After pushing back kickoff to 2 p.m. instead of 7:30 to accommodate the arrival of Hurricane Irene, D.C. United and Major League Soccer have gone ahead and postponed Saturday’s match against the Portland Timbers altogether and will announce a rescheduled contest next week.
Two other MLS matches originally set for this weekend have also been affected by the extreme weather expected:
Philadelphia Union vs. New England Revolution (at PPL Park)
NOW: Wednesday, Sept. 7 at 8:00 p.m. ET (Galavisión)
WAS: Sunday, Aug. 28 at 7:00 p.m. ET (Galavisión)
New York Red Bulls vs. LA Galaxy (at Red Bull Arena)
NOW: Tuesday, Oct. 4 at 8:00 p.m. ET (ESPN2, ESPN Deportes)
WAS: Sunday, Aug. 28 at 7:00 p.m. ET (ESPN2, ESPN Deportes)
“With the safety of our fans and clubs top of mind, and thanks to the cooperation of our clubs and broadcast partners, Major League Soccer has rescheduled two games that were originally set for this weekend,” said Nelson Rodriguez, MLS executive vice president of competition and game operations. “We expect that Hurricane Irene will likely cause hazardous travel and unplayable conditions throughout the Northeast. We appreciate our fans’ understanding of these decisions and the media’s assistance in communicating the message.”
Part of the reasoning likely includes travel concerns for the Timbers, which came to Washington on schedule but probably don’t want to be stuck in town any longer than necessary. With Irene’s current track, who knows how long they would have to wait to get out.
Looking ahead, a quick glance at team schedules shows that the Timbers are also coming back to the East Coast in two weeks, with a visit to the Philadelphia Union set for Saturday, Sept. 10.
United also has a game on Sept. 10, at Chivas USA, but could try to host the Timbers during midweek before departing, perhaps on Sept. 7. One complication could be goalkeeper Bill Hamid’s availability since he’ll be with the U.S. national team in Belgium on Sept. 6.
Hosting the Timbers the week after would be difficult with a college football game between Morehouse and Howard taking place at RFK on Sept. 10. On the original schedule, D.C. wasn’t going to play at home again after this weekend until Sept. 24.
Another possibility for D.C./Portland could be the weekend of October 8. Neither team has matches scheduled for that weekend, which is a FIFA international fixture date. However, with two other MLS matches already on the docket that weekend, there could be the chance that that Portland/D.C. United takes place then.
