Portland Timbers at Colorado Rapids: How to watch, preview, match chat [3:00]

After another short offseason, the Portland Timbers are back in action today as they travel east to take on the Colorado Rapids. Today’s match sees a largely intact Timbers side that made it to the MLS Cup Final last season facing off against a Rapids side that are knee deep in a rebuild, but have brought in some interesting foundational pieces with which to build.

Diego Valeri, Sebastian Blanco, and Diego Chara are the obvious players that Timbers fans will look at to make a difference today, and if they play well then the Timbers will certainly profit from it. However, as the Timbers move forward they will need players to step up, whether that is the further emergence of Jeremy Ebobisse as the young forward continues to add tools to his arsenal of attacking play or Julio Cascante stepping in to put a claim on a starting center back spot with the departure of Liam Ridgewell.

The Timbers were a good team in 2018 and they project to be a good team in 2019, but once again the league overall has taken a step forward and the Timbers will need to keep pace. That starts today as the Timbers take the first step on the increasingly difficult road to the MLS Cup.

Previews

Portland Timbers 2019 MLS Preview

Everybody Ready?: “So which team do you think shows up in Colorado this Saturday? The scufflers who scuffled around this whole month, or the badasses who just took RSL to the woodshed?”

Storylines: “Saturday in Commerce City is going to be a cold one, the high is supposed to get up to a whole 21 degrees, with the low dipping to single digits. Also, it could start/continue snowing in the afternoon. Bundle up, it’s going to be crisp.”

And make sure to stop by the Rose City Forecast and start the year off with some strong predictions about today’s match.

Match Information

Watch it on: ROOT Sports

Where: Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, CO

When: Saturday, Match 2nd at 3:00 p.m. PT

Portland Timbers: 0-0-0, ended 2018 in fifth place in the Western Confernce

Colorado Rapids: 0-0-0, ended 2018 in tenth place in the Western Confernce