Orange County To Face MLS Giants in Third Round
With the third round of the US Open Cup comes the appearance for a number of MLS teams, and Orange County gets to face one.
As part of the “Pacific” group, OC was placed in the same pool as Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders FC, and San Diego Loyal SC and ultimately drew with the Timbers as the visiting team. While not the hardest possible draw, it will still take a complete team effort in order to pull off the upset.
Historically Orange County have faced an MLS side four previous times having been defeated each and every time. However this will be the first game ever against an MLS team not from the state of California. Orange County in the Open Cup are coming off a home victory against League 2 side Capo FC.
THE OPPONENT - PORTLAND TIMBERS
The Timbers in their current iteration are members of the Western Conference in Major League Soccer. This is the third franchise to don the Portland Timbers moniker with the previous two clubs taking part in lower league soccer prior to the current club’s founding in 2001. They made the jump up to the MLS in 2011 where they have since won one MLS Cup in 2015.
As far as Portland in the Open Cup, it is nothing really impressive. They have qualified for the semi-finals twice in their history but have yet to win the title. The game on Wednesday will be the first time that Portland will play a home Open Cup game since 2019 in which they defeated the LA Galaxy in the Round of 16.
Head coach Giovanni Sevarese has been at the helm since 2017. Currently the Timbers sit in 10th place in the Western Conference in what has been a slow start from the Beaver State natives.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
While it is virtually impossible to determine who will be playing for Portland, the word around the club is that Portland will most likely be fielding a team of reserve players with a handful of veterans for the Timbers.
That means we can really only focus on what side Richard Chaplow will put out on Wednesday. In their second round matchup against Capo, Chaplow fielded a team of veterans with goals coming from Nielsen, M. Iloski, Jamison, and Amang.
With questions regarding the fitness and availability of some players, this means that the player to watch is Kyle Scott. Scott has quietly been an important cog in the OC midfield featuring in every game bar El Paso. As stated before, it will take a complete 90 minute performance from everyone in order to advance past an MLS team regardless of where they stand.
THE MATCHUP
While this may be the first time that OC has played Portland in a competitive match this is not the first time playing a Portland Timbers team. From 2015-2019, the Portland Timbers 2 competed in the USL before making the switch to MLSNP. In those 5 years, Orange County went a solid 6-2-2. While it may not be the same team, Wednesday could very well be a historic night for Orange County SC.
WHAT TO KNOW
Game - @ Portland Timbers (US Open Cup - 3rd Round)
When - April 26, 7:30 PM PST
Where - Providence Park (Portland, OR)
OCSC Form - LWLWD
POR FORM - LWLDD
All-Time Matchup - 0-0-0
TV - CBS Sports Network, Pluto TV, Paramount+