PORTLAND ā The day after the Portland Thorns won the NWSL Championship, the Portland Timbers punched their ticket to the Audi 2017 MLS Cup Playoffs with a 4-0 win over D.C. United.
Now, with a home victory over rival Vancouver on Sunday (4 pm ET; MLS LIVE in the US, TSN1 in Canada), Portland cannot only bring the club its first Cascadia Cup since 2012, but take the top-seed in the Western Conference. Itās a refreshing opportunity for a team that followed up their 2015 MLS Cup title by missing the playoffs last year.
āItās obviously been a long couple of years since we won the championship,ā said Timbers head coach Caleb Porter. āIām really pleased that the guys this year dug deep through a lot and are now able to be in the playoffs again. Thatās the first goal, but thatās not the only goal. Our goal is to win the West. When weāre in [the playoffs] with a high seed, we want to win it all.ā
Theyāve gotten this far largely without striker Fanendo Adi, who has been out since Aug. 6 due to a hamstring injury. The Timbers leading scorer in 2015, 2016 and midway through this year, Adi went through warmups on Sunday, but failed to make Porterās 18-man gameday roster.
Despite Adiās extended absence, Portland have now scored in 20 consecutive games, the longest active streak in Major League Soccer. While Diego Valeriās exploits have placed him on the shortlist for MVP, Darren Mattocks, the man filling in for Adi up top, has also contributed mightily to Portlandās success.
Though he only has two goals and two assists in nine games since Adi went out, the speedy Mattocks has kept opposing defenses on the back foot with his dangerous, persistent runs. His penchant for drawing penalties has proven crucial, too, with the Jamaican international earning a spot kick for the fourth time this season late in the first half of Sundayās win against D.C. Heās one of only two players in MLS to have drawn two or more penalty kicks in 2017.
āI think heās still getting back in the swing of things,ā Porter said of Mattocks. āI know itās crazy to say because heās played a lot of games in a row, but he hasnāt played a lot of games in the last several years, so thereās still a lot of work for him to do with his timing, movement and finishing. I think thatās four penalty kicks that heās created. They werenāt little PKs, they were big PKs that unlocked the first goal. Thatās what he brings.ā