PORTLAND, Ore.
– The Portland Timbers face a pair of matches this week, starting Wednesday as they play host to the Montreal Impact at PGE Park at 7 p.m. The club then heads east to take on Crystal Palace Baltimore on the road Saturday at 4 p.m. (Pacific).
Tickets for Wednesday’s match are $12 in advance and are available at the PGE Park box office, area Ticketmaster locations online at
www.ticketmaster.com
or by phone at (800) 745-3000.
Both matches this week will air live on 95.5 The Game, with an online webstream available at
www.portlandtimbers.com/live
. A Spanish-language broadcast of Wednesday’s home match will be available on 910AM+1390AM ESPN Deportes.
The Timbers close out a stretch of three home games in seven days on Wednesday as the Impact make their only scheduled visit to PGE Park in 2010. Portland (3-1-2, 11pts) is in a two-way tie for second place in the USSF Division-2 Pro League’s USL Conference with the Rochester Rhinos at 11 points and sits two points behind the Austin Aztex in first.
In their last match over the weekend, the Timbers had a one-goal lead over AC St. Louis fade away in the final moments of the match and came away with a 1-1 draw. Forward
Mandjou Keita
scored his first goal of the season to give the Timbers a lead in the second half.
The Timbers and Impact (2-1-2, 8pts) wrap up their two-game, regular-season series on Wednesday. In the first meeting of the season in Montreal, the Timbers earned a 1-1 draw. Midfielder
Ryan Pore
scored one of his six goals in April to help the club pick up a point on the road. Since 2001, the Timbers are 8-3-3 against Montreal, including a 4-2-1 mark in Portland; the Timbers have won three straight over the Impact at PGE Park.
Portland hits the road for just the second time this season on Saturday and faces Crystal Palace Baltimore for the second time in two weeks. On May 13 at PGE Park, Baltimore received a first-half goal by Yaikel Perez and fought off a persistence attack from the Timbers in the second half to earn a 1-0 win. Saturday’s contest will mark the second match of the four-game, regular-season series between the Timbers and Crystal Palace Baltimore.
ABOUT MONTREAL IMPACT
Since its season-opening loss, Montreal has assembled a 2-0-2 record in league play, including a 1-1 draw against the Timbers at home April 25. Recently named an expansion city for Major League Soccer in 2012, Montreal makes its second trip to the Northwest in consecutive weekends. On May 15, the club played the Vancouver Whitecaps to a scoreless draw in Burnaby, B.C. The Impact rank second in the NASL Conference and are one point back of the Whitecaps in first place.
ABOUT CRYSTAL PALACE BALTIMORE
Crystal Palace Baltimore returns home after a five-game road stretch to play host to the Timbers on Saturday; the string of away matches ends Wednesday night against the Rochester Rhinos. Last week, Baltimore claimed its first win of the season, defeating the Timbers at PGE Park, which ended a four-game losing streak. Midfielder Mathew Mbuta leads the team in scoring with two goals, including a tally in the team’s 2-1 road loss to the Austin Aztex on May 16.
