Buckle up, because the Twos are headed out for the first of a pair of West Coast matchups. The boys are sitting at ninth in the West, but with two or three games in hand on the top six teams in the conference, have an opportunity to climb the table quickly over the next few matchdays.
The Loons are fresh off a come-from-behind home win against Salt Lake’s Real Monarchs, with leading scorer Luke Hille bumping his goal tally up to six on the season. Loïc Mesanvi gave the Twos the lead in the 69th minute, effectively sealing the victory. Now Minnesota hits the road, with the Twos slated to take on Timbers2 just a day before both sides’ first teams clash on the same pitch.
Portland recently fell on the road to LAFC 2 in a 1-0 shakedown, shortly after dominating SKCII 4-0. Aside from that high-scoring outlier, the Timbers have struggled so far this season, currently ranked 13th in the 14-team West with only three home wins. Despite their -6 goal differential, Portland is not short on potential. Keeper Lukas Burns, who did not play in the match against LAFC 2, is currently tied for second in the league in clean sheets (four) and has logged 60 saves in 13 starts. Striker Gage Guerra, who recently earned a first-team signing, still leads the club with seven goals and four assists, with Kyle Linhares not far behind (4g/4a).
The Twos look to make the winning streak two at Providence Park this Friday, July 18 at 10:00 p.m. CT, and you can catch the action on MLS Season Pass. How does that Pitbull song go? It’s going down, we’re beating Timbers? Sounds right to me.
