The Portland Timbers take on Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Saturday in their last Cascadia Cup match of the season (2 pm PT; NBCSN, live stream at NBCSports.com). With a handful of regular season games remaining, the race for the MLS Cup Playoffs continues apace. Let's take a look at five numbers to know for this weekend's crucial match at Providence Park.
37 & 36 Vancouver now sits just one point ahead of Portland in the Western Conference table at 37 points. With a win on Saturday, the Timbers can leapfrog Vancouver back into the fifth and final playoff spot with just five regular season MLS games remaining.
75'+The Timbers have been particularly clutch in the final minutes of the game beginning in the 75th minute. In the last three games, the Timbers have knocked five of their last eight goals in the net in the following minutes: 75', 79', 74', 86' and 76' to pick up five of a possible nine points. In fact, Portland leads MLS with the most goals scored in the final 15 minutes of matches (16) and ranks first for the most second-half goals scored (32)
49 Entering the week, the Timbers have scored 49 goals through 28 matches, the third-best mark in MLS. That total number is well distributed across the club with five players having at least six goals or more: Will Johnson (6), Fanendo Adi (6), Gaston Fernandez, (7), Diego Valeri (8) and Maximiliano Urruti (9)
EIGHTFollowing their 2-1 loss to FC Dallas a week a week ago, Vancouver extended their winless streak on the road to eight games. They are a -8 in goal differential over that same away game stretch.
19 to 8 Portland's offense has been on fire in the stretch run, culminating in 19 goals over the last 10 games for the Timbers. Comparatively, the Whitecaps have put just eight goals between the posts over that same time period.
