The Portland Timbers will take the field against Real Salt Lake in the first round of the 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs Saturday without one of their leading scorers.

Striker Brian Fernandez voluntarily entered Major League Soccer’s Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health Program last week. He will not be allowed to return to the field until he has undergone an assessment and is cleared to play by the program’s doctors.

“First and foremost with Brian, we care about him as a human being,” Timbers goalkeeper Steve Clark said. “We know what type of talent he is and we’re, of course, missing him on the field, but there are certain things in life and many things in life that are more important than soccer. We love Brian and we’re rooting for him. We’re happy for him in his decision and we support him.”

The Timbers paid a club-record transfer fee to acquire Fernandez from Liga MX side Necaxa in May, despite knowing that Fernandez had previously tested positive for cocaine while playing for Argentine club Racing in 2015. He went on to fail a second drug test while with Racing and was issued a suspension that kept keep him away from the field for a year and a half. The suspension came at a time when Fernandez was dealing with some difficult personal issues away from the field.

Fernandez told Argentinian newspaper Olé last week that he had been struggling with personal issues away from the field this year and entered MLS’s Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health Program to avoid getting into trouble again.

“Brian is an important player,” Timbers coach Giovanni Savarese said. “At the moment, he’s in the place that I think we all think is the best for him. We have a lot of other players that have been doing really well, that have been performing, and the group is very united.”

Fernandez took MLS by storm in his first month and a half in the league, scoring five goals in his first six appearances for the Timbers. He finished his 2019 regular season campaign tied for the team lead with 11 goals in 16 regular season starts (19 appearances). He scored another four goals in U.S. Open Cup play.

But Fernandez scored just once in his last seven appearances for the Timbers and missed significant time over the last month of the regular season due to what the club initially called a “stomach virus.” Savarese would not comment Wednesday when asked whether the club used the “stomach virus” as an excuse for the other issues that Fernandez may have been facing away from the field.

“As I told you, that’s a doctor question," Savarese said. "That’s not for me to be able to answer. What we always want is the best for Brian. Right now, he’s not here. Definitely, he’s a player that can help, but the guys that we have, as I said the locker room is very strong at the moment, and we’re just looking forward to traveling to Salt Lake.”

Savarese also chose not to address Fernandez’s timeline to return to the field when asked whether the Argentine striker could feature for the Timbers during this year’s playoffs. Still, it seems likely that Fernandez will miss Portland’s entire playoff run as he undergoes treatment.

“We need to focus on this match," Savarese said. "We don’t want to talk about what’s after. The important thing right now is this game and nothing else and that’s what we’re focusing on right now.”

With Fernandez unavailable, the Timbers will have to rely on their other attacking players to step up if they hope to make any sort of run in the postseason. The sixth-place Timbers went just 3-4-3 to close out the regular season and set a club-record by failing to score in 319 minutes at home in September. But Portland’s attack came alive on the final day of the regular season as the club beat the San Jose Earthquakes 3-1.

“I think it’s just important to maintain the focus on the team," Timbers striker Jeremy Ebobisse said. "Brian has to do what he has to do and we support him fully, but, at the end of the day, we need to focus on our playoffs. It’s going to be really important for us. He’s done a lot for the team to help us get to this point and we need to kind of repay that favor, where he can count on us to perform without him.”

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg

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