Sporting KC vs. Portland Timbers Preview and Scouting Report
Spoiler alert: their turf is just as bad as Seattle’s
Sporting KC @ Portland Timbers
When: Saturday, February 25, 2023 at 9:30pm CT
Where: Providence Park
Watch/Stream: Apple MLS Season Pass
Matchday 1 is fast approaching. Sporting Kansas City will finally return to the field to take on the Portland Timbers at Providence Park.
What do we know about Portland ahead of this first game of the season?
They play on grass and it’s disgusting.
But what about the players on the disgusting grass pitch, you ask? Portland retrace more minutes than any other team in MLS. The 2022 Timbers finished the playoffs with a point and decided to play them back.
Giovanni Savarese has previously played a 4-3-2-1 formation but usually plays a 4-2-3-1 with two defensive midfielders in the double pivot. Functionally, the 4-2-3-1 isn’t all that different from the 4-3-3 that Sporting Kansas City fans are all too familiar with. The formation provides width through wingers/wide midfielders, likely Yimmi Chara and Santiago Moreno or Sebastian Blanco. Sporting Kansas City plays with a lone holding midfielder and two “8s” forming a midfield triangle. Savarese’s formation basically reverses this triangle to create a stronger block in front of the central defense.
Towards the end of the 2022 season, Savarese began using formations with a back three, using Diego Chara and either Eryk Williamson or Cristhian Paredes in central midfield to break up play.
While Portland didn’t make many moves, they did make a big move by signing $10 million designated player Evander from Midtjylland. Evander is a true attacking midfielder who was leading the Europa League in assists before moving to Portland. He can be counted on to pull the strings as Diego Valeri did for a decade.
The center forward is a real question mark for Portland. Jaroslaw Niezgoda is a designated player with two seasons plagued by injuries and one mostly full season in 2022. When he’s healthy, he’s shown he can score goals. Felipe Mora ended last season with cartilage repair surgery on his knee. It is unlikely that he will start the season in full force. Nathan Fogaca was brought back as depth and competition for Niezgoda and Mora. Overall, the Portland attack scored 53 goals last year, which ranked fourth in the Western Conference.
While Portland’s offense didn’t fight, their defense did. The Timbers defense conceded 53 goals last year, the sixth-most in the West. Since then, the Timbers have traded full-back Josecarlos Van Rankin back to Mexico and traded center-back Bill Tuiloma to Charlotte for general allocation money (GAM). Barring a major tactical change or leap in development, this Timbers defense appears to be the same leaky ship seen last year.
This game represents two teams that missed the 2022 MLS Cup playoffs. Curiously, both have had minimal roster changes and rely heavily on an aging core (Chara and Blanco for Portland, too many for Sporting KC). Each team had holey defenses in 2022 and made very few roster moves to shore up those holes. Each team will rely on a new signing in midfield to influence the course of the game – Evander for Portland and Nemanja Radoja for Sporting (assuming he’s healthy).
Sporting Kansas City’s ability to control midfield will be crucial to gaining three points away from home. Portland’s front four is dangerous, but they’re weak at the back. If Sporting KC can control the ball through midfield and parry counterattacks, they can minimize Portland’s chances of scoring. That’s easier said than done.
I hope SKC will continue their momentum from the second half of the 2022 campaign. There are many central defense questions but the return of Erik Thommy and Willy Agada should spark some nice attacking football.
Forecast: It will be more pleasant than the start in 2022. None of our players will be substituted for 27 minutes and then thrown out in the sun.
Continue reading