Following Orlando City SC‘s 1-o win against Columbus Crew, James O’Connor‘s Lions now face their second furthest road trip of the 2019 MLS season at Portland Timbers.
Travelling just over 3,060 miles from the Florida peninsula up to the Pacific Northwest, Orlando City SC are visiting Providence Park for only the third time in Major League Soccer.
With Giovanni Savarese’s Timbers contesting their first 12 league fixtures away from home to accommodate construction of an expanded Providence Park, the Western Conference side now have a backlog of home fixtures to play.
Still battling near the foot of the Western Conference table in tenth place, Portland Timbers do have at least two games in hand on a lot of their Western rivals and will see this game as a big opportunity to make up ground.
Drawing 2-2 at home against Colorado Rapids last time out, Diego Valeri was on the scoresheet and is still very much the talisman for Timbers.
Giovanni Savarese’s side have also been buoyed by the mid-season arrival of Brian Fernández from Necaxa. The Argentine striker recently became the first player in league history to score in each of his first five matches to start his MLS career.
With Timbers’ third Argentine Designated Player Sebastián Blanco also a danger man in his own right, there will be plenty of attacking threat to keep the Orlando City SC defence occupied.
That said, the Lions’ defence earned a hard fought clean sheet victory over Columbus Crew (1-0) last time out. With Benji Michel‘s 84th minute strike enough to split the sides, City are negotiating the busy mid-season positively.
Heading into late July with our league and cup ambitions still alive, James O’Connor and this Orlando City SC roster is digging deep to right the wrongs of last season and would see a point at Providence Park as a hugely valuable one.
2015/18 head-to-head stats
Last meeting each other way back in April 2018, Portland Timbers visited Orlando City SC in what turned out to be an explosive start to the 2018 MLS campaign.
One week on from an incredibly dramatic 4-3 victory over New York Red Bulls, a game Orlando City SC trailed in twice, Jason Kreis‘ Lions plotted another stunning comeback, this time from two goals down.
Orlando City SC supporters were fearing the worst after Diego Valeri and Bill Tuiloma goals handed Timbers a handsome two-goal advantage by the 59th minute.
Nobody could’ve prepared for what happened next.
In the space of just seven minutes, Orlando City SC somehow managed to pull off the most miraculous comeback with a Chris Mueller strike (80th minute), Sacha Kljestan penalty (82nd minute) and Dom Dwyer game winner (87th minute) sealing the most incredible three points.
Orlando City SC 3 Portland Timbers 2 – Highlights – April 8, 2018 (Credit: Major League Soccer)
Four games into this once-a-season MLS head-to-head and it’s Orlando City SC who hold a handsome advantage over the 2015 MLS Cup winners.
With THREE victories to Portland Timbers’ ONE, we are yet to witness a draw in this cross-conference affair.
In the club’s first ever league meeting in April 2015, Cyle Larin‘s first ever professional goal and a re-taken Kaká penalty handed Orlando City SC all three points over 3,060 miles away from home at Providence Park.
Portland Timbers are yet to pick up a single point from their two trips to Central Florida, comfortably defeated 4-1 at the Citrus Bowl in April 2016 before last season’s aforementioned 3-2 triumph.
Portland Timbers 0 Orlando City SC 2 – Highlights – April 12, 2015 (Credit: Portland Timbers)
Whenever Portland Timbers and Orlando City SC, we seem to get goals and plenty of them! In the last THREE league head-to-heads, we’ve seen THREE or more goals scored.
In the other MLS head-to-head we’ve not yet mentioned, the Lions were run ragged as they were comfortably swatted aside 3-0 by Timbers in September 2017.
Travelling to Oregon with just a single victory in ten league games, the home side were too good on the day as a Diego Valeri penalty and Darren Mattocks strike put Timbers 2-0 up by the half hour mark.
With Jonathan Spector seeing red in the 47th minute, Valeri completed his brace in the 59th minute before PC‘s dismissal reduced Orlando City SC to nine men late on in a bad day at the office.
Portland Timbers form
Stretching back to last season prior to the Providence Park redevelopment, Portland Timbers have been enjoying a hot streak at home in the Rose City.
Indeed, Giovanni Savarese’s side are unbeaten in TEN of their last ELEVEN home fixtures with Providence Park being one of the toughest fixtures in all of Major League Soccer to achieve a result.
With the $85 million expansion project boosting the home capacity by 4,000 to 25,218, Portland Timbers are just getting started at home this season having contested only four home league games in front of the Timbers Army.
In their last game, Timbers could only manage a 2-2 draw against fellow Western Conference strugglers Colorado Rapids.
Portland Timbers 2 Colorado Rapids 2 – Highlights – July 13, 2019 (Credit: Major League Soccer)
Orlando City SC form
A fundamental part of Orlando City SC‘s improved 2019 form has been their performances on the road.
Not really disgraced in any away game so far this campaign, James O’Connor‘s Lions are actually undefeated in THREE of their last FOUR away fixtures in MLS.
Winning TWO games in this streak at Montreal Impact (0-3) and Columbus Crew (0-2), O’Connor has been getting things right tactically with defensive duo Lamine Sané and Robin Jansson offering City a solid foundation at the back.