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Portland Timbers
The Timbers are hoping for a second tournament celebration this season. After winning the MLS is Back Tournament and clinched a Concacaf Champions League berth that goes with it, the Timbers have set their sights on MLS Cup and the first step is to encounter FC Dallas at Providence Park.

A poowerful attack, with four players, Diego Valeri, Jeremy Ebobisse, Jaroslaw Niezgoda and Felipe Mora having scored 7 goals or more. The Timbers have the offensive variations that could arise in the match. But will have to make without Sebastian Blanbco and Jaroslaw Niezgoda, both with ACL injuries. Therefore Yimmi Chara has to fill up in the front.

Winless in two matches, this is the important one, and the advantage of playing it at home is vital. Together with vital experience in big matches, which is a plus in the post season.

FC Dallas
FC Dallas returned to the postseason, with the primer objective to take the next step as last season they suffered a round one loss. FC Dallas have to recover from the trasnfer of Reggie Cannon and Zdenek "Kobra" Ondrasek leaving for Europe and the season-ending injury of Paxton Pomykal. Suffering from consistencity in the attack, with the revelation of Bryan Reynolds filling for the departed Canon. It has been up to players who came up from the club's fertile academy to influence the team.

Ended the season with an away defeat, which saw their four matches without a loss come to an end and failing to secure a home playoff match. FC Dallas is a dominant force at home, but tends to lower their performance away from Frisco, as they had one win at away this season. Their coach has recognized their team is heavily underdogs, yet the odds see this as a even level match, but he would not want it any other way.


Match
Third time Timbers and FC Dallas have met in postseason. In the last matchup, Diego Valeri struck for the 10-man timbers in a 2-1 win in the Western Conference Knockout Round en route to an MLS Cup apperance in 2018. REgarding the last five matches played at Providence PArk, three wins for Portland Timbers, one scoreless draw and one victory for FC Dallas, back in 2016. A matchup favoring the home side.

Prediction
Portland Timbers is boosted by the particular precedent in this matchup, together with the fact that FC Dallas tends to suffer when playing away from Toyota Stadium. One match to determine who will proceed, the key here is to see if Dallas can keep Timbers from scoring, which if they succed they might have a chance, but the reality is that Portland Timbers attack usually scores at home. Therefore they have the edge in this encounter to proceed to next stage.

23/11/2020 00:59, read 346 times