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Goats aim to have more success vs. 2nd expansion opponent this week

Jun 3, 2011 - 10:03 PM Carson, CA (Sports Network) - The expansion Portland Timbers travel to take on Chivas USA in Major League Soccer action at The Home Depot Center on Saturday night.

The Goats (3-4-5) are coming off back-to-back draws, with the most recent being 1-1 vs. the other 2011 MLS expansion club, the Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Wednesday. The draw extended the team's winless run to three games, which was disheartening considering the team was at home, playing up a man because of a red card, and playing against a first-year MLS franchise.

"We're all about improving, and the goal is to improve every week, and this is an opportunity to come out and continue what has been, for the most part, pretty good soccer over the last number of games," Chivas coach Robin Fraser said. "We missed an opportunity [vs. Vancouver], for sure. I mean, being a man up for [25-plus] minutes at home is certainly a very, very favorable situation, and we are definitely disappointed that we didn't do as well as we would have liked to."

Chivas USA will aim to get back on track against a Portland side that has yet to win on the road in MLS, going 0-3-2 to start the season. Portland is also coming off its first home loss of the season this past weekend, 3-2 to D.C. United.

"We got what we thoroughly deserved, which is zero points," Timbers coach John Spencer said after the game. "D.C. United said they wanted to silence the crowd and be the first team to win at Jeld-Wen. They did one of those two things. They never silenced the crowd, but they won the game. So they backed up their talk."

Portland will be without the services of Steve Purdy because of international duty, while forward Bright Dike, goalkeeper Jake Gleeson, and midfielder Peter Lowry are unavailable with injuries. Also, defender Kevin Goldthwaite, midfielders Jack Jewsbury, Adam Moffat and Darlington Nagbe, and forwards Eddie Johnson and Brian Umony are all probable with knocks.

Chivas USA will be without Marcos Mondaini because of suspension, and Andrew Boyens and Alejandro Moreno because of international duty. Midfielder Blair Gavin and defender Jimmy Conrad are doubtful with injures, while defenders Michael Lahoud and Seth Owusu, midfielder Paulo Nagamura, and forward Tristan Bowen are expected to be available with slight injures.