As the Timbers gets set to depart for their final road trip of the 2017 MLS regular-season against the San Jose Earthquakes Saturday (7:30pm PT, KPDX), they sit in a tie at second place in the Western Conference on 47 points—just a point behind first-place Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
Coming into Saturday’s regular-season road finale, the Timbers (13-10-8) have picked up 16 points on the road in 2017, which is good for third-best in the Western Conference. Through 16 games played on the road this season, the Portland Timbers rank tied for the third-most goals (20) and wins (4) away from home. In fact, throughout the past five seasons, the Timbers have been one of the strongest road teams in the league. Since the start of the 2013 season, Portland has secured 89 points on the road, which ranks just five points behind Sporting Kansas City for the most away points during that span.
If you include the playoffs over that same period, Portland has the most road results (wins plus draws) of any MLS team, are tied for second in road goals, have the third-most road wins and are tied for fourth-most road shutouts. And all that includes a season (2016) in which they had no road wins at all.
Recent 2017 form also gives some interesting numbers. The Timbers have scored in 18 consecutive matches, which is the longest active streak in MLS. That’s been led, in part, by Diego Valeri setting a new MLS record by scoring in nine straight games and counting. The midfielder has also historically done well on the road in that he has 19 assists in away matches over the past five seasons—only one behind Sacha Kljestan atop that statistical category.
Overall, Portland has seven different players with three or more assists this season, including three players with six or more assists. Forward Darren Mattocks has two goals and two assists over his past six games as well.
Moreover, when Portland does score, the team has been strong in putting teams away. Through 31 games played so far this year, the Timbers are 12-2-5 when scoring the first goal in the game. Additionally, the Timbers have been effective at closing out games when holding the lead, producing a 14-0-4 record when leading at the 75-minute mark.
