Our prediction for this MLS match:
Rio Tinto Stadium will host Thursday’s football game between Real Salt Lake and Portland Timbers. The Royals are fighting hard to book their place in the playoffs, and they are likely to go all guns blazing at Portland. Attacking midfielder Albert Rusnak, who scored a brace in a 4-3 loss to San Jose Earthquakes, will be the man to watch in the home team, while all Datkovic, Farnsworth, and Silva should miss out with injuries.
Portland Timbers, on the other hand, desperately needed a win against San Jose, and they managed to get one. The Timbers are with one foot in the playoffs, meaning that the hosts want this win more than the visitors. All Attinella, Bravo, Jome, Polo, and Williamson are likely to miss the game with injuries for the visiting team.
Highlighted Player (Nedum Onuoha):
Nedum Onuoha was born in Warri, Nigeria on 12 November, 1986, but he was brought up in Manchester. He attended Xaverian College Manchester and he was a very good student. He was an outstanding junior sprinter as well and it has to be noted that he won the silver medal at the English School’s Athletics Association Junior 100 metres contest.
Speaking of his football career, he began playing at Manchester City at age 18, scoring three goals in 95 league appearances for the Citizens. He spent the 2010/2011 season on loan at Sunderland and in 2012 he signed a four-and-a-half-year deal with Queens Park Rangers.
Despite the fact that he was born in Nigeria, Onuoha was eligible to play for England and you should know that he has 20 caps for England U21 team. However, he was never given a senior England debut despite being really close on several occasions. Onuoha won the Championship play-offs with Queens Park Rangers in the 2013/2014 season.
Highlighted Team (Portland Timbers):
Founded in 2009, Portland Timbers is a soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers are well known for their green kit and their secondary colours are red and black. Portland welcome their opponents at Providence Park and the capacity of their home ground is 21.144.
The club hold a long-running rivalry with Seattle Sounders as the two clubs used to face each other in the North American Soccer League. In 2015 Portland Timbers did remarkably well to win the MLS Cup and that is considered the club’s biggest success.
The Timbers defeated Columbus Crew in the final of the tournament and it has to be noted that the title game was hosted by Mapfre Stadium (Columbus).
Former Premier League footballer Liam Ridgewell played for Portland in the 2015 MLS Cup final against Columbus Crew. Speaking of the club’s supporters, you should have in mind that the Timbers sold out almost every home game in the MLS. Portland’s main supporters group is the Timbers Army.