Miami, September 3, 2008 - Miami FC (6-10-10) will begin a very hard two-game final road trip of the season on Thursday when the team travels to Oregon to face the Portland Timbers (6-9-10) at 10 PM (ET) and to Seattle on Saturday to clash with the 2007 USL-1 Champion Seattle Sounders (9-8-9), also at 10 PM (ET). The Blues will be fighting to keep alive their playoff hopes. Miami FC is currently in a two-way tie for ninth place with the Timbers in the USL First Division standings but Portland has played one less game than Miami. The Blues and the Thunder are four points behind the Atlanta Silverbacks, who hold the final playoff spot in seventh place, but has one more game than both teams. In two previous matches against Portland this season, Miami FC has a record of 1-1-0. The Blues handed the Timbers a 2-0 loss at PGE Park on May 26. The two sides played to a scoreless draw May 18 in Miami. Against Seattle there were two 0-0 ties so far this season, in both home and away games.
Miami FC is coming off two games against the Minnesota Thunder over the weekend at Tropical Park. The Blues suffered a 2-1 loss to the Thunder last Friday when three Miami players - Léo Inácio, John Pulido and Walter Ramirez - were ejected from the match. The two sides played to a 1-1 draw two days later and Miami played without the aforementioned players.
Miami forward Alex Afonso, who is USL-1's leading goal scorer and has scored 14 of the team's 26 goals this season, will again lead the Blues against Portland but will not play on Saturday due to a one-game, league-imposed suspension for yellow card accumulation, same situation faced by Timbers defender Cameron Knowles.
The Timbers will play four of their last five regular-season matches over the next eight days. Following Thursday's match that will end a 12-day layoff, the Timbers begin a two-game road trip against the Rochester Rhinos on Saturday and then facing the Montreal Impact on Monday, Sept. 8.
The Blues will face some particularly stiff competition also on Saturday. The defending champion Sounders have been off to a relatively slow start in their 2008 campaign, but picked up the pace and now sit in 5th place in the USL-1 standings with 36 points. History has shown that Seattle has consistently been one of the stronger clubs in the USL First Division, winning championships in 1995, 1996, 2005, and 2007, in addition to successful annual play in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, including a trip to the semifinals last year as well as this year.
Talented French forward and 2007 USL-1 MVP Sebastien Le Toux, who has already been awarded a contract with next year's MLS expansion Seattle Sounders FC, will undoubtedly turn up the heat on Miami, alongside with midfielder Josh Gardener who has been playing very strongly this entire season, scoring a total of 6 goals.
Miami's next home game at Tropical Park is on September 17th against the Rochester Rhinos. Group tickets are currently on sale by visiting our ticket page by calling 305-728-2612. Single game tickets are available through Ticketmaster.com or by calling 1-866-57-MIAMI. Watch all of Miami's away games and all other USL games live on USL Live!
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