Portland Timbers defender Jorge Villafana and forward Lucas Melano are not expected to feature in Sunday's rivalry game against the Seattle Sounders.

Timbers coach Giovanni Savarese said Tuesday that both players are working to get to a point where they can see minutes for the club. Savarese doesn't expect either to be ready to see the field Sunday against Seattle.

Melano is still working his way up to full fitness and is expected to see minutes with Portland's USL team, T2, Wednesday as he continues to get fit. Melano also featured for T2 Sunday.

"He's getting there," Savarese said. "He's doing the fitness in order to make sure we prevent him from getting hurt. We are monitoring him to take him to a place where we feel he's now ready to be able to perform. I don't think that will be this weekend, but he's getting closer and closer to be available to play."

Savarese said that Villafana has been participating in training, but has been held out of full-contact drills due to an issue with his shoulder. He said he expects Villafana to start participating in full-contact drills in a few days. While Savarese said Villafana would not be available for Sunday's game, he said that the 28-year-old left back would be available to play in a "matter of days."

"It's probably a few days more that he needs," Savarese said. "He's training with the team... We're avoiding some things in contact in the next few days, but very shortly I think, in the next few games, we'll see him join the team to play."

Melano and Villafana were both key members of the Timbers' 2015 MLS Cup-winning squad. The Timbers brought both players back to Portland during the MLS Secondary Transfer Window.

Timbers center back Liam Ridgewell (lower left leg injury) also returned to training Tuesday after missing time last week due to injury. It is still unclear when Ridgewell could feature in a game.

"We hope that he can reintegrate himself into the team, and at least he had a full training today," Savarese said. "We're feeling positive about him being part of the team at some point."

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg