Saturday is 90’s night at Lower.com field as the Columbus Crew take on the Portland Timbers in the capital city. The Crew looks to put together a solid 90 minutes to continue to keep pace at the top of the MLS table. After a hard-earned draw last week in Utah, the Crew are looking to get an important three points at home before they resume their CONCACAF Champions Cup run next week. Portland is winless in its last five and desperate for a road win. Here’s what you and the Crew can expect from a desperate Portland side and how the Crew can gain three more points at home. 

Portland Timbers at a glance:

Record: 2-3-3, 9 points

League Form: D-D-L-L-L

Leading Scorer: Evander Ferreira (4)

Assist Leader: Juan Mosquera (3)

Player to Watch: Evander

Evander is the man to watch for the Columbus defense on Saturday as Portland comes to town. The 25-year-old Brazilian has four goals and two assists in six matches thus far in 2024 and is the heart of this Portland attack. Evander typically operates in central midfield and has the freedom to find the game all over the field. Evander is one of the leading chance creators and chance finishers in MLS. With the ability to pick apart defenses with his passing, or finish off attacking moves on his own, Evander is at the beginning and end of most Portland attacks. Due to his freedom to move around the pitch, the Crew will have to do a good job as a whole to keep tabs on the Brazilian over 90 minutes. 

How Portland plays: 

After being dismissed from his duties in Miami in the middle of last year, Phil Neville has found a landing spot in the Pacific Northwest with Portland. While his scenery has changed, not much has changed in how Neville sees the game and sets up his team. Neville has almost exclusively set his teams up in a 4-2-3-1 formation since he began his coaching career. When Portland has the ball, they largely aim to keep this shape. However, when the game allows, Portland has an interesting wrinkle down their right-hand side. When the game allows, Portland will push their right back (usually Juan Mosquera) into advanced wide positions. Simultaneously, Evander will drift over to the right-hand side to find the ball while the Portland right winger (usually Antony) drifts inside to occupy the opponent’s center backs. This rotation allows Portland to have the freedom to combine freely with quick, attacking passes on the right and put stress on opposing defenses with the attacking quality and speed these players possess. This also allows Portland to create 1v1 matchups on the opposite side of the field should they choose to switch the field of play. 

Defensively, Portland set up in a 4-4-2 shape with Evander moving up to help their striker defend in the frontline of two players. At times, Portland will have their wingers move into this forward line when able, to try and apply pressure to their opponent’s backline. While Portland will intensely apply pressure within the first few seconds of losing the ball, when their opponents have sustained possession, Portland is happy to defend in a mid-block and try and frustrate their opponents. 

How the Crew can win:

1. Rest Defense: This Portland side has a ton of pace in attack and will likely be happy to feed off counterattacks on the road. The Crew always pushes a lot of numbers into the attack and will have space available to be threatened on the counter. If the Crew are well positioned defensively for the moments that they lose the ball, they’ll be able to stifle and counter attacking opportunities. 
2. Manipulate the 4-4-2: Columbus will be able to manipulate their opponent’s defensive shape on Saturday. Portland’s 4-4-2 shape will allow Columbus to have and create numerical overloads all over the field on Saturday. The Crew needs to use these overloads to manipulate the Portland defense and create chances. 
3. Finish Opportunities: Portland isn’t exactly a defensive juggernaut thus far in 2024. Portland has given up the second-most goals and third Expected Goals Against so far in MLS play. Thus, I think it’s fair to expect that the Crew will have chances to score on Saturday. The Crew need to finish these chances not only to get three points but to generate positive momentum in front of goal for the rest of the year.