The Portland Timbers will send seven players to their USL team, T2, for Sunday's match against the Orange County Blues FC at 6 p.m. at Providence Park.

The Timbers are loaning Norberto Paparatto, Andrew Weber, Jeanderson, Gaston Fernandez, George Fochive, Will Johnson and Michael Nanchoff to T2 for Sunday's game to get those players crucial game minutes and make sure they are staying sharp.

Nanchoff, who is recovering from sports hernia surgery, will see his first game minutes since the surgery with T2 Sunday.

Johnson will play his second game with T2 Sunday as he continues to recover from a broken leg and get ready to return to the Timbers lineup. Porter did not rule out the possibility of Johnson seeing minutes in Portland's match against the Vancouver Whitecaps Saturday, but said that it is unlikely that Johnson plays against Vancouver.

"We will use this game as an opportunity to keep some guys sharp," Timbers coach Caleb Porter said. "We have Open Cup coming down the road and you need to keep players sharp because, for instance, in positions like central defender and goalkeeper, you don't sub those positions."

Porter said that the five players could be in the 18 for Saturday's match against Vancouver and, if any of the players end up seeing significant playing time against the Whitecaps, they will likely not play in the T2 match.

"We won't do this much, but every so often we need to make sure these guys stay sharp and get a game and they want to get a game," Porter said. "We need to make sure these guys stay ready, fit and game sharp."

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg