Real Salt Lake-Portland Timbers Preview (5/14)

The visitors are getting healthier, but the hosts are banged up beyond belief.

The first midweek MLS match of the season has arrived. It’s a trip to Salt Lake City for the Portland Timbers, as they face a team that straddles the line between good and bad.

The RSL Report

On September 21st, Portland and RSL played a thrilling 3-3 draw at the end of a 3-match week. It was the second game of a season-ending six-match unbeaten streak for the Monarchs, but they only won 3 games during that span. Nevertheless, their strong early season form (prior to the sale of Carlos Andres Gomez to Rennes) was enough to clinch the 3rd seed in the Western Conference. However, they lost on penalties to Minnesota in back-to-back First Round playoff games to end their season. That 2024 team started off as a juggernaut, but a slump from Chicho Arango and the sale of their most important player completely turned the tide of their season. How would the team handle the upcoming offseason?

Pretty bizarrely, in fact. A boatload of players (headlined by Maikel Chang and Rubio Rubin) had their contract options declined. Then the sales began, headlined by Arango’s trade to San Jose. Anderson Julio also got traded to Dallas. Matt Crooks was sold to Hull, and ended up scoring the goal that kept them in the Championship. Good for him. Gavin Beavers was sold to Brondby. Did they do enough to replace these key contributors?

The impending departure of Arango led to a weird saga with the striker position. RSL traded for Elias Manoel in December, but the Brazilian did not want to be in the Beehive State. Two months after his arrival, he was transferred to Botafogo. U22 striker Ariath Piol was signed in late January after the Arango trade. But the key piece was supposed to be Boavista striker Robert Bozenik.

This is where things begin to get really weird. Right before the primary transfer window closed, a deal was in place to bring the Polish striker to Utah. The player traveled to Salt Lake City to complete his medical. But one thing was holding up the transfer from being finalized: money. The Portuguese club was haggling over the fee, and their prior transfer history was laid out in the open. When Boavista signed Bozenik initially from Feyenoord in the Netherlands, they never paid the Dutch club the agreed-upon fee. This also happened to FC Dallas, who never received the entire payment for Reggie Cannon. That deal happened in 2020. Dallas put in a request for RSL to send the Bozenik fee to them, but the request was denied. Incredibly, they weren’t the only Texas-based MLS team that was hung out to dry by Boavista. Houston never received the payment for winger Alberth Elis, another 2020 transfer. Boavista, a club that is brimming with audacity, decided to haggle over this potential Bozenik transfer. It collapsed on deadline day, leaving a sour taste in the mouths of all who were involved.

To round out the striker corps after the Bozenik deal fell through, RSL traded for SKC’s William Agada. He wasn’t the only former Wizard to join the Monarchs during the spring. Johnny Russell is now a RSL player. Yeah, it’s weird. Especially because both teams consider themselves rivals.

The other key arrivals were goalkeeper Rafael Cabral, striker Forster Ajago (who has been loaned to Lexington SC), defender Sam Junqua, and winger Tyler Wolff. That’s a lot of “depth” players to replace a fair amount of outgoings. In the attack, RSL was going to rely on their lone DP (Diogo Goncalves) and 3 U22s (Diego Luna, Dominik Marczuk, and Piol). That’s a severe downgrade from last year’s stellar trio of Arango, Gomez, and Luna. How has it worked out for them?

RSL (4-1-7, 13 points, 11W/22S) have straddled the line between “good” and “fraud.” Their season began with a 4-0 loss in San Jose and elimination from CCC at the hands of Herediano (via a 2-1 home loss in the second leg). Their early-season form has been marked by inconsistency, with wins against Seattle and San Diego balanced out by losses to Dallas and Toronto. That Toronto game, by the way, featured one of the most dubious red cards of the season. Diego Luna was sent off for getting pulled to the ground in the box. Even a VAR review wasn’t able to overturn the obvious blunder from center referee Sergii Demianchuk. Luna’s suspension was eventually overturned, but they seriously missed his presence during the remainder of that game. That was their last home match, with 7 road games in their first 12 league matches.

There might not be a more important player to his team than Luna in 2025. He leads RSL with 7 goals. Five other players (Goncalves, Marczuk, Piol, Ajago, and Junqua) are tied for second with 1 goal each. Only 5 of their 13 goals have been assisted, and Marczuk has been the top provider with 2 assists. If Luna is the lone bright spot in attack, goalkeeper Cabral has been the saving grace for the defense. After a year that featured heavy rotation at the goalkeeper spot between Zac MacMath and Gavin Beavers, Cabral is putting together a Goalkeeper of the Year campaign. The 34-year old Brazilian has the 7th-highest post-shot expected goal differential in the league. With an inconsistent backline in front of him, Cabral’s performances have been just as important as Luna’s throughout the first third of RSL’s season.

RSL Injury Report & Projected Starting XI

Tons of absences for the hosts. Agada and Glad are suspended. The former received a second yellow for simulation against Dallas, and the latter has accumulated too many yellow cards. Three defenders (Brown, Quinton, and Vera) are all out due to injury. Henry, a fourth defender, is questionable.

RSL’s makeshift backline will probably feature two fullbacks playing as center backs. You could make a case for a start from Zackery Farnsworth, but RSL cannot afford to play under strength at home. The Monarchs’ normal double pivot of Eneli and Braian Ojeda will likely be changed. I think Ruiz is poised to make his third start of the year. The front four should be unchanged aside from Piol, who is replacing the suspended Agada. Rotation could be possible, but a trip to Colorado for the Rocky Mountain Cup is on Saturday. RSL’s lengthy injury report precludes them from making too many lineup rotations. Noel Caliskan started at right back last week, and will probably do the same tomorrow.

The Timbers Report

The Portland Timbers (6-3-3, 21 points, 3W/7S) are enjoying a strong start to 2025. However, most of that productivity has come away from home.

Entering tomorrow’s match, Portland is 3-1-2. Those 10 points are good enough for 6th place in the MLS road table.

I mentioned this in the San Jose preview, but a win tomorrow would surpass last season’s 3 total road wins. It’s mid-May. I asked assistant coach Dave Van den Bergh about the difference between last year’s road games and this year’s during Tuesday’s media availability. Here’s his response:

“I think it’s a mentality thing. I think this year’s mentality has been from the get go that we don’t care where we play. I think we have 11 guys on the field that have that same mentality. And that mentality is that we’re going to work hard, we’re going to play hard, and we’re gonna get ours. And they have done that this year, with the exception of two games. I think we’ve done really well on the road. I think it’s a mentality of all 11 guys working their absolute hardest and sticking to the gameplan. And when they do that, and when they’re disciplined, they get results.”

Meanwhile, Joao Ortiz also spoke to the media today. I asked him about his recent run of starts. Here’s his response:

“The performances have been getting better. I feel more comfortable and loose, especially with the coaches’ confidence and the players’ confidence.”

It’s been a tough learning curve for the Ecuadorian. Not only has he had to adapt to an increased pace of play on the field, he’s had to adapt to a new country off of it. You might wonder what a player like Ortiz does in his free time. According to him, he’s more of a stay-at-home guy. But he does like Portland due to its “calm.”

As the team prepares to embark on another midweek game, Saturday’s clash with their biggest rivals looms overhead. It will certainly make the team selection a lot more interesting.

PTFC Injury Report & Projected Starting XI

Fory, McGraw, and Pantemis remain out for tomorrow’s game. But Diego Chara is available for selection for the first time in three league matches. None of Portland’s players are on yellow card warnings.

Portland should also be rotating, but in a minor sense. Two players should make their first league starts of 2025: Rodriguez and Zuparic. This is a perfect game for both of them. Other than that, I’m only predicting one other change from Saturday’s lineup: Kelsy for Felipe Mora up top. Mosquera, Moreno, Ayala, and Da Costa will probably not play the full 90.

Tactical Preview

Set Pieces

RSL’s complete lack of available center backs doesn’t just work in Portland’s favor in open play. The Timbers’ insistence of taking short corners has been rather infuriating in 2025, even though one of them (Ayala’s goal at SKC) ended up working out. This is not the time to get cute with corner kicks or any other dead-ball situations. The Timbers need to use their height to their advantage, particularly with so few aerial threats available for the hosts. Pull out every trick in the book: flick-on headers, difficult deliveries to the back post, box-crashing runs from players like Ayala, or even crowding the six-yard box. Although Portland’s set piece defense is massively improved, I’m still waiting on an increased quality in their offensive dead balls. This is a big opportunity for a get-right game on set pieces, particularly after a poor showing against SKC with 8 corner kicks resulting in 0.20 xG.

Containing Luna

The MVP candidate (yes, he absolutely is one despite his team’s record) operates as both a box-crasher and playmaker in RSL’s system from the central attacking midfield spot. Portland needs to keep an eye on him at all times, but not at the expense of losing track of RSL’s other attackers. If the Timbers can successfully mark Luna out of the game, this should be a fairly comfortable victory.

Matchday Info

Announcer Analytics

English: Mark Rogondino & Heath Pearce

Spanish: Francisco X. Rivera & Ivan Kasanzew

Radio broadcast from 750 The Game: not available on Apple TV

Broadcast platform: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV

Kickoff time: 6:30 PM PST

Referee Report

Drew Fischer’s 2025 stats: 8 games, 22.63 fouls/game, 0.38 penalties/game, 3.25 yellows/game, 0 reds/game

Last Timbers game officiated: April 5th, 2025 at ATX 0-0 D

Series History

Historical record: 15-11-13, +8 goal differential

Away record: 6-4-9, -2 goal differential

Current streak vs. RSL: 4 unbeaten

Current road streak vs. RSL: 3 winless

Last road win vs. RSL: November 3rd, 2021 3-1 W

Table Time

This is the middle of a very competitive week in the Western Conference. Seattle visits LAFC three days before their trip to Portland. One of those teams will drop points. Vancouver has Wednesday off, but Minnesota travels to Houston. San Diego hosts Colorado in an opportunity for some revenge. The West is still obscenely tight, but the Timbers need to win in order to stay in the top four. Nothing in this league can be taken for granted.

Final Whistle

Although RSL’s injury report is the main story here, the Timbers are traveling to a difficult venue at altitude with a huge rivalry game on Saturday. Although you can never call a MLS road game a “trap game,” this one has all the makings of one.

Van den Bergh spoke about the team’s road mentality today, but it didn’t seem to travel with them to San Jose. Besides an opportunity for three points, they could fix their mistakes from their last road trip and leave the Beehive State with all three points. Against a decimated RSL team, it might seem like a formality. But there’s still a match to be played, and points to be won. Time to start a winning streak. The climb continues.

P.S.: I will be in attendance tomorrow night. I highly encourage anyone who hasn’t done the RSL away day to strongly consider it next season. It’s an excellent setting to see a game and I think Rio Tinto (nope, not calling it by the new name) is an extremely underrated venue.