By Kaleb kalu4mom@gmail.com
The Portland Timbers have grown accustomed to playing shorthanded in a 2021 season that has seen them overcome prolonged absences from multiple key contributors.
Ahead of their Western Conference Final matchup with Real Salt Lake at Providence Park on Saturday (6:30 pm ET | FS1, FOX Deportes), Portland will have to do it again, with one key attacker already out and another's status up in the air. Dairon Asprilla is suspended for the match after receiving a red card in the West Semifinals against Colorado, while star midfielder Sebastian Blanco is questionable with a hamstring injury he sustained in that match.
Should Blanco be unable to go, that would be a combined 17 goals and 10 assists relegated to the sidelines. Timbers head coach Gio Savarese told reporters on his Thursday video call that there's an outside chance Blanco could feature on Saturday. But if not, he's trying to frame the situation as an opportunity for other players to step up and deliver.
"Not having Asprilla and still having to battle to see if Seba can make it, it is not the ideal situation," Savarese said. "We wish we had both of them available. But if there's been one thing in this group, it's we're going to push together and we can achieve everything we desire always by the power of the group. And that is the mentality. This will open the opportunity for some players to be able to show themselves and the work they have been doing week-to-week and put in a great performance for the collective, for the group, for the team, which is the most important thing.
"As much as we can complain and think because it's the reality, two important players aren't available, we'll see what happens with Seba, but we cannot stay there and think that way. We believe in ourselves, we believe in the group, we believe we are strong, and we believe whoever's going to play a part in it is going to get the job done."
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