Top-seeded Timbers visit Houston for West semifinals (Oct 30, 2017)
The Portland Timbers completed the first leg of their journey to the MLS championship by earning the top seed in the Western Conference.
Now comes the really hard part: taking all the momentum they gained in the regular season and carrying it into the postseason.
Portland travels to fourth-seeded Houston on Monday to open its two-match, aggregate-goal Western Conference semifinal series with the surging Dynamo at BBVA Compass Stadium.
Game 2 in the series is set for Nov. 5 in Portland. The two-leg playoff series will be won by the team that scores the most goals over the two games. Away goals will be the first tiebreaker.
Houston won a spot in the semifinals via a gritty, 120-minute home victory over Sporting Kansas City on Thursday in which Alberth Elis scored the deciding goal off a Vincente Sanchez feed in the 94th minute. Six of the Dynamo's starters played the entire match, making fitness after the grind-it-out victory an issue against rested Portland.
This is the first-ever meeting between Houston and Portland in the MLS Cup playoffs. The teams met twice during the regular season, with the Timbers posting a come-from-behind 4-2 win over Houston on March 18 at Providence Park and then earning a draw at Houston on July 29.
The Timbers hit the playoffs with just three losses in their final 13 matches while racking up 26 points in those games down the stretch.
Portland was one of the worst defensive teams in the Western Conference in the first half of 2017, surrendering 43 goals in the first 25 games and giving up deciding tallies after the 75th minute six times. The Timbers had so many injuries and national team call ups on defense that Portland was forced to use 13 different backlines in those first 25 games.
But the Timbers closed out the regular season with four shutouts and a 0.78 goals against average in their final nine games, turning defense from a liability into an asset as the playoffs begin.
"(Having a strong defense) is going to be massive," said Portland defender and captain Liam Ridgewell, who missed 19 games due to injuries.
"It's obviously been difficult. We've had a lot of injuries, a lot of people coming in and out of the lineup. We try to pride ourselves on our defense every single week, and going into the playoffs you've got to go away to some tough places and get the job done."
Portland's offense, led by league MVP candidate Diego Valeri, did its part down the stretch as well. The Timbers led the Western Conference with 60 goals and Valeri had 21 of those and added 11 assists. He also set an MLS record when he scored in nine straight games late in the year.
"The regular season is done and now comes the most important part -- the trophy," Valeri said. "We all know that. We will rest and prepare for the next game. Now, starts another tournament."
The Dynamo are in perhaps their best form of the season and have the depth to bounce back from their tense and physical knockout-round win over Sporting KC and give Portland fits.
While the loss of A.J. DeLaGarza to a season-ending knee injury just prior to the playoffs and the early exit of Leonardo in Thursday's match due to injury is a concern in the back, the attacking corps of the Dynamo are among the deepest and talented in MLS, giving coach Wilmer Cabrera plenty of options in his game plan.
"Portland is an offensive team that has a lot of talent," Cabrera said. "It's a team that's riding momentum and they're very dangerous. They came here and played us well. And when we visited them they came from behind (to win). We know how difficult it's going to be and how tough they are."
Houston has won 13 matches at home but is just 1-9-7 on the road in 2017. It's paramount for the Dynamo to win, and score plenty, in the first leg of this series if they are going to have any shot of advancing past Portland
"We know that we basically have to win at home if we want to advance," Elis said. "So, on Monday, we're going out looking for a victory."
The Dynamo played their 29th all-time postseason game on Thursday, the most by any MLS club since the start of the 2006 season. Houston entered the game tied with the LA Galaxy with 28 postseason games played during that time span.
