The Colorado Rapids will try to complete their first three-game winning streak of 2025 when they visit a Portland Timbers side that is suddenly struggling to score goals.
The Rapids (6-5-4, 22 points) have earned back-to-back 1-0 home wins against Real Salt Lake and St. Louis City over the past two Saturdays.
The latter win against St. Louis included a roughly 90-minute delay in the early going for inclement weather. But when play resumed, the Rapids took a late first-half lead on Darren Yapi’s third goal.
And instead of succumbing to the defensive vulnerabilities that plagued the Rapids during a prior five-match winless run, they kept their fifth clean sheet and a second with reserve goalkeeper Nico Hansen while Zack Steffen recovers from an oblique issue.
“We knew that tonight, and even against Salt Lake, that organization and structure is key for us,” Colorado manager Chris Armas said. “When we have the ball, we have to have certain structures.”
Meanwhile, the Timbers (6-4-5, 23 points) have suddenly stopped scoring. Manager Phil Neville’s group has only two goals in its last five matches across all competitions and has now gone 234 scoreless minutes since Santiago Moreno’s tally in a 1-1 draw against the rival Seattle Sounders on May 17.
The Timbers are winless in those five, and haven’t scored multiple goals in a league game since a 4-2 win over the LA Galaxy on April 27.
Felipe Mora’s fifth goal in a 4-1 loss at San Jose a week later still keeps him in the team lead in MLS play.
In Saturday’s 1-0 loss at Orlando City, Neville thought his side had a chance to be more threatening in the second half, but at times wasn’t direct enough when the game required.
“I’m afraid at this moment in time, we’ve got to grow up a little bit quicker than what we’re doing,” Neville said. “We’ve got to acknowledge that sometimes it’s not going to be perfect all the time. We’ve got to have a little bit more ruthlessness to us, particularly the front four or five players.”
–Field Level Media
