), GK Jake Gleeson (hamstring injury)

Projected Starting XI (4-2-3-1, left to right): Jeff Attinella -- Vytautas Andriuskevicius, Lawrence Olum, Zarek Valentin, Alvas Powell – David Guzman, Diego Chara – Sebastian Blanco, Diego Valeri, Darlington Nagbe – Jeremy Ebobisse

Notes: The Timbers have won six of their seven home league games against the Rapids, only losing their first ever home match against Colorado on June 12, 2011 (1-0 final). The Timbers’ six home wins against the Rapids have seen only two Colorado goals, and are the second-most home regular season wins Portland has recorded against any MLS opponent. ... Portland has won consecutive home league games. Although they’ve only lost twice in 13 home league matches (7W-4D), they have yet to win three consecutive home league games this year.

Colorado Rapids

Suspended: None
Intl'l duty: None
Injuries: OUT: GK - Zac MacMath (meniscus surgery); QUESTIONABLE: D - Bobby Burling (foot injury)

Projected Starting XI (4-3-3 right to left): GK: Tim Howard – Marlon Hairston, Jared Watts, Axel Sjoberg, Eric Miller – Nana Boateng, Micheal Azira, Mohamed Saeid – Shkelzen Gashi, Kevin Doyle, Dominique Badji

Notes: Colorado is winless in six straight league matches (3L-3D), and have been outscored 8-4 across those six games. The Rapids have failed to win in 11 road league matches (9L-2D) and have only scored three goals on that run, dating back to October 16th of last season. ... The Rapids concede 14.4 fouls per game this year, the second-highest average of any MLS team.

All-Time Series

Colorado's 2-1 home victory in June drew the two sides even with seven wins each in the overall series, and there have been three draws.

Overall: Portland 7 wins, 20 goals; Colorado 7 wins, 22 goals; 3 draws
At Portland: Portland 6 wins, 12 goals; Colorado 1 win, 3 goals; 0 draws