El Trafico LA showdown, Portland Timbers-Seattle Sounders Cascadia Derby highlight weekend in MLS

With a Saturday game on Fox and a Sunday doubleheader on ABC, this is a banner television weekend for Major League Soccer.

And, the matchups are intriguing, too. 

The first of three scheduled El Tráfico matchups this season is Saturday in Carson, Calif., as the Los Angeles Galaxy host LAFC (8 p.m. ET on Fox). Will this finally be the first time Mexican internationals Javier "Chicharito" Hernández and Carlos Vela square off against each other in MLS play?

Sunday's doubleheader on ABC features coach Phil Neville's Inter Miami FC hosting Gabriel Heinze’s Atlanta United (1 p.m. ET). That is followed by the storied – and salty – rivalry between the Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders (3 p.m. ET) that dates back to the old NASL in the 1970s.

Here is what you need to know for the fourth weekend of the 2021 MLS season:

MLS game of the week

Portland Timbers vs. Seattle Sounders (Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, ABC) – The Cascadia Derby is back and the first place Sounders (2-0-1, 7 points) will stroll into Portland’s Providence Park on Sunday searching for its first win over the Timbers since August. Portland is 2-0-1 against Seattle since then. The Sounders are led by Peru national team center forward Raul Ruidíaz, who has scored four goals in three matches so far in 2021.

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