Portland are likely to begin the match a lot sharper than their opponents, having played just a few days ago, but the Rapids have plenty of speed out wide and are capable of finding those little pockets of space in between the middle of the field and the final third.
There should be plenty of individual quality on display for each team, but the Burgundy Boys are more compact defensively with a goalkeeper who is among the best in the league, which could be the difference in this match.
Read more.
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Colorado Rapids win with a probability of 61.33%. A draw had a probability of 21.9% and a win for Portland Timbers had a probability of 16.79%.
The most likely scoreline for a Colorado Rapids win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.91%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (11.26%) and 2-1 (9.84%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.4%), while for a Portland Timbers win it was 0-1 (5.5%). The actual scoreline of 0-1 was predicted with a 5.5% likelihood.
