Portland Timbers interim coach Jack Cassidy hopes to conclude his tenure the way he began it — with a Cascadia Cup victory against the Seattle Sounders.
Cassidy has gone 2-0-1 in three matches in charge of the Timbers (6-8-3, 21 points) since Phil Neville was relieved of his duties heading into the World Cup break. That includes a 5-1 victory at Seattle two weeks ago.
Saturday night’s match will be held at Portland’s Providence Park.
The Timbers have hired Marti Cifuentes as their permanent coach, and he should have his visa issues completed by the time the club plays again Thursday.
“The players have given me and the staff absolutely everything we’ve asked for,” Cassidy said. “I want to make a real point of that.”
Timbers forward Kevin Kelsy, who had a brace at Seattle and has a team-leading eight goals, missed last weekend’s 2-1 victory against Real Salt Lake with a foot/ankle injury but has been a full participant at practice. Cassidy said he’s hopeful to “have him involved in some capacity.”
Portland will be without forward Felipe Mora, who scored both goals against RSL in his last match with the Timbers before joining Atletico de San Luis of Liga MX. Mora also scored in second-half stoppage time in a 2-2 draw with FC Dallas in the previous outing.
The Timbers announced the signing of former English Premier League striker Vincent Janssen this week, but he’ll be unavailable Saturday pending his P-1 visa.
The Sounders (7-6-3, 24 points) have lost five straight games, tied for the longest losing streak in their MLS history, following a nine-game unbeaten run in league play. They’ve been outscored 12-2 during their funk.
“We haven’t hit the panic button yet,” Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said.
Paul Rothrock leads Seattle with five goals, but the team has scored just 19 overall, with only Atlanta and Kansas City having tallied fewer in the 30-team league.
Sounders All-Star center back Jackson Ragen will miss the match due to a yellow-card accumulation suspension.
Cassidy said he doesn’t expect another lopsided victory.
“I think we’ll get a better version of Seattle. Brian’s an experienced coach knows how to manage those spells very well, so I think we’ve got to be aware it’s gonna look like a different game. … They’re coming off the back end of a bad run of results and are going to want to turn it around.”
–Field Level Media
