Portland Timbers vs. Vancouver Whitecaps FC 7/17/22 - Major League Soccer Picks & Predictions
Last Updated: 07/16/2022 at 7:50 PM ET
The Portland Timbers host the Vancouver Whitecaps on Sunday in a MLS Western Conference fixture. Portland is ninth in the conference table at 6-8-6 on 26 points with a goal difference of +3. Portland took all three points on the road last Saturday when defeating the Seattle Sounders 3-0. Jaroslaw Niezgoda opened the scoring for Portland with a goal in the 24th minute. Santiago Marino added a second goal for Portland in the 82nd minute and Dairon Asprilla finished the scoring for the Timbers with a goal in the 85th minute.
Portland's unbeaten run was extended to a season-high five consecutive matches when defeating Seattle last Saturday. During the current run, Portland has three victories and two draws. Jaroslaw Niezgoda is the leading goal scorer for Portland with seven, while Bill Tuiloma has scored five. Sebastian Blanco is the leader in assists with six and Eryk Williamson has four.
Vancouver is 10th in the conference table at 7-4-9 on 25 points with a goal difference of -11. Vancouver battled to a 2-2 on the road against FC Cincinnati on Wednesday in its most recent MLS fixture. Ryan Gauld scored in the 5th minute for Vancouver and Cristian Dajome scored an equalizer for the Whitecaps in the 82nd minute to share spoils on the road.
Following the six straight losses on the road to start the season, Vancouver has just one loss over the most recent four matches away from home with two wins and one draw. Lucas Cavallini is the leading goal scorer for Vancouver with six, while Ryan Gauld has scored three. The leader in assists is Cristian Dajome with three while Deiber Caicedo is second with two.
Portland lost to Vancouver in his most recent fixture at home 3-2 in October of last year. However, Vancouver has only three victories in its last 16 matches on the road versus Portland with five draws and eight losses. Portland is unbeaten in each of his last five matches with three wins and two draws and posted a clean sheet against Seattle last time out. Final Score Prediction, Portland Timbers win 3-1.