After a deeply demoralizing 3-1 loss to the Houston Dynamo last Saturday—possibly the Portland Timbers' worst of the season—the Timbers travel to BMO Field for an afternoon matinée against big-spending Toronto FC.

It's the Timbers' third consecutive road game, and second trip to Canada in three weeks. Will Johnson is set to make the game-day roster for the first time this year with Portland, yet again, badly in need of a morale-boosting result.

The History

It ain't pretty. This fixture was the Timbers' Little Bighorn last year. Will Johnson broke his tibia and fibula in the first seconds of the match, but Portland recovered to go up 2-0 only to blow the lead and watch Toronto FC win the match in the 90th minute courtesy of a long free-kick from Michael Bradley. It was the Timbers' last loss of the 2014 season—if they had avoided it, they would have made the playoffs. The scars from that collapse are still being felt. The Timbers demolished TFC 4-0 in 2013 the last time the Canadian team traveled to Portland, with the teams drawing 2-2 both in 2011 and 2012. This game holds a lot of significance for the Timbers—much more than they ever would have wanted it to.

The Tactics

For Portland, the story is the possible return of Will Johnson. While a return for Johnson in his hometown—on the field he got hurt—would be serendipitous and provide a great measure of closure, it's much more probable that Johnson's return will be shelved until next Wednesday against DC United. That would give Johnson more time to recover from his last T2 match, in which he went 90 minutes at the Rio Tinto against the Real Monarchs, and let the captain make his comeback at home instead of on the road.

It's most likely that Johnson will start against DC, while Jack Jewsbury will play this weekend at Toronto and next weekend at Colorado. Johnson's return to the 18 will push out George Fochive, who could see time with T2 going forward to stay sharp.

While there is an urge to make wholesale changes following an dispirited collapse such as the one in Houston, Caleb Porter doesn't have a lot of flexibility. His defense, which turned in its worst performance of the season against the Dynamo, will remain intact and should bounce back. Fanendo Adi hasn't played well since March, but remains preferable to Maxi Urruti.

The real question for Portland is how to get Darlington Nagbe going again with Diego Valeri back in the lineup. Nagbe is seeing less of the ball and much less responsibility with El Maestro back in the lineup, and that's not a good thing: Nagbe needs to be engaged. He needs to feel like results are dependent on his play.

TFC has an injury problem of its own. Jozy Altidore, terrific in recent weeks, picked up an injury last weekend against New England and will miss the next month. Luke Moore or Robbie Findley will replace him, while it will be up to Diego Chara to shut down an increasingly effervescent Sebastian Giovinco.

The Lineup

12 - Kwarasey
2 - Powell
24 - Ridgewell (C)
7 - Borchers
19 - Villafaña
13 - Jewsbury
21 - Chara
22 - Wallace
8 - Valeri
6 - Nagbe
9 - Adi

The Pick

Portland has been one of the best teams in MLS after a loss in the last year and change. The Timbers haven't repeated a result all year, which suggests they'll get a solid result in Toronto. But this is different. The Timbers aren't playing well right now, and Toronto is eager to please after TFCing the grand reopening of BMO Field two weeks ago. The Reds win, 2-1.