This is how important the Cascadia Cup rivalry between Seattle and Portland is: Both teams used heavily rotated lineups in midweek games to make sure they had their best players ready for Saturday’s matchup at Providence Park.
The Sounders (5-4-4, 19 points) had a five-match unbeaten streak snapped with a 4-0 loss Wednesday at Los Angeles FC while the Timbers (6-3-4, 22 points) played to a scoreless draw at Real Salt Lake.
“From a physical perspective, the guys who are going to start the game (Saturday) will be fresh, ready to go,” said Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer. “You always run the risk of when to make changes. The lineup we put out against LAFC had good success against them the first time (a 5-2 victory March 8 in Seattle).”
Seattle’s Danny Musovski, who came on as a substitute in the 57th minute Wednesday, had a five-match goal scoring streak snapped.
The Timbers pushed hard in the final five minutes at RSL, but were unable to get on the board.
Coach Phil Neville said he expects the intensity will be much greater Saturday.
“It’s a derby game. Got to be brave, got to be aggressive, got to show our qualities,” said Neville, whose club has lost just once in its past 10 league matches (5-1-4). “We’ve got to go out there and play our game and raise the intensity from the other night.”
Neville said forward Kevin Kelsy (lower body) is doubtful for the match and goalkeeper James Pantemis (leg) is “50-50.”
Timbers captain Diego Chara is getting ready for his 36th match against Seattle, more than an MLS season’s worth of games.
“We know how important it is for our fans and the club,” Chara said of the rivalry. “It’s going to be the first for some of the players, but they have experience in their own countries playing Clasico games.”
–Field Level Media
