Portland Timbers vs. FC Dallas – Western Conference Championships 1st leg
Sunday, November 19th, 7:30 p.m. ET. Providence Park, Portland, OR.
Dallas FC will travel to Providence Park for the first leg of Major League Soccer’s 2015 Western Conference Championships.
Hosts Portland made it to third place in the MLS Western Conference table in the regular season (15-11-8), tied at 53 points with second-place Vancouver Whitecaps, the Whitecaps that Portland have beaten 2-0 away on the second-leg of the MLS Playoff semifinals.
Visitors FC Dallas have been top of Major League Soccer’s Western Conference in the 2015 regular season with 60 points (18-10-6). Dallas is coming off the back of a 4-2 win on aggregate over Seattle Sounders in the MLS semifinals.
This faceoff is more than the conference championships and the MLS playoffs. It has grown to become a battle between two contenders to Major League Soccer’s Western-Conference Power. This is the first time the teams meet at the MLS Playoffs, both with young players, notably Dallas with an average age of 24.5 years-old, and with only two players past 25.
However Dallas’s fierce attacks, fresh legs and agility led by Fabian Castillo, Mauro Diez and the rest of the kids, will be met by Portland’s tight team with experienced soccer players such as MLS veteran Nat Borchers and former English-Premier League Liam Ridgewell.
Both teams are relatively young in MLS playoffs advanced stages. This is Portland’s second Major League Soccer Conference Final appearance, and Dallas’s fourth.
The sides met two times in Major League Soccer’s 2015 regular season, each winning at home. With Portland winning 3-1 in March and Dallas returning a favour by winning 4-1 in July.
The will meet again with Portland traveling to Dallas on Sunday, November 29th for the second leg of the MLS Western Conference Championships.
