Timbers chase first win against Chivas
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Portland, OR (SportsNetwork.com) - After finishing the 2013 season on top of the Western Conference, the Portland Timbers are still looking for their first win of the 2014 campaign after five games.
On Saturday at Providence Park, the Timbers will have a good chance to claim that elusive victory with a visit from Chivas USA, which is winless in its last four matches.
The Timbers have earned only one point from their last three games, but that point may be more frustrating than the previous two losses as the club squandered a two-goal lead in the final five minutes against Cascadia Cup rivals Seattle.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A pair of goals from Diego Chara helped Portland build a 4-2 lead, but Seattle's Clint Dempsey netted two goals in the last five minutes to snatch a point for his team.
"We've got to be able to shut that game down, and shutting it down means you're making plays, stopping guys from serving, you're tracking runners, because late in the game you know guys are going to get a little bit more reckless throwing numbers forward, throwing balls forward," said Portland head coach Caleb Porter. "To win games, we have to stop guys from getting service in the box and be able to cut off crosses, because late in games, this is what teams will do."
Portland is certainly in need of a positive result, and Chivas may be the team that gives them a great chance as the Timbers handed the Goats a 5-0 drubbing the last time Chivas visited Portland.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}That loss was the last game of the 2013 season for Chivas, and head coach Wilmer Cabrera's side got things off to a good start this term with a 3-2 win over Chicago.
But since that victory, Chivas has earned two points from its last four games and is coming off of a humbling 3-0 defeat against the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Chivas posed little threat to the Galaxy in the match and fell behind 2-0 at halftime through goals from Robbie Keane and Stefan Ishizaki before Baggio Husidic added a third goal in the 56th minute to close out the game.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We have to take every game as a final, and we cannot just suddenly don't show up or not perform," Cabrera said following the loss. "That's impossible. We have to be sure that we come to every game with energy and discipline and with good mentality.
"Tomorrow we need to get up and continue working, that's our mentality. We have a lot of work to do and today we did not play at the level we should have or that we have."