It's the first game of the new season for Portland Timbers and Minnesota United. The canvas is blank, the possibilities endless.
One slightly interesting match fact is that this game is played on artifical turf and that the visiting Minnesota United have a different surface at their stadium (grass). The impact of this is hard to measure exactly, but the visitors stats on artifical turf is 2-3-7 (win-draw-loss) from twelve matches.
It's time to recharge all electronic entertainment devices for Minnesota United, who are travelling more than 2700 kilometers to play this game.
Portland Timbers form and stats
The hosts are modest favourites in this match, with the bookmakers estimating the chance of a home win at about 50% +- five percent. It's interesting to look at how Portland Timbers have performed under similar circumstances, so here are some numbers: When modest favourites like this (we found seven games) they have won four times, drawn one and lost two.
It's been an intense period of training leading up to this game for Portland Timbers, who have participated in three training matches. Portland Timbers have won 3 of these, drawn 0 and were beaten in 0 games.
Last season, Portland Timbers's league statistics were 14 wins, 7 draws and 13 losses, resulting in a 6th position in the Major League Soccer. Over these 34 matches they scored 52 goals and conceded 49. Playing at home last season Portland Timbers managed 8-4-5 (win-draw-lost) with 29 goals and 20 conceded.
Minnesota United form and stats
Minnesota United are the outsiders in this one, but not by much. Their performance in similar games (being the away team and moderate outsiders) is two wins, two draws and five defeats. From a total of nine matches.
It's a day of discovery for Minnesota United as they finally learn what impact all the hours of pre-season training, along with the changes in personnel, have had on their performance in an official game. It's never easy knowing what to expect based on friendly games, of which Minnesota United have played two with the results W2-D0-L0 (win-draw-lost). In these games Minnesota United has scored 8 goals and conceded 2 times.
Let's have a look at how Minnesota United performed last season in the Major League Soccer: They landed a 3rd position in the league table after playing out 15 victories, 8 draws and 11 defeats. In total they scored 52 and conceded 43 goals in these matches. The numbers for away games only are: Won 5 - drew 2 and lost 10 with 23/30 goals scored/conceded.
Head 2 Head
Head-2-head stats last seven meetings: two - one - four (Portland Timbers wins - draws - Minnesota United wins). As for goals, five matches ended with three or more goals (over 2,5), two had two or less.Portland Timbers missing players
Minnesota United missing players
| Portland Timbers | Minnesota United | ||||||
| Total | Home | vs | Statistics | Stat | vs | Away | Total |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | Played | P | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | Won | W | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | Drew | D | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | Lost | L | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | Scored | S | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | Conceded | C | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0% | 0% | 0% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 0% | 0% | 0% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 0% | 0% | 0% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 0% | 0% | 0% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 0% | 0% | 0% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 0% | 0% | 0% | BTTS | BTTS | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 0% | 0% | 0% | Clean Sheets | C S | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 0% | 0% | 0% | Failed to Score | F T | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | Total Shots | T S | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | Shots on Target | S O | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 0% | 0% | 0% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Portland Timbers | Last season | Minnesota United | |||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 35 | 17 | Played | P | 17 | 35 | ||
| 14 | 8 | Won | W | 5 | 15 | ||
| 7 | 4 | Drew | D | 2 | 8 | ||
| 14 | 5 | Lost | L | 10 | 12 | ||
| 53 | 29 | Scored | S | 23 | 53 | ||
| 51 | 20 | Conceded | C | 30 | 45 | ||
| 97% | 94% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 94% | 91% | ||
| 80% | 76% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 76% | 66% | ||
| 69% | 59% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 53% | 46% | ||
| 37% | 47% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 29% | 29% | ||
| 11% | 12% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 29% | 23% | ||
| 63% | 53% | BTTS | BTTS | 47% | 51% | ||
| 17% | 29% | Clean Sheets | C S | 18% | 31% | ||
| 23% | 24% | Failed to Score | F T | 41% | 26% | ||
| 5.8 | 6.9 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 3.2 | 4.7 | ||
| 5.3 | 4.6 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 7.4 | 6.1 | ||
| 2.2 | 2 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 1.6 | 1.7 | ||
| 6 | 3 | Red cards | R C | 3 | 4 | ||
| 572 | 332 | Total Shots | T S | 189 | 479 | ||
| 184 | 105 | Shots on Target | S O | 69 | 151 | ||
| 29% | 28% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 33% | 35% | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Sporting KC | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2 | Dallas | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 3 | Colorado Rapids | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| 4 | SJ Earthquakes | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | Houston Dynamo | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | LA Galaxy | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | Real Salt Lake | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | Los Angeles FC | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | Minnesota United | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Portland Timbers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | Seattle Sounders | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | Nashville SC | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 |
| 13 | Vancouver Whitecaps | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2 | 0 |