The Timbers kick off a 4 game road trip against the Vancouver Whitecaps this Thursday. It will be the third match up of four scheduled games this season with the Whitecaps. In the first match, back in April, Ryan Pore found the back of the net twice as the Timbers won 2-1 at home. Then on July 3rd, the Timbers played at home to a nil-nil draw, resulting in 4 total points thus far for the Timbers in their battle for the Cascadia Cup.

The Timbers haven’t had much luck in Vancouver, as their last win there was back in 2004 and the last draw in Wankcouver was in 2007. The Timbers will be battling history as they look to extend their unbeaten streak beyond 4 games.

The Timbers have been relying largely on Pore to score in league play as he has tallied 10 goals thus far. Only five other Timbers have scored in league play and each of those five have only scored once this season. Pore’s performance can be inconsistent and relying on him leads to inconsistent results. Now, is the time for DK, Keita, Josten or anyone else to step up and make goals happen. Vancouver on the other hand is the exact opposite when it comes to scoring, with thirteen players tallying goals and the leading scorer Blake Wagner has only 3 total goals.

Vancouver hates to lose and loves to draw with a 7-2-8 record. They also remain unbeaten at home this year. A win by the Timbers would extend our streak while killing two streaks that we need to eliminate, such as a no wins in Vancouver since 2004 and Vancouver’s strong home pitch performance. The battle for the Cascadia Cup is in full swing, lets have it boys.

Now a little time for Gary Fong.