Here’s Boston’s travel schedule for the past couple of games: away against Kansas City on August 28, back home against the Dash on August 31, now back away again on September 4.
Here’s Portland’s recent schedule: they were away against Seattle on August 27, and now they’re at home tomorrow.
One team took a quick hop to their neighbor up north and one has flown zigzag across the country. The game would have been a tough enough prospect before that, but now the Breakers are road-weary on top of their recent setback against the Houston Dash at home, when most of the team regressed to their early season form and went down to the Dash by three before snagging a consolation goal in stoppage.