Orlando City vs. Portland Timbers: How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

Welcome to your match thread for today’s match-up between Orlando City (9-12-8, 35 points) and the Portland Timbers (12-10-8, 44 points) at Providence Park. It’s the only scheduled meeting between the cross-conference opponents this season and the first time playing it in Portland since 2015.

Orlando City came into the weekend seven points adrift of the final playoff spot in Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference standings (pending the Red Bulls’ game at Columbus last night), while the Timbers entered the weekend a point out of first in the West, although they’ve played two more games..

History

The Lions won the inaugural MLS meeting in 2015 at Providence Park, 2-0, with Cyle Larin scoring the first of his league rookie record 17 goals, chesting home a wicked cross from Kevin Molino. Kaká scored the second goal from the spot to provide the final margin after Carlos Rivas drew the first penalty in Orlando City's MLS history. Last year, Orlando City thumped the defending MLS champions, 4-1, with four different Lions scoring — Seb Hines, Kaká, Molino, and Brek Shea. Joe Bendik stopped a Fanendo Adi penalty kick but Jack McInerney’s late goal spoiled the shutout.

Overview

Portland is 8-2-4 at home in 2017, and has won its last three at Providence Park. The Timbers have played their last three on the road, however, going 1-1-1, including a loss at Real Salt Lake last weekend. Orlando City is just 3-8-4 on the road but the Lions did win away at D.C. United two weeks ago and drew last Saturday at Atlanta United, 3-3, giving the team two straight road results.

Orlando City’s Jonathan Spector (knee, day-to-day) left last week’s game early after getting the start. Cristian Higuita (calf) is listed as out. Will Johnson remains suspended indefinitely in the wake of his arrest a couple weeks ago. Portland’s injury report shows Gbenga Arokoyo (Achilles tear), Chance Myers (hamstring), and Marco Farfan (ankle) out, and Adi (hamstring) and David Guzman (quad) as questionable, although Adi at least is expected to play at some point.

Here's your mandatory match content for tonight:

• Gavin Ewbank has your match preview and prediction.
• Our Intelligence Report gives us more about the Timbers from Will Conwell of SB Nation’s Portland blog, Stumptown Footy.
• This week's PawedCast includes our key match-ups and more predictions, plus we talked to Will from Stumptown Footy about the Timbers and today’s game.

Official Lineups

Orlando City (4-4-2)

Goalkeeper: Joe Bendik.

Defenders: Donny Toia, Jonathan Spector, Tommy Redding, Scott Sutter.

Midfielders: Yoshimar Yotun, Dillon Powers,Giles Barnes, Antonio Nocerino.

Forwards: Dom Dwyer, Cyle Larin.

Bench: Earl Edwards Jr., PC, Seb Hines, Servando Carrasco, Richie Laryea, Carlos Rivas, Kaká.

Portland Timbers (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Jeff Attinella.

Defenders: Roy Miller, Liam Ridgewell, Larrys Mabiala, Zarek Valentin. 

Defensive Midfielders:  Darlington Nagbe, Diego Chara.

Attacking Midfielders: Sebastian Blanco, Diego Valeri, Dairon Asprilla.

Forward: Darren Mattocks.

Bench: Jake Gleeson, Vytas Andriuškevičius, Alvas Powell, Ben Zemanski, Jack Barmby, Jeremy Ebobisse, Lawrence Olum.

Referees

Ref: Baldomero Toledo.

AR1: Ian Anderson.

AR2: Eduardo Mariscal.

4th: Baboucarr Jallow.

VAR: Drew Fischer.

How to Watch

Match Time: 8 p.m. ET.

Venue: Providence Park — Portland, OR.

TV: FOX Sports 1.

Radio: 104.1 FM Real Radio (English), La Nueva 990 (Spanish).

Streaming: FOX Sports GO, FuboTV.

Twitter: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow along at @TheManeLand, as well as Orlando City's official Twitter feed (@OrlandoCitySC).

Match Thread Rules

This is your live thread for posting comments on the match. So use our comments section below to talk about the game in real time with other supporters. If you're new, welcome to our happy home! While you're here, please observe a few basic rules:

• Absolutely no links to illegal streams. They can get us in trouble, and no one wants that.
• Try not to be "that guy" who spews nothing but venom and hate for the team. It's OK to be critical, and, let's face it, sometimes even the best teams can be frustrating to watch, but being overly negative relentlessly can sap the enjoyment for others.
• Keep it somewhat clean and fair when criticizing players / officials. You never know who might be reading.
• Do unto others in the match thread, the way you would have others do unto you. We are a fun community and want to keep it this way. We have a moderator, but we'd rather let him enjoy the game instead of having to play babysitter.

Enjoy the match!