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Vancouver Whitecaps FC at Portland Timbers
August 20, 2011 – 7:00 PM
TV: TSN; Radio: TEAM 1410

Match Preview: Whitecaps FC at Portland Timbers

The battle for the Cascadia Cup continues on Saturday night as Vancouver (3W-12L-9D, 9th West) meet their expansion cousins, the Portland Timbers (7W-12L-5D, 7th West), on Saturday night at Jeld-Wen Field in Portland.

The Cascadia Cup

The Cascadia Cup was originally purchased by the supporter groups of the three Cascadian teams (Vancouver’s Southsiders, Portland’s Timbers Army and Seattle’s Emerald City Supporters) in 2004. It is awarded annually to the club with the best competitive record against the other clubs.

Vancouver has won the trophy three times, most recently in 2008, while Portland has won the last two. Seattle did not compete the last two years, as they played no competitive matches against Portland or Vancouver, but is leading the competition this year with five points to the others’ one each.

The Whitecaps

The Whitecaps last match was arguably their worst of this frustrating season. Fresh off a convincing 4-1 home win over Chicago, Vancouver went into Washington and got picked apart by a mid-table DC United squad. The Caps have now allowed an abysmal ten goals over their last three games, getting blown out 4-0 twice over that stretch.

This will be the second of Vancouver’s Cascadia derbies, and as many as 500 supporters will be making the trek down the I5 to cheer on the blue and white.

Eric Hassli was shut out with the rest of the team last week, but will be looking to add to his team-leading 10 goals and stay in the hunt for the MLS Golden Boot.

The Timbers

The Timbers have clearly been the better of the two expansion teams this year. The Timbers Army, likely the largest and noisiest supporters group in MLS, has made Jeld-Wen a difficult place to play, and the squad has a respectable 6-4-2 record there.

Portland should be a bit tired, as they’re coming off of successive defeats against Houston last weekend, and to Kansas City on Wednesday. The Timbers are led by veteran striker Kenny Cooper, and captain Jack Jewsbury who’s broken out for seven goals and seven assists this year.

Jack Jewsbury and Kenny Cooper

Lineup Notes

The Caps go into Saturday relatively healthy, by their standards, with only Atiba Harris (knee) definitively out. Listed as questionable, however, are LB Alain Rochat (adductor strain), midfielders Alexandre Morfaw (hamstring) and Michael Nanchoff (hip flexor), and third-string goalkeeper Brian Sylvestre (knee).

Missing for Portland are D Kevin Goldthwaite and strikers Eddie Johnson and Spencer Thompson. Keeper Jake Gleeson is listed as questionable. The Timbers also acquired midfielder Eric Alexander from Dallas, though it’s unclear whether he’ll see time this weekend.

What’s Next

Vancouver returns home after this match to host Houston next Saturday in their penultimate game at Empire Field. Portland, meanwhile, will play their fourth game in two weeks on Wednesday at home to Chivas USA.

-post written by Chris Withers, follow him on twitter