Rio Tinto Stadium has been the proverbial soccer fortress this season, allowing Real Salt Lake to claim 34 of a potential 45 points at home. Combined with the Portland Timbers’ recent, discouraging road form, the mark crafts a prognosis for Saturday’s match in Utah that, well, doesn’t seem good. Amid two teams battling for playoff positioning (and, potentially, a playoff spot), RSL may have a huge edge in the teams’ first meeting of the season.
Yet as Portland’s 2018 shows, there is only so much that can be assumed from past performance. After two weeks of the season, the Timbers looked like the worst team in Major League Soccer.