Make no mistake Timbers fans, the New York Red Bulls are a really good football team. The revamped squad who fell in the Eastern Conference Semifinals last season to the eventual MLS Champs, got younger and more talented in the offseason and have been playing elite football over the past few weeks. The biggest question going into the game will be if the Red Bulls even care about their MLS opener vs the Timbers and what players we’ll see out there for New York on Saturday night. Coming off an impressive 2-0 victory on the road in Tijuana on Tuesday night, it’s expected the Red Bulls will be resting most of their position players ahead of their 2nd leg in the home and home Champions League series. One player we know who won’t be resting though, is goaltender Luis Robles. The long time U.S. National Team backup has been standing on his head as of late, not having surrendered a goal in more than 200 minutes of game time. It’s going to take a balanced and sustained Timbers attack to crack the score sheet on Saturday, but we expect the 0-1 Timbers to come out hungry. We also think Coach Gio will bring a little extra motivation into the game against the team for which he used to play, while we see the resting Red Bulls not having the necessary fire power to get past the Timbers. We’re not predicting a Sistine Chapel painting this weekend, but don’t be surprised to see the Timbers escape from the Big Apple with a 1-0 victory.
Components
1-5 Scale; 1=Not Great; 5=Good or an Advantage for Our Team
Pinot Noir: 17-20, Pinot Gris 13-16, Rosé 9-12
| # | Explanation | |
| Match Weather | 4 | Kickoff temp. looks to be a frigid 35 degrees, but dry. The Northeast should be ecstatic. |
| Start Time | 3 | 7pm EST start means cutting a beautiful Saturday in PDX short at 3:45pm to find a bar.
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| Rivalry Game? | 2 | We drink Rebels not Red Bulls. Plus, they’re more focused on the CCL, and in the East.
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| Hot or Not? | 3 | The Timbers are look warm and are looking to the frigid East coast, looking to heat up.
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| Total | 12 |
Verdict: Rosé Day. The scoring system is the scoring system; we swear we didn’t plan this! With the weather in Portland this weekend 60 and sunny both days, it really should be rosé weather, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t just a coincidence that we landed on Pink for this weekend’s game of Twister. This is certainly not a rivalry game and seasons aren’t won or lost in March, but there’s a lot to be said for not starting the season 0-2. The last team to win the MLS cup after starting the season 0-2 was D.C. United in 1996, before seven guys on our roster were even born. RCTID, boys. We need this one.