SOCCER: Timbers focused on present, not past disappointment vs. San Diego

The Portland Timbers will try to avoid focusing on vengeance for last season's playoff exit on Saturday night when they visit a San Diego FC squad enduring the roughest stretch of the club's two-year existence.

The Timbers (2-5-1, 7 points) were one of eight clubs that didn't play on Wednesday.

That gave manager Phil Neville's side a week to prepare for a San Diego side that eliminated Portland from the playoffs last season in a tightly contested first-round series.

But with Portland currently five points beneath the playoff line in the Western Conference, he hopes his squad can leave the emotion of that defeat behind.

"I don't do revenge," Neville said. "I think that's very short-sighted. I think if you get clouded with that kind of emotion, you don't have clarity of mind. ... I think I see it as an opportunity rather than revenge, and I'm sure they do as well."

Kristoffer Velde leads the Timbers with three goals, including the first in the Timbers' 2-1 victory over LAFC two weekends ago.

Eight other players have each scored once for a side that has lost its first four away fixtures, including 2-0 at Minnesota last weekend.

San Diego (3-4-2, 11 points) enters having lost four straight in the league, one game more than its longest losing stretch in the club's inaugural 2025 season.

Amid that dynamic, SDFC manager Mikey Varas agrees there won't be much carryover from last postseason.

"Every season, the teams are a little bit different, so it's all a fresh start," Varas said. "The team is really hungry to continue making steps forward and get back to our best."

Three of those four defeats have come on the road, with San Diego failing to score in two of those away fixtures.

San Diego has also seen a player sent off in four of its last five matches. Striker Amahl Pellegrino was dismissed in the 79th minute of Wednesday's 1-0 loss at the Houston Dynamo and will serve his one-match suspension Saturday.

Marcus Ingvartsen leads San Diego with five league goals and Anders Dreyer has four.

-Field Level Media/Reuters