Portland Timbers-Charlotte FC Preview (10/24/26)

“The Final Four” is a phrase filled with anticipation. Most commonly, that name is used for collegiate sports championships. The NCAA trademarked the phrase to recognize the last teams standing in each year’s NCAA tournament. College hockey follows a similar manner, except their Four is Frozen instead of Final. College football has done away with many postseason formats, but their most successful was the 4-team playoff. Their error was allowing various athletic directors to form a committee to rank the teams instead of deferring to the BCS computers.

The Portland Timbers have reached the Final Four. No, they are not suiting up on the hardwood, but there are only four games remaining in the season. Each of them carries immense stakes for the present and the future as the 11th-placed Timbers sit 5 points out of a playoff spot. They’ve lost the chance to control their destiny after picking up 2 points in 3 games last week. Tomorrow’s game could increase their winless streak to 8. But they’re at home, and they’re welcoming a guest for the first time since San Diego arrived on Decision Day last year. Those Plasticos took all three points and increased their winless streak to 5.

Winless streaks of 5 or more have plagued the Timbers over the last three seasons as they reach for the finish line and the ability to secure the playoff spot that they desire. The last two of those seasons have ended in the Wild Card Game. It was seen as a disappointment. Now the Wild Card is their last hope. Instead of stumbling into it, they’ve been trying to climb up to it. And they’ll try to use one opponent as a boost to get there. For the first time in their history, it’s time to welcome Charlotte FC to Providence Park.

The Charlotte Report

I wouldn’t blame any of you if the memory of the first meeting between these teams has vanished. Like these current Timbers, the 2024 Timbers brought a 7-game winless streak on their first visit to Charlotte on May 4th. Evander was hurt, Diego Chara was suspended, and Dario Zuparic had to come off the bench to replace an injured Miguel Araujo. An obscenely boring 2-0 Charlotte win increased Portland’s winless streak to 8. The Timbers couldn’t threaten Charlotte’s goal in the slightest, made simple mistakes at the back to gift the Crown two goals, and headed back to the West Coast with their tail between their legs.

That 2-0 win began a 5-game unbeaten streak for Charlotte that lasted until the end of May. An immensely strong final five games (4 wins and 1 draw) raised them up to 5th place in the East and a date with Orlando in the first round of the 2024 playoffs. They lost 2-0 in Game 1, with star playmaker Pep Biel getting sent off in stoppage time with the game already decided. The Crown hosted Game 2, which they won on penalty kicks with star goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina notching two saves in the shootout. An 81st-minute Karol Swiderski goal in Game 3 seemed to be the dagger that brought them beyond the first round of the playoffs for the first time in their history. Alas, Orlando’s Facundo Torres knocked in the rebound of his saved penalty kick with the last kick of regulation to send Game 3 to penalties. Pedro Gallese made two saves and the Lions advanced. Charlotte was so close to powering through. Yet they fell just short.

The 2025 team retained the same head coach (Dean Smith), the same (now DP) playmaker in Pep Biel, a rock-solid center back partnership of Adilson Malanda and Andrew Privett, and leadership from Tim Ream. Kahlina’s 2024 exploits won him the Goalkeeper of the Year award. In addition, striker Patrick Agyemang (who won the starting job throughout 2024, beating out DP Enzo Coppeti) was joined by Israeli U22 striker Idan Gorno Toklomati Markovich (henceforth referred to as “Gorno”) to finish off the plays created by Biel and new signing Wilfried Zaha.

Zaha’s move to Charlotte was widely seen as a coup around the league. He arrived on loan but took up a DP slot. The Crown bettered their 5th-place finish in 2024 with a 4th-place finish in 2025. This was achieved in spite of selling Agyemang and Malanda in the summer to EFL Championship sides Derby County and Middlesbrough, respectively (Malanda was loaned back to finish the season with Charlotte). Gorno was able to claim the starting job in the wake of Agyemang’s departure, while Ream slid inside from left back to occupy his natural center back role. Their success was given a huge boost by a 9-game league winning streak in the middle of the summer. Four of those games were won before Leagues Cup (where they took a 4-1 loss from Juarez right on the chin in the first game) but the pause didn’t stop their MLS momentum. Back-to-back losses to NYCFC and Montreal provided a slight stumble, but they regained their footing and beat DC and Philly in their final two regular season games to enter their first-round matchup with NYCFC in excellent form.

Home-field advantage really mattered for Charlotte. Since Smith’s arrival in 2024, they were one of the best home teams in MLS. That was especially true in 2025, when they recorded a 13-1-3 home record and a goal difference of +17. However, they dropped Game 1 to the Pigeons at home by a 1-0 scoreline. Zaha was suspended after getting sent off on Decision Day, so everything mattered in Game 2 with their 10g/5a DP back in the team. The Ivorian’s dynamism couldn’t get Charlotte a goal, so they were forced to rely on Kahlina again in the shootout to keep their season alive. With a huge save to deny Agustin Ojeda in sudden-death, Charlotte was able to get Game 3 at home, this time with Zaha available.

For the second straight year, Charlotte was on the cusp of advancing beyond the first round. But they fell shorter than their knockout from the year prior. The Crown did control the game, outshooting NYCFC 15-8. But only one of those shots found the target, and it ended up being Charlotte’s lone goal in a 3-1 defeat.

In order to finally progress beyond the first round, GM Zoran Krneta realized that he needed to improve the roster. Plenty of young players joined Charlotte’s NEXTPRO team (Crown Legacy, who finished top of the Eastern Conference and are currently alive in the NEXTPRO playoffs) with the intention of them becoming first-team contributors in due time.

Three of those NEXTPRO players signed first team deals in the Apertura. Agyemang (no relation to Patrick) and Aloko have claimed starting jobs. Schnegg and de la Torre spent 2025 with different MLS teams (San Diego and DC). Kessler was a smart free agent signing despite his injury record.

Three former Timbers departed the club in the winter, although former Portland interim coach Miles Joseph remains on staff. Tuiloma, Williamson, and Bingham could not earn starting jobs in North Carolina. Callender deserved to start somewhere, and he seized the opportunity to fill Dayne St. Clair’s shoes in Minnesota.

Charlotte entered the World Cup break in 6th place in the East. Their schedule featured two extended homestands of five and four games, respectively. They went 5-2-2 in those home games. However, Zaha’s production was lacking, and Biel couldn’t carry the attack by himself. Their summer business reflected this predicament.

Krneta allowed Zaha’s loan to expire while also moving U22 winger Kerwin Vargas to Brazil.

So they got right back to work to fill Zaha’s spot with another dribbly winger who used to play in the Premier League. Saint-Maximin’s career since Newcastle has brought him to Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Mexico (where he and his children got racially abused while he played for Club America), and back to France. He chose to join Charlotte as a free agent. With one former Premier Leaguer already in the midfield in Ashley Westwood, Krneta’s Career Mode odyssey continued with the addition of Doucoure.

Since the Clausura began, Charlotte (13-8-9, 47 points, 5W/9S) have been able to stay afloat with a lengthy 8-game unbeaten streak that got snapped on September 26th by the Chicago Fire. Their three October games were a 3-2 home win against Dallas (where Los Toreros blew a 2-0 lead), a 3-1 thumping in Columbus (outshot 33-9), and a controversial 2-2 draw in Philadelphia. The Crown recovered from a 1-0 deficit (courtesy of a dodgy penalty call) to take a 2-1 lead only for Bruno Damiani to equalize in the 73rd minute.

Charlotte might be a relatively dull MLS team that plays solid defense and has enough attacking difference makers to win games. A cadre of recognizable former European players have been paired with a few exciting youngsters and solid MLS veterans to create a solid playoff team without the ceiling to win the conference but a floor to secure any spot from 4th-7th. But they’re still waiting to advance in a playoff series. Can the postseason disappointments end this year?

CLT Injury Report & Projected Starting XI

Berchimas is one of the talented young wingers who came through Crown Legacy. Bronico and Goodwin are rotation options in the midfield and up top, respectively.

I’m predicting only one change from the team that drew 2-2 in Philadelphia last weekend. Ream should return to the starting lineup, replacing Morrison Agyemang. Westwood and Diani have formed a pretty decent midfield partnership, although Diani struggles on the ball. Aloko has been a revelation (2g/2a in 19 games) and has superseded DP winger Liel Abada for the starting job on the right wing. Biel is the heart and soul of the attack, notching 12g/8a in 30 MLS matches this season. Gorno leads the team with 13 goals. Abada and Tyger Smalls are attackers to watch off the bench, while Harry Toffolo could start at left back instead of Schnegg. This Charlotte team has a very high floor, and that’s why they’re comfortably in an Eastern Conference playoff spot. 

The Timbers Report

A five-point gap needs to be bridged over the final four games in order for the Portland Timbers (9-7-14, 34 points, 11W/22S) to qualify for the playoffs for the third consecutive year. That means that tomorrow’s game against Charlotte is a must-win. 

Cross-Conference Matchups

This would require the Timbers winning another cross-conference matchup. I’d like to look back at their cross-conference matchup record in the past five seasons because the Timbers won’t see another Eastern Conference team until the 2027/28 season unless they get to a MLS Cup in the next 7 months. Under the new schedule that comes with the calendar switch, the Timbers will play every Eastern Conference team once. 

2022: New England, Orlando, Red Bulls (A), Philadelphia, Miami (A), Toronto (A), Atlanta, Columbus (A)

1-4-3 record, 1-2-1 at home

2023: Atlanta (A), Cincinnati (A), Chicago, NYCFC, Columbus, Montreal (A)

1-1-4 record, 1-1-1 at home

2024: DC, NYCFC (A), Philadelphia, Columbus (A), Charlotte (A), Nashville 

2-2-2 record, 1-1-1 at home

2025: Nashville (A), Orlando (A), Toronto (A), New England, Cincinnati, Red Bulls

2-0-4 record, 2-0-1 at home

2026: Columbus, Montreal (A), Miami (A), Chicago (A), Atlanta, Charlotte

1-1-3 record, 1-0-1 at home

The Portland Timbers have struggled against Eastern Conference opposition for a while. They haven’t been able to finish a season with a winning record against the opposite conference in the past 5 years. And every single season has featured at least one loss to an Eastern team at home. 

I don’t think that a humongous point needs to be made about this, but the Timbers are about to see the Eastern teams a lot more often. Their struggles with winning on the road are already well-documented. And they cannot afford to let the final Eastern Conference opponent on the season leave their first trip to Providence Park with anything but a loss. Their season hinges on getting a win. So what does the injury report look like?

PTFC Injury Report & Projected Starting XI

The injury report is now occupied entirely by Portland’s surgically-altered defense. Finn Surman is available for selection after training fully with the team all week.

The Timbers will have to play in St. Louis on Wednesday, but the time for possible rotation is over. Surman should make his return to the starting lineup, and the battle between Waterman and Kamal Miller for his partner is a toss-up. I’m leaning towards Waterman because he’s more aggressive with his positioning. Caicedo should return to his spot at the base of the midfield with Bassett and Da Costa ahead of him. It would not surprise me if Eric Izoita got his second consecutive start, however. The Timbers are locked into this front three until the end of the season. Antony didn’t see the field in Carson and was a healthy scratch for the scoreless Colorado draw. Could he return to the field tomorrow?

Tactical Preview

Crossing

One of the hallmarks of this winless streak has been plenty of crosses going through the box without anyone managing to get a touch on them. This is not a trend that has only been present during Marti Cifuentes’ reign, however.

Per OPTA, the Timbers have crossed the ball 390 times. That’s 7th-most in the league. However, they’ve only completed 67 of those crosses, which is 20th in the league. Therefore, their cross completion rate is 17.2%. That number is the lowest percentage in MLS.

So where does the fault lie for so many crosses that are seemingly destined to miss their targets? Well, we have to get very literal to find it out. There are issues with the crosser and the receiver.

Let’s begin with the crosser. This stat does take crosses from set pieces into account, and there have been a multitude of instances concerning underhit/overhit corner kicks and free kicks. In open play, the quality of the deliveries can also vary from cross to cross. There’s also the Kevin Kelsy factor at play. The Venezuelan (who has contributed 2g/1a in 6 games with Rangers so far) vastly improved facets of his game before he was sold, and one of those was his ability to get in the right place at the right time. His mammoth size always offered the Timbers a chance of getting a friendly head on a cross into a crowded box. Now Kelsy is gone, the boxes remain crowded, and the Timbers do not have a congruent aerial threat to target on these deliveries. Yet Portland will still settle for these types of hopeful balls that will definitely get cleared or claimed by opposing players.

But the receivers are also a problem too! Vincent Janssen is the de facto starting striker in the wake of Kelsy and Felipe Mora’s departures, and he can be pretty adept at getting on the end of service. However, he will drop deep to assist in buildup, which can limit his effectiveness at getting back into position when the final ball arrives. Not to nitpick this further or anything, but I keep on returning to Kelsy’s magnificent header in Seattle quite often. The hallmark of this play is Kelsy’s assistance in buildup promptly followed by a lung-busting run up the middle to get on the end of service. Janssen tries the same moves, but he’s not always in the box when the ball reaches the point of cross.

In addition, Portland’s crossing effectiveness is limited by the types of runs their attackers are willing to make. Cutback crosses are Cifuentes’ preferred method of delivery (for good reason), but there aren’t a lot of players who pop up in the area where the cutback crosses are supposed to go. If the ball is on the left, and the cutback target begins the sequence on the right side of the pitch, that target (usually Lassiter or Bassett) will be in the right spot to get on the end of service. But Portland’s right-sided crosses are dependent on Janssen or Da Costa to get into position. Velde doesn’t make that run.

The Timbers can work the ball to the endline with their overlaps and underlaps. That hasn’t been an issue under Cifuentes, but teams are very good at denying that space to Portland as games wear on. Is a change in the variety of service needed, or do players just need to get on the end of these crosses? I asked Cifuentes about it on Tuesday, and here’s his response:

“We try always to work every week on how we finish actions…I do believe that we had plenty of situations in the last game, most of them we weren’t able to convert or finish the action. Which is a pity, because we put ourselves in very strong situations, but then we miss either the timing or the last quality to make sure this is a clear chance, or goal, no?...So it was a big emphasis today on the way we evaluated the game. A big work today in the practice as well was about that because we feel that we are getting into these situations, but we need to punish the positions much more than we do.”

Possession

Charlotte’s easiest path to a result tomorrow is throwing players behind the ball and looking to attack on the counter. As a result, Portland’s possession play is going to be very important.

And it has improved over recent weeks, with the failure to score goals moving from bad giveaways to the inability to get on the end of service. The channel runners will be very important. Portland’s best chance against the Rapids occurred when Da Costa got on the end of a Velde through ball by making a run up the channel. This is Bassett’s area of expertise as well. But I primarily think that the Timbers will need to use the middle of the field more instead of defaulting to the left wing. Cifuentes agrees. “We want to make sure that we are more unpredictable,” the head coach said on Thursday. “That we attack more through the middle, that we attack more as well through the right side…When a team can threaten from not only one flank, but as well through central areas, through both flanks, it’s much more difficult to defend.”

Matchday Info

Broadcast Bulletin

English: Mark Rogondino & Heath Pearce

Spanish: Jorge Perez-Navarro & Marcelo Balboa

Home Radio Broadcast from 105.1 The Fan: available on Apple TV

Broadcast Platform: Apple TV

Kickoff time: 7:30 PM PST

Referee Report

Rosendo Mendoza’s 2026 stats: 18 games, 26.28 fouls/game, 0.33 penalties/game, 4.28 yellows/game, 0.17 reds/game

Record in Timbers games: 5-3-5, +8 goal differential, -6 foul differential, +6 yellow card differential, +1 red card differential, +2 penalty differential

Last Timbers game officiated: July 16, 2026 @5eatt1e 5-1 W

Mendoza is a rather underrated official. He usually calls a fair game. It’s his first Portland game since the 5-1 demolition of the Sounders back in July. I’d only say that one call from that game still bothers me, and it was the failure to send Paul Rothrock off for diving while on a yellow card. Oh well. Can’t have everything.

Series History

Historical record: 0-0-1, -2 goal differential

Home record: first home game

Current streak: 1 loss

The 100th anniversary of Providence Park brings one more gift right before the season ends. This is Charlotte’s first visit to Portland in their 5th season in the league. I’d imagine that tomorrow’s fixture was circled on the schedule of many Charlotte fans.

Table Time

Colorado, RSL, and the Galaxy ultimately hold Portland’s fate in their hands. The Rapids host Vancouver, which is not a guaranteed win with the Whitecaps hoping to maintain their pole position. RSL hosts St. Louis, who won the asterisked Open Cup on Wednesday. Portland’s next game is a trip to St. Louis, where the Raviolis will hang a banner. Wonderful. The Galaxy do not play midweek as the rest of the conference catches up to them. Their opponent this weekend is the only other Western Conference team with 31 games played: LAFC. So Portland’s three biggest playoff rivals are facing teams above them in the conference without having to travel. Elsewhere, San Diego hosts Seattle and Minnesota travels to Houston. Those two teams are tied with the Timbers on 34 points. Portland’s two wins against San Diego and one win against Minnesota are really keeping them in this playoff race right now.

Since an Eastern Conference team is coming to town, let’s see what Charlotte’s stakes are.

Nashville has been vastly overperforming all year, but good teams that overperform get labeled as “elite.” The Eastern Conference crown is already theirs, and the Shield will be too if they can get a point out of a trip to Montreal. Speaking of which, Montreal fans rioted midweek after the Impact lost to CPL side Forge FC in the Canadian Championship Final. Charlotte currently occupies 5th place and remains one point behind 4th-placed Chicago and one point ahead of 6th-placed Philly. There are still serious stakes for the Crown, but they finish the week with two home games against Montreal and Orlando. Getting a big result tomorrow is still very important for them, though. Especially with a Decision Day trip to Miami on the cards.

Final Whistle

Diego Chara has called a press conference for himself on Monday. His contract runs through the end of the sprint season. I have nothing further to add. Keep your eye out on Monday for updates.

The Timbers have only two home games left in 2026. With their playoff hopes hanging in the balance, they absolutely have to win to keep their season alive. Although the previous week ended with 2 points from 3 games, it also concluded with their second clean sheet of the season. “It was a good step forward because lately we were not able to keep a clean sheet,” Ronald Hernandez said on Thursday. “We need to keep the good things in perspective, and the clean sheet is a huge thing for us.”

Since the Timbers lost to Atlanta, and even since they lost to Austin, it has felt like the season has already ended. This upcoming end to the regular season campaign seems to be the final conclusion of a 2026 season that has featured a World Cup stoppage, three head coaches, and plenty of ups and downs. But although the prevailing feeling of an already doomed season and a protracted gaze towards the future seems to be on the minds of the majority of the fanbase, the Timbers are still mathematically alive. They have four games (or less) to overturn the 5 point gap between themselves and the playoffs. Even if that playoff game recedes from the land of possibility, Portland still needs to finish this season on a high note. 

Every single season since 2018 has carried some sort of season-ending gutpunch. Usually that comes in the form of a playoff loss, Decision Day loss, Decision Day loss coupled with the fallout from scandal, or even a MLS Cup Final loss at home. These 2026 Timbers might not make the playoffs, but they do have an opportunity to end the season with a win for the first time since 2015. And with confidence still low, they have to utilize the power of their 100-year-old fortress and welcome their final first-time visitor to the Cathedral in the same way all of their previous opponents have experienced Providence Park: with a Timbers win in front of a happy crowd. T2 is ready for their Conference Semifinal game against Ventura County (the Little Galaxies) on Sunday night at 7PM. Some of you are probably more excited for that.

But ending this 7-game winless streak is an absolute necessity before the season ends. There has to be some sort of tangible hope to hold on to as an early offseason looks ever more certain. And that early offseason might not occur if the rest of the Western Conference continues to refuse to climb. Portland’s door is still open. The car still has to drive. The climb continues.