Five matches have been played, the league standing are taking shape, and the first international break of the 2026 MLS season is upon us. For the Portland Timbers, it's been a poor start.
The First Five
Record: 1W - 1D - 3L – 4 points – 24th in Supporter's Shield standings – 14th in Western Conference
By the match:
Matchday 1 - Columbus Crew (H) - 3-2 W
- Possession: 50 percent
- xG: 1.26 for, 1.07 against
- Shots: 11 for, 16 against
- Crosses: 14
- Corners: 6 for, 8 against
- Distance Covered: 118.7 km for, 127.3 km against
- Clearances: 16
Matchday 2 - Colorado Rapids (A) - 2-0 L
- Possession: 45 percent
- xG: 1.09 for, 2.71 against
- Shots: 12 for, 25 against
- Crosses: 13
- Corners: 6 for, 12 against
- Distance Covered: 108.8 km for, 117.2 km against
- Clearances: 9
Matchday 3 - Vancouver Whitecaps (H) - 4-1 L
- Possession: 48 percent
- xG: 0.52 for, 2.42 against
- Shots: 8 for, 13 against
- Crosses: 10
- Corners: 3 for, 7 against
- Distance Covered: 110.9 km for, 115.1 km against
- Clearances: 12
Matchday 4 - Houston Dynamo (A) - 3-2 L
- Possession: 49 percent
- xG: 2.81 for, 1.31 against
- Shots: 14 for, 20 against
- Crosses: 8
- Corners: 6 for, 10 against
- Distance Covered: 114.5 km for, 118.6 km against
- Clearances: 10
Matchday 5 - LA Galaxy (H) - 1-1 D
- Possession: 38 percent
- xG: 0.97 for, 2.04 against
- Shots: 8 for, 21 against
- Crosses: 4
- Corners: 2 for, 9 against
- Distance Covered: 107.7 km for, 114.6 km against
- Clearances: 12
Team leaders:
- Top Scorer: Kristoffer Velde (2)
- Most assists: Six-way tie between Finn Surman, Kevin Kelsy, Gage Guerra, Joao Ortiz, Antony, and Cole Bassett (1)
- Most minutes (Top Five): James Pantemis (450), Finn Surman (450), Brandon Bye (441), Kristoffer Velde (427), Diego Chara (354)
- Most shots on-target: Kristoffer Velde (6)
- Most xG (Top Five): Kristoffer Velde (1.47), Felipe Mora (1.13), Antony (0.94), Finn Surman (0.58), Gage Guerra (0.58)
- Most fouls: Kristoffer Velde (6)
- Most fouls suffered: Kristoffer Velde (9)
- Most yellow cards: Brandon Bye, Ian Smith (2)
- Most red cards: Kamal Miller/Jimer Fory (1)
- Highest passing accuracy (Top Five): Alex Bonetig (93%), Diego Chara (92%), Joao Ortiz (91%), Finn Surman (91%), Kamal Miller, Antony (88%)
- Most clearances: Finn Surman (23)
- Most aerial duels won (Top Five): Finn Surman/Gage Guerra (13), Brandon Bye (10), Jimer Fory/Ian Smith (7)
- Aerial duel percentage (Top Five): James Pantemis/Kevin Kelsy (100%), Kamal Miller (66.7%), Kristoffer Velde (60%), Jimer Fory/Ian Smith (57.1%)
- Most interceptions (Top Five): Finn Surman/Jimer Fory (7), Antony (6), Diego Chara/Kamal Miller (5)
- Most tackles won (Top Five): Brandon Bye (7), Jimer Fory/Cole Bassett/Kristoffer Velde/Alex Bonetig (3)
Season averages:
- Home record: 1W - 1D - 1L
- Away record: 0W - 0D - 2L
- Goals for: 7 (1.4 per game)
- Goals against: 12, third-most in MLS (2.4 per game)
- Points per game: 0.8
- Average possession: 46 percent
- Total expected goals: 6.65 xG
- Expected goals per game: 1.33 xG
- Total expected goals against: 9.55 xG
- Expected goals against per game: 1.91 xG
- Total shots: 53
- 10.6 shots per game
- Total shots conceded: 95
- 19 shots conceded per game
- Total corners: 23
- 4.6 corners per game
- Total corners against: 46
- 9.2 corners against per game
- Total distance covered: 560.6 km
- 112.12 km covered per game
- Total opposition distance covered: 592.8
- 118.56 km covered by opposition per game
- Total crosses: 49
- 9.8 crosses per game
- Total clearances: 59, second-most in MLS
- 11.8 clearances per game
Trends & League Comparisons
Only Orlando City SC (17) and Montreal CF (14) have conceded more goals than the Timbers (12).
The goals Portland have conceded this season beckon back to the negative tendencies which featured heavily in 2023 and 2024: Set pieces, turnovers, and goals from distance.
- Set pieces (2) – Lucas Herrington (COL), Tristan Blackmon (VAN)
- Turnovers (5) – Wessam Abou (CLB), Brian White x 2 (VAN), Sebastian Berhalter (VAN), Joao Klauss (LAG)
- Goals from distance (3) – Diego Rossi (CLB), Hamzat Ojediran (COL), Felipe Andrade (HOU)
The Timbers are one of eight MLS clubs yet to record a clean sheet.
Four out of the top five clubs in the Western Conference have conceded two goals or fewer – LAFC (0), Vancouver Whitecaps (2), San Jose (1), Seattle Sounders (2). Inversely, three of the bottom five teams in the Western Conference have conceded 11 or more goals – Minnesota United (11), Sporting Kansas City (11), Portland Timbers (12).
Crosses per game have decreased every week for the Timbers.
The Timbers' stated goal of providing their attackers with more service into the box this season compared to last hasn't yet come to fruition. The trio of Felipe Mora, Kevin Kelsy, and Gage Guerra have scored just two goals between them through five matches, probably due in-part to said service declining week after week.
- Matchday 1: 14 crosses
- Matchday 2: 13 crosses
- Matchday 3: 10 crosses
- Matchday 4: 8 crosses
- Matchday 5: 4 crosses.
The Timbers have created fewer xG than their opponents in three-out-of-five matches.
The Timbers were good for their win against the Crew, should have been good for a win against the Dynamo, and would have been good for a win against the Galaxy had Kamal Miller not been shown red in the 19th minute. Coincidentally, the Timbers won the xG battle against Columbus and in Houston, and looked on track to do so against LA.
The Timbers have been out-shot in every match this season.
This has just as much to do with the defense as it does the offense, and if Portland's goal is to be a great counter-attacking team they can win consistently while being out-shot. But the Timbers haven't been great on the counter and possession-based attacks have looked slow or indecisive, leading to buildup play breaking down before
The Timbers have been out-possessed by their opposition in four out-of-five matches.
Surprisingly, the possession stats don't paint the worst picture of the Timbers with the ball in 2026. The only outlier in which their opponents dominated the ball was, understandably, their most recent match down a man for over two-thirds of the match against the Galaxy.
The second-largest possession deficit was their worst performance of the season in Colorado, where the hosts completely controlled the match and could have won by a much larger margin.
The Whitecaps were clinical at Providence Park, and will blitz many teams for four-plus goals this year (See Minnesota United's 6-0 loss eight days later), but didn't dominate the Timbers with with possession. They split possession evenly with Columbus, and only lost the possession battle in Houston by two-percent.
The Timbers have covered less ground than their opponents in every match this season.
The BBC recently conducted a study on whether or not running more in a match actually makes a difference in which team wins or loses. The study focused exclusively on the Premier League, and found that Premier League clubs who out-possess their opponents only win about 48 percent of the time.
Take for instance the Galaxy failing to find a winning goal despite a 71-minute man advantage. The Timbers bunkered in the second half and weren't trying to chase down the ball when the Galaxy had it, leading to an inflated possession stat, and less distance covered for the Timbers. The Timbers' lone win against Columbus was also their largest disparity in distance covered this season.
