Timbers battle Montreal Thursday at PGE Park

PORTLAND, Ore.
– The Portland Timbers finish a series of three straight home games Thursday as they play host to the Montreal Impact at PGE Park at 7 p.m. Thursday marks the first meeting between the Timbers and Impact in 2009.




Tickets start at $11 and are available through the PGE Park box office, area Ticketmaster outlets, online at
www.ticketmaster.com
or by phone at (800) 745-3000.




The Timbers (4-1-3, 15pts) enter Thursday’s match on a seven-game unbeaten streak and have won three straight, including victories over the Vancouver Whitecaps and Club Americá reserves on back-to-back days last weekend. Portland currently sits in third place in the USL First Division and has out-scored opponents 7-3 in its last four league matches.




Thursday’s game opens a stretch of four games in 10 days for the Timbers, including a U.S. Open Cup first-round matchup with the Kitsap Pumas of the Premier Development League on June 9. The Timbers then travel to face the Carolina RailHawks on June 11 and Charleston Battery on June 13.




The Timbers own a 5-3-2 record against Montreal (2-3-2, 8pts) since joining the USL First Division in 2001; the two sides have split the all-time series in Portland 2-2-1. In 2008, the Timbers earned a 2-1 win over Montreal at PGE Park on their way to a 2-1-0 record in the season series against the Impact. The two sides meet again in Portland on June 28.




Portland’s match against Montreal will be televised on FSN with
Andy McNamara
and
Aaron
Heinzen
calling the play-by-play. A live broadcast will air on 95.5 The Game with
John Strong
and guest color analyst
Antonio Harvey
. A live online broadcast will be available at
www.portlandtimbers.com
, with a live video webcast on USL Live – now a free service at www.usllive.com.




ABOUT MONTREAL IMPACT

Since the hiring of interim head coach Marc Dos Santos on May 14, the Impact are 2-0-1 in league play and have shut out their last three opponents. The Impact finished the month of May with a 2-5-1 record, including three combined losses to the Whitecaps and Major League Soccer’s Toronto FC in Nutrilite Canadian Championship contests. Their match in Portland on Thursday kicks off a two-game road trip to the Northwest; the Impact face the Whitecaps Sunday in Vancouver.