St. Louis City vs Portland Timbers: Neville urges visitors to keep having fun

Portland Timbers head coach Phil Neville urged his players to keep having fun as they look to cement their place at the Western Conference summit. 

The Timbers responded to a heavy 3-0 defeat against Toronto FC last time out with a spirited 2-1 home win over the New England Revolution last weekend.

Ian Smith opened the scoring in the 20th minute, before Luca Langoni brought the visitors level just before half-time.

David da Costa then sealed the result with a composed low finish in the 72nd minute.

The victory lifted Portland to fourth in the West, just six points behind leaders San Diego FC, and extended their unbeaten run at Providence Park to 10 MLS games.

Reflecting on the win, Neville praised his side's energy and freedom.

"We said before the game that this group in particular has to remember why they play football," he said.

"They're a young group, they've been really tight all week. They've not had much fun during the week. The faces have been down since [the loss to] Toronto.

"Before the game, I just said: let's forget the result, let's just have fun. And whether we win or lose, we're just going to have fun out there."

Neville added: "I wanted to see them dancing. I wanted to see them expressing themselves. I wanted to see them smile. We had fun in the huddle before the game, because I wanted to relax them.

"It's not about the result. It's about the product that they've seen. And my boys had fun tonight."

Portland now turn their attention to a struggling St. Louis City side, who fell to a frustrating 3-2 defeat against Real Salt Lake on Sunday.

Noel Caliskan and Diogo Goncalves gave RSL an early two-goal lead, before Joao Klauss pulled one back for St. Louis early in the second half.

However, Joshua Yaro's own goal restored RSL's cushion, and although Caliskan later forced an own goal himself at the other end, it was too late for St. Louis to push for a leveller.

The loss marked a third straight defeat for David Critchley's side, who now sit 14th in the Western Conference, just three points clear of bottom-placed LA Galaxy.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

St. Louis City – Joao Klauss

Klauss has tallied at least one goal in each of his last three home MLS matches (five goals in total during those games).

The Brazilian is just the fifth St. Louis City player to score a goal in three straight home MLS matches, though no player in club history has done so in four straight outings.

Portland Timbers – David da Costa

Da Costa netted the match-winning goal in Portland's 2-1 victory over New England last Saturday, marking his third goal of the season.

He is one of only five Timbers players with at least three league goals this season, with only San Diego and San Jose having more goalscorers reaching that mark in 2025.

MATCH PREDICTION: PORTLAND TIMBERS WIN

Sunday's contest should be a close encounter, though Portland walk in as marginal favourites. The Timbers have got the better of St. Louis of late, remaining unbeaten in the last four MLS matches between the two sides.

St. Louis are looking for their first league win against Portland since March 2023. During that period, the Timbers have outscored St. Louis, with eight goals for and six against.

Critchley's side are also suffering a three-match losing streak, despite scoring twice in two of those three losses.

However, it bodes well for the hosts that Portland have been shut out in each of their last four away matches in all competitions (D1 L3). This marks the longest away goalless streak for the Timbers since a four-game drought between July and August 2016, while their only longer such streak was in 2012 (seven straight matches from April to July).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

St. Louis City – 33.7%

Draw – 25.7%

Portland Timbers – 40.6%