Portland Timber vs Real Salt Lake

An eagerly-contested playoff battle in the Western Conference heats up as Portland Timbers and Real Salt Lake lock horns at Providence Park in a handsomely-looking Major League Soccer encounter.

Portland Timbers’ bid to make amends for last season’s busted attempt to qualify for the playoffs is hanging by a thread after back-to-back MLS defeats, including an action-packed 3-2 home loss to Vancouver Whitecaps last time out, left them six points below 9th-placed Austin FC in the Western Conference. Despite their underwhelming MLS campaign, Portland will relish their chances in this match-up, knowing 83% of their league victories this season have come on home soil (5/6). They can draw further confidence from a decent scoring record at home, having failed to find the net in just two of their 12 MLS outings at Providence Park in 2023, averaging 1.9 goals across the remaining ten scoring contests. But they should only be cautiously optimistic, considering they are winless in their last two home league meetings with Salt Lake (D1, L1).

Meanwhile, visiting Real Salt Lake had an underwhelming MLS return following a month-long hiatus, with Houston Dynamo thumping the ‘Claret & Cobalt’ 3-0 on home turf to end their outrageous nine-game unbeaten league streak (W6, D3). Despite that setback, Pablo Mastroeni’s men are still in a decent position to qualify for the playoffs for the third season on the trot, with five points separating them from 10th-placed Minnesota United at the start of this matchday. With 21 points from 12 MLS travels this term (W6, D3, L3), Salt Lake head into proceedings as the best visiting side in the Western Conference. On top of that, they’re unbeaten in their last eight away league outings (W5, D3), netting 2+ goals on six occasions!