On Saturday, June 16th the Foxes travel to Portland to take on the Timbers 2 at 2:00 P.M. The Foxes are back in it this week, looking to make up some of the points they’ve dropped over the last few weeks.

The State of the League

The Western conference has some congestion at the moment. 1st and 8th are separated by just five points. That leaves a lot of room for error and a lot of room for gain from teams that last year wouldn’t have dreamed of winning the conference.

Currently, we sit at 5th place, just two points below Timbers 2. There is plenty of room for movement, and while Portland is the best two team in the conference, we have to put on a good showing against them if we want to have a spot in playoff contention.

Congestion at the top shows that there isn’t a lot of room for error, so the Foxes need to pick up vital points on the road. This game is set to be an important one, it can make or break our end of season hopes – so let’s get into why Portland is so good and what we need to do to break them down.

Timbers 2 Electric Boogaloo

So Timbers 2 is currently the only successful Portland team – the first team is dragging at the bottom of the western conference table. T2 was a strong team last year, and their form has continued into this year – they are sitting at 6-2-5 with 23 points from 13 games. Their record is consistently strong, and they have done well against good and bad opponents alike. They’ve beaten teams like Real Monarchs and Sacramento and held New Mexico to a draw.

They have a strong attack – they’ve scored 28 goals in 13 games, which averages to 2.1 goals per game. Their defensive record is not phenomenal, but it is still impressive at 20 goals conceded in 13 games – just 1.5 per game. Overall they are a resilient team, and they will bring it at home.

Portland is a quick team that hit the counter-attack by putting 4-5 players forward. 23 of their goals have come from inside the box, and their superior attacking numbers mean that they score a lot of goals off of rebounds – they have guys in position to score balls that come off the goalkeeper or a defender.

Some of their success may lie in the fact that their team is young. They have some rising stars who play for the U23 US National team, and they are coping well with the strenuous schedule of the USL Western Conference.

Key Players

Portland is unique because they don’t have just one key goalscorer but three who are sharing the load pretty evenly. Darion Asprilla (#27) is their highest scorer with 6 goals in 5 games – he is an impressive goalscorer, but it seems like he has not played much this season for whatever reason. After him, Modou Jadama (#93) and Foster Langsdorf (#28) have scored 4 apiece. Jadama is a defender, so many of his goals probably come from set pieces.

Their most important player though is midfielder Eryk Williamson (#30) who has made 7 assists and 3 goals. He has created 23 chances in his 10 appearances, making him a major attacking threat. Willaimson seems to be the cog that helps connect the midfield to the forwards.

What Should the Foxes Do?

I think our play is going to lie in countering the counter. Portland has a much weaker defense than we do, and that means we can exploit them. When they send up 5 attackers, we need to get the ball and move it quickly to our own forwards. One of the differences between T2 and the Foxes is that we play fewer attackers forward, and that means we need to be clinical in how we attack – there is hardly ever anyone to mop up blocks.

We are going to be looking to our defenders to close down the wings, and our midfielders need to slow down the game. It might be a dangerous game for a player like Moses because the temptation to foul is going to be strong. I think playing Alihodzic and Kurimoto in more holding roles will see fruitful results – maybe bringing Moses on as a second-half sub.

The other aspect that we need to address is that we have to utilize our own attacking prowess if we are going to come out with anything. Portland scores 2.1 goals on average – we should be able to mitigate that somewhat, but we still have to score to come out with something. The last few games it has seemed like goals were beyond us, even when we have 26 shots, so Smith is going to have to figure out a strategy to get the players in the right position to score.

Prediction

It will be a tough game – we will be on the road against a good team. I think the only way we are going to come out with something is if we hit them hard and fast. Given our current form, I am a bit more realistic. I think we are looking at 2-2, with Portland’s goals coming in the second half.

#SomosZorros