A few days ago, right until the 73rd minute of their match at Houston’s swampy BBVA Compass Stadium, the defending champion Portland Timbers must have felt optimistically about their chances to reach the MLS Cup playoffs.
They were coming off the type of emphatic home win that has made their road woes even more puzzling this season. Diego Valeri, Darlington Nagbe and company run rampant over most visitors to Providence Park — see: Portland 4, Seattle 2 back in last August. This is a team with as devastating of a top gear as anybody in this league.
They’re also almost comically inept at earning results on the road, however, and that may ultimately prove the undoing of their title defense before it even reaches the postseason.