Marti Cifuentes has no doubt over the talent at his disposal at the Portland Timbers, as he aims to build on his first win in charge.
Portland beat San Diego FC 3-1 on Wednesday, thanks to goals from Kristoffer Velde, Ariel Lassiter and David da Costa.
Cifuentes, who has been hired as Phil Neville’s replacement, lost his first league game in charge, to the Chicago Fire.
He has been looking over his team for a couple of matches, however, and the formula clicked against San Diego as the former Leicester City boss picked up his first MLS win.
Portland have won four of their last six MLS games, and Cifuentes is sure of the talent he has in his squad.
“We have to be proud of what the guys delivered,” he said.
“I learned a bit about the team [after the first game].
“We try to be positive. This is part of my philosophy. We're going to make mistakes. Football is a game of mistakes and usually the team that makes fewer mistakes, wins the game. The players showed a lot of mental strength.
“We’ve got the talent that we need, but we need to implement being higher up the pitch for longer periods.
“The talent is there. We scored some fantastic goals. The behaviours and principles were very good.
“The talent is there, it’s my job to get the best out of the players, we will try to keep improving.”
Next up for the Timbers, who sit ninth in the Western Conference, is a trip to face Los Angeles FC.
LAFC are third in the West, but they are winless in three league games and have lost their last two.
Going with the flow
All eyes now to the weekend pic.twitter.com/ivfnfvYWDB
— Portland Timbers (@TimbersFC) August 21, 2026
PLAYERS TO WATCH
LAFC – Son Heung-min
Son came off the bench to play 26 minutes in LAFC’s loss on Wednesday.
LAFC have not won any of the three regular-season matches in which Son has come off the bench (D2 L1), while they have won 15 of his 26 career starts in the regular season (D5 L6).
Portland Timbers – Kristoffer Velde
Velde tallied two assists and a goal in Portland’s victory over San Diego.
He has recorded five assists in five regular-season matches since the World Cup break. That equals the five assists that Velde had in his 26 career MLS matches prior to this run.
MATCH PREDICTION: LAFC WIN
Despite their poor form, LAFC are predicted to win this game.
However, Portland have won two straight against LAFC, including a 2-1 home win on April 11, after winning just one of the previous eight meetings (D3 L4).
The only season Portland won multiple games against LAFC was in 2021, when the Timbers swept all three meetings, all by 2-1 scorelines.
Since returning from the World Cup break, Portland have scored 24 goals in nine matches across all competitions. That is six more than any other MLS team in that time and two more than the Timbers scored in 14 matches prior to the break in 2026.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
LAFC – 61.6%
Draw – 20.3%
Portland Timbers – 18.1%
