After enjoying a bit of home cooking, LAFC hit the road this week. It's off to Portland and one of the tougher places to play in MLS.
The Timbers are unbeaten at home this season with three wins out of three. And they're currently riding high on a four-match winning streak.
Diego Valeri's Timbers sit just six points back of the Black & Gold with a game in hand in the Western Conference standings. This will be another tough test for Bob Bradley's squad in the Pacific Northwest. Here are the Toyota Keys to the Match for LAFC's contest with the Portland Timbers:
Body Up The Big Man
In Fanendo Adi, the Timbers have a target forward that can punish you with his body and his feet.
The 6-foot-4 Nigerian is a battering ram up front, creating space for players like Diego Valeri and Sebastian Blanco to do damage in the gaps between the midfield and backline. LAFC's center backs can't let Adi get a foothold in the match. This means going toe-to-toe with the hulking striker and not letting him force their line backwards.
And don't let him out of your sight on set pieces, too.
Make Ridgewell Work
Timbers center back Liam Ridgewell started the season at odds with head coach Giovanni Savarese. But after being dropped for four matches, the defender has come back with a vengeance.
Portland has not conceded a single goal in the last three matches, all starts for the center back. Much of that credit goes to the work Ridgewell has done leading the Timbers defense. But the Englishman can still have his moments of madness. He doesn't necessarily have the discipline or the pace to play a high line. LAFC needs to find ways to lure him out of the center of the pitch and force him into rash decisions.
Take The Timbers Army Out Of The Match
Providence Park was already a tough place to play before approximately 4,000 extra seats were added.
Credit where credit is due, the Timbers Army are the gold standard of MLS fanbases. The best way to neutralize that support is to keep ahold of the ball.
LAFC need to maintain a stranglehold on possession. And when they lose the ball, make sure the team is compact to limit the Timbers ability to break with pace. The longer they sustain stretches like that, the better chance they'll have of limiting the Timbers Army's influence on the match.
