Cincinnati endured a group made up of Atlanta United, New York Red Bulls and the Columbus Crew, finishing second with two wins. Meanwhile, the Portland Timbers topped LAFC, LA Galaxy and the Houston Dynamo to finish first in Group D.
Portland Timbers
The Portland Timbers earned their spot at the top of Group D. Defeating the LA Galaxy and the Houston Dynamo in the opening two group games, Giovanni Savarese’s Timbers had to produce a draw or win to finish top. Nonetheless, Savarese decided to leave key players such as Diego Valeri and Jeremy Ebobisse on the bench. Portland scored early, but Los Angeles retaliated with two goals before half-time. That’s when Ebobisse, who went in as a sub, equalized in the 80th minute to claim Group D’s top seed.
Our Starting XI vs. @fccincinnati.#PORvNCC | #RCTID pic.twitter.com/6l8Wv4qkdc
— Portland Timbers (@TimbersFC) July 29, 2020
Portland has the ability to set the pace for the game and will look to dictate attacks against Cincinnati.
FC Cincinnati
The Orange and Blue have exceeded expectations after a successful group stage run. Everyone counted Cincinnati out after a thumping 4-0 defeat against Columbus in Gameweek 1. However, Jaap Stam and his players stunned the Red Bulls and Atlanta, keeping clean sheets in both games. Cincinnati became more effective in defense and lethal in front of goals after counter attacks.
Spot the difference from last week’s lineup.
— FC Cincinnati (@fccincinnati) July 29, 2020
Cincy were out-shot 24 shots to nine, and nine shots on target to five. Nonetheless, they scored three goals and did not concede one. If Cincinnati is able to reproduce the work shown in the past two performances, then they might have a shot at getting past a high-caliber Portland team.
Portland Timbers vs CF Cincinnati: Broadcast Information
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