New York City vs Portland Timbers Prediction & Betting Tips - Major League Soccer

Prediction published on 30/07/2020, 12:09  by James | Modified on 30/07/2020 at 13:09 in Football Predictions

New York City face off against Portland Timbers in the quarter-finals of the MLS is Back tournament this weekend. The two sides have made it this far knowing that the winners of the competition earn qualification to the CONCACAF Champions League in 2021. New York City made it through the group stage by the skin of their teeth, progressing as one of the higher-ranked third-placed teams despite having a negative goal difference. They shrugged off two group stage defeats by putting in a convincing performance in a 3-1 win over Toronto FC. It was a result that shocked pundits as Toronto were one of the favourites to win the tournament. Portland Timbers topped their group unbeaten with two wins and a draw. They followed this up with a penalty shoot-out victory over FC Cincinnati in the Round of 16 after drawing 1-1 in normal time. While he failed to get a goal in the first knockout round, Jeremy Ebobisse found the back of the net in every group game for Portland. He's the danger-man that NYC will have to watch closely.

Portland have a tremendous record against NYC, winning four of their five encounters. All four victories were accomplished with clean sheets. NYC last beat Portand in 2016, so it's been a long time since they've managed to win this fixture. Portland have yet to keep a clean sheet in this tournament, whereas NYC have managed one, a shut-out in their final group game, a 1-0 win over Inter Miami. This was one of two matches that NYC have played in at the tournament that featured fewer than two goals. Despite their big win over Toronto, we see NYC as the outsiders for this match. Portland's record against them should swing it. Back the Timbers.