If the teams’ first meeting of the season became an emboldening performance for the Portland Timbers, Saturday’s rematch against the Colorado Rapids should prove a stabilizing one.
When the two Western Conference foes first met, this season, in Commerce City, Colorado, the Timbers’ attack showed a potency that had been alluding them for much of the season, breaking out for three goals and fully identifying a new number one striker after a brace from Samuel Armenteros. The score at match’s end read 3-2, Timbers, but in the underlying performance, there was a feeling of significant progress among Portland’s squad.