The Portland Timbers (7-7-12) travel to the midwest to take on Sporting Kansas City (6-15-5) as the boys in green fight for a playoff spot.

Storylines So Far

The Timbers (33 points, 10th place) are coming off of a bruising 3-1 defeat in Toronto last weekend, which saw a ten game unbeaten snapped. Their hot start to the summer stalled, Portland remains mired in the thick of the playoff race in the Western Conference. As they enter the stretch run, the pressure is on for them to start picking up wins and points in their hunt to finally rise above the playoff line.

The team standing in the way of that this week is a team that probably does not have fond memories of the last time they faced the Timbers. Sporting Kansas City (14th place, 23 points) got spanked when they came to Portland in the Spring, and today they will seek to avenge that performance when they host the Timbers.

Pregame Reading

Sam has your preview for today’s affairs here.

Naveen put together the player grades for the Toronto game here (spoiler alert- they weren’t great!).

How to Watch

Location: Children’s Mercy Park| Kansas City, Kansas

Time: 4:30 p.m. PST (4:55 p.m. kick-off)

Watch: Fox Sports App (kickoff until previous game finishes) & FS1 (once previous game finishes)

Radio: 750 The Game & LA GranD 93.5 FM

Lineups

Portland Timbers

Sporting Kansas City