The resurgent Portland Timbers will begin life after Kevin Kelsy on Saturday night when they host an Austin FC side trying to recover from a disappointing Leagues Cup exit.
The 22-year-old Kelsy had scored nine times in league play to lead the Timbers (8-9-4, 28 points), who have lost only once in their last seven MLS matches while climbing to ninth in the Western Conference entering the weekend.
But that form piqued the interest of Glasgow Rangers, who agreed to a $13 million transfer the Timbers felt they couldn’t refuse.
Likely now in need of more scoring punch, the Timbers have until Sept. 2 to add another striker before the MLS secondary transfer window closes.
“It’s been, obviously, a club decision as well, so we spoke about the pros and cons,” Timbers manager Marti Cifuentes said. “Kevin was doing well, he’s a young, talented striker. … But the target will always be, have full trust in Ned (Grabavoy, general manager) and his team to make sure that we are stronger at the end of the window.”
Meanwhile, Austin (5-10-6, 21 points) will return to league play after its disappointing exit from the Leagues Cup in Wednesday night’s 2-0 loss to Toluca.
The Verde played more than half the match without defender Joseph Rosales, who was sent off for his challenge on Federico Pereira five minutes before the break. He won’t be suspended for the weekend since the ejection did not come in MLS play.
Austin sits second from the bottom in the West but is still alive for postseason contention, with a seven-point gap to make up in the final 13 league matches. Interim manager Davy Arnaud maintained fans should not expect a decline in performance following elimination from the joint continental competition with Liga MX.
“If that doesn’t give you pride in what the guys did tonight and belief that they’re going to carry that going forward,” Arnaud said. “It was a big test, and they responded in a great way, and it makes me excited for the rest of the year.”
Myrto Uzuni leads Austin this season with six goals. For Portland, the next man behind Kelsy is Kristoffer Velde (five goals).
–Field Level Media
