Major League Soccer’s regular season is four weeks away from ending with twenty-two sides set to fight for playoff spots this week. The Portland Timbers and Los Angeles FC headline this week of play and are set to play on Sunday, Oct. 18, at 10 p.m. ET.
The game between the Chicago Fire and Sporting Kansas City will be the only one available on national television through TUDN USA on Saturday, Oct. 17, at 3:30 p.m. ET.
The remaining 21 games will be televised regionally and will be available exclusively on streaming platforms, including MLSsoccer.com, ESPN+ and fuboTV.
Game of the Week: Portland Timbers vs LAFC
The Timbers and LAFC will both play a game on Wednesday before Sunday night’s showdown.
Portland will visit the Real Salt Lake to play on Wednesday, Oct. 14, at 9:30 p.m. ET at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah. Meanwhile, Los Angeles will take a trip to Portland to play the Vancouver Whitecaps on Wednesday, Oct. 14, at 10 p.m. ET.
Portland Timbers
The Timbers have carried out a strong regular season campaign after winning the MLS is Back Tournament back in July. Portland is in a six-game undefeated streak and their last loss came against LAFC on Sept. 13.
MLS is Back Tournament MVP Sebastian Blanco tore his ACL at the start of September, but that has not stopped Portland from scoring. The Timbers remained one of the most feared attacking sides averaging 2.85 goals per game since Blanco’s injury. On top of Portland’s good attack, head coach Giovanni Savarese has figured out their defense. Portland has kept three of their total four clean sheets this season in their last four matches. Center-back Dario Zuparic has been a big reason for the improvement on defense.
A player to watch going into this week’s two games is forward Felipe Mora, who has scored four goals in his last three games.
6 - No @TimbersFC player has been directly involved in more goals than Felipe Mora (6 - 5 goals, 1 assist, tied with Diego Valeri) since the @MLS regular season restarted in August. Filled. pic.twitter.com/4rzHXgyYa3
— OptaJack (@OptaJack) October 8, 2020
LAFC
Los Angeles FC will have a weeklong stay in Portland, Ore. as they are scheduled to play the Whitecaps on Wednesday and the Timbers on Sunday at Providence Park.
The Black-and-Gold are on a roll after steamrolling 3-1 wins over Real Salt Lake and Western Conference leaders Seattle Sounders. Last Sunday, they hosted the Sounders without three of their star forwards – Carlos Vela, Brian Rodriguez and Diego Rossi – and still managed to put three goals past one of the best defensive sides in the league. Big credit goes to 23-year-old Colombian midfielder Eduard Atuesta who was given the captain armband by head coach Bob Bradley in the last four matches.
Perfect ball from Atuesta
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) October 11, 2020
Good finish from Musovski @LAFC take the lead! #LAFCvSEA pic.twitter.com/ZXYzbjT63h
If LAFC manage a win over Vancouver, which they beat 6-0 in late September, then they will carry their good form against Portland on Sunday.
Talk of the Week: Race to Supporters’ Shield and 2020 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs
MLS is just one month away from its 2020 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs. For that reason, teams have little room for mistakes as some fight for the Supporters Shield, others wrestle for the highest seed possible and the rest battle to secure a playoff spot.
Toronto FC is the clear frontrunner for the Supporters Shield, sitting at the top of the combined standings with 37 points after five straight wins. The Philadelphia Union are Toronto’s closest opponents with 34 points, and behind them are Columbus, Seattle, Portland and Orlando, all of whom are above the 30-point line and hopeful in clinching the regular-season title.
FiveThirtyEight: Projected Supporters’ Shield Chances
- Toronto FC - 51%
- Seattle Sounders - 18%
- Philadelphia Union - 13%
- Columbus Crew - 8%
- Orlando City - 4%
The fight for playoff spots in the Western Conference is a real struggle as the fourth seed and twelfth seed are only separated by nine points. In other words, seeds four through eight are up for grabs.
On the other hand, the Eastern Conference has two major conflicts going on simultaneously: fights for playoff spots and play-in matches. Since the conference has 14 teams, MLS decided to create play-in matches for seeds 7-10, which will allow lower-seeded teams a chance to compete for a ticket to the playoffs. The eighth, ninth and tenth spots are pretty much open for teams such as Montreal, Chicago, Atlanta, Nashville and Miami.
