It it unclear whether Portland Timbers midfielder Diego Chara and defender Larrys Mabiala will be available to play when the club hosts Real Salt Lake on July 19.

Chara suffered a hamstring strain against the Seattle Sounders on June 25 and was expected to miss a month while recovering from the injury.

But Timbers coach Caleb Porter said that Chara is progressing more quickly than the club initially expected. Chara was doing sprints on the edge of training Tuesday and remains questionable for the game against Real Salt Lake.

"Chara's progressing quicker than some of the others," Porter said. "He's one that might be available for RSL, but we don't know for sure."

Mabiala joined the Timbers at the end of June and became eligible to play for the club when the secondary transfer window opened on July 10.

Still, Porter said the Timbers are still evaluating Mabiala's fitness and he did not yet know if the center back would be fit enough to start against RSL on July 19. Porter said that the club will have an 11v11 intrasquad scrimmage at training Thursday, which should give them a chance to determine whether Mabiala could be fit enough to play against RSL.

"It will depend on the next eight days and his heart rate response and where we feel he is at physically," Porter said. "I think it will be pushing it to be honest with you. He's had two weeks of training after a pretty long layoff. To expect him to step in and play 90 minutes after that with only two weeks of training is probably tight."

The Timbers could be dealing with other key absences against RSL as well.

Timbers defender Vytas left Portland's last match against the Chicago Fire on July 5 with a hamstring strain and did not train Tuesday. Porter said that he expects Vytas to be ready in time for the RSL game, but also said that the club would have to continue to evaluate the defender.

Timbers captain Liam Ridgewell (quad injury) and defender Amobi Okugo (MCL sprain) also remain out.

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg