Montreal Impact vs Portland Timbers
USA – Major League Soccer
Date: Thursday, 27 June 2019
Kick-off at 00:30 UK/ 01:30 CET
Venue: Saputo Stadium (Montreal).
Montreal Impact vs. Portland Timbers
The Portland Timbers fly high after sending the Houston Dynamo 4-0 on Saturday night. That was a show of Brian Fernandez and Diego Valeri, with the last player to get the award of the Week. Four different Timbers entered in the assessment including Marvin Loria, who scored his first MLS goal in his career. Jeremy Ebobisse also bagged a goal.
With a victory, the Timbers pulled out of the Western Conference base and only three points from the coveted playoff place. While they don't have much road play left, Timbers will now travel to Montreal to take the Impact.
The Montreal Impact haven't played a league match since June 5 when they beat the Seattle Sounders 2-1 short. Impact currently occupies the second position in the Eastern Region; just four points behind first place Philadelphia Union. Can Impact get a place in the Union, or will the Timbers play spoilers when they look up on the table and maybe into the playoffs?
Which must be considered
Impact of Montreal (8-7-3, 27 points)
In that victory over Seattle, Impact only matched a total of 5 substitute players, and while they had time to recover, they still lost hands against Timbers. At present they have players who are sidelined due to injury and international duty.
They are 2-3-1 in their last six matches, coach Remi Garde must be creative with this formation and wear a short bench. I expect a lot of the same thing on Wednesday night. I bet the line will not change too much from their opponents against the Sounders. Garde likes to run 3-4-3, with former Timber Maxi Urruti leading as a striker in front of three set.
They will disappear as their star players at Ignacio Piatti who has a knee injury and is unlikely to see action for at least 8-12 weeks. But, there are players who have increased it for Impact. Take for example midfielder Saphir Taider who, in a 3-4-3 formation, found himself on the left wing. He led in Impact on goals with seven in the season, two of which were brace against Seattle.
Back to Urruti for a while, since coming in the trade he has been matched with the Remi Garde system; he has one goal and leads the Impact in assists with 5. Fortunately the Timbers are very familiar with him.
Apart from international assignments, they have five players currently on the list of injured: Ignacio Piatti (knee), Orji Okonkwo (foot injury), Mathieu Choiniere (concussion), Clement Bayiha (quad injury) and Bacary Sagna (ankle injury). That's a pretty list and is the reason they only dropped five players on the bench in Seattle.
Portland Timbers (5-7-2, 17 points)
Welcome to another midweek match. The Timbers find themselves in the midst of stretches that don't seem to end. The Timbers will take short breaks throughout the country and to Canada to take the Montreal Impact. All bets are canceled to try and find out what Gio Savarese will do in Montreal.
Cascante will most likely start again because Bill Tuiloma is sidelined with a thigh injury. Either Moreira or Villafana get a night off. Zarek Valentin can fill in both places, and it is very possible that we can ask Marco Farfan to sigh (and I support everything). Blanco will return to the lineup on Wednesday night after missing out. That will move Loria back to the bench and Ebobisse to the right (maybe?).
I'm not sure how Gio managed the minutes of everyone with this difficult midweek game and then the weekend match. I will definitely be in charge of Diego Valeri, because he played full 90 against Houston and even appeared in previous USOC matches, where he was not (really) needed when he was subdued.
Part of me wants to say that maybe Brian Fernandez will start on the bench in Montreal, but my guts say Gio sent him away again. He is pursuing an MLS record, currently he is tied to Charlie Davies (and others) with the most consecutive goals to start a career in MLS. He only needs one more to hold the record. Fernandez currently has one and a half goals per 90 on average, which (surprisingly) leads Timbers. He has recorded many minutes since joining the team. So what did Gio do here? I honestly don't know.
The Timbers need to have to go home with the results here, I would be happy if they went to the road and went home with at least one point. I don't think too much to ask against the second best team in the east. Although as accurate as I wrote this, those three points will be very pleasant to bring back to Providence Park. It will also throw Timbers up the stairs and become a playoff place.
Montreal Impact vs. Portland Timbers Betting Tips
Montreal Impact have more than ten points on the board than their guests on Thursday, Portland Timbers, and sit second in the table, but the visitors have only lost one of their last six games and are heading for the match behind three consecutive league and cup wins .
Montreal Impact went scoreless at the break in their last MLS match at home to the Seattle Sounders but fell behind in the sixty-fourth minute for a penalty from Rodriguez. The hosts responded ten minutes later by equalizing from the penalty spot by Taider and the same player scored again four minutes later to win the match for Montreal Impact. The Portland Timbers included one of their best performances of the season at the Houston Dynamo where a goal from Loria led the hosts to a 1-0 lead at the interval. A penalty from Valeri made it 2-0 right after the hour mark and two minutes after that Fernandez made it 3-1. Fifteen minutes from the time the Portland Timbers ended the score with a fourth goal from Ebobisse and the Houston Dynamo destroyed by four goals to zero.
The head to head record between the two clubs and the two teams shows performance over the past month, indicating that both teams will score on Thursday and the match will end in a draw. Both teams have scored in each of the last six meetings between these two clubs and two of their last three meetings have ended in a draw. Four Montreal Impact matches and four of the last six Portland Timbers matches have witnessed the scores of both teams. The Portland Timbers have lost just one of their last six matches, which is why we supported Thursday's match to a 1-1 draw.
Taïder's highest score for the hosts this season with seven MLS goals, while Ebobisse and Fernandez both scored top scores for POortland Timbers with five league goals. We are confident that both teams will score on Thursday and have expected the final score 1-1. Portland Timbers have supported them, but Montreal Impact have outperformed their guests so far this season. Both teams have been involved in many matches lately which have ended with both teams getting the scoreboard and most of their seven matches against each other also seeing the scores of both teams.
