The Portland Timbers could bolster their playoff chances with their first road win of the season when they visit the Houston Dynamo on Saturday at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston, Texas.Portland (11-11-8) is fifth in the Western Conference with 41 points, three points behind fourth-place Real Salt Lake and six points behind the third-place Colorado Rapids. The Timbers are one point ahead of Sporting Kansas City, six points ahead of the Seattle Sounders and seven points ahead of the Vancouver Whitecaps.Houston (6-11-11) is last in the Western Conference and well out of playoff contention with 29 points. Despite their struggles, the Dynamo has played well at home this season, accumulating a 4-2-7 record at BBVA Compass Stadium. That could present problems for Portland, which is 0-8-6 on the road.Portland is coming off a 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Union. With the victory, the Timbers matched their club record for home wins in a season with 11.Fanendo Adi leads Portland and ranks fourth in MLS with 15 goals this season. Diego Valeri has 12 goals. This is the first time in the clubs MLS era that two players have scored at least 12 goals. Goalkeeper Jake Gleeson leads the league with 107 saves.Andrew Wenger and Alex are tied for the team lead with five goals apiece for Houston. Ricardo Clark, Will Bruin and Giles Barnes have scored four goals apiece. Boniek Garcia leads the team with eight assists.This will be the second meeting between Portland and Houston this season. The Dynamo led 2-0 on June 26 at Providence Park in Portland, Ore., before the Timbers stormed back with three second-half goals to win 3-2.Wenger and Bruin scored within two minutes of each other on assists from Garcia to put Houston up 2-0. Lucas Melano scored in the 64th minute and Valeri scored in the 82nd as Portland rallied to tie the game. Valeri then scored the game-winning goal in the first minute of stoppage time. Cheap Wholesale Air Max . Its 1987 and a Brazilian playmaker, known as Mirandinha, is being paraded around St James Park to the passionate Newcastle fans. Cheap Nike Air Max Clearance . Kyle Denbrook, a soccer player from Saint Marys University, took the CIS male athlete of the week honour. Stanley, a fourth-year business administration student from Charlottetown, scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Dalhousie on Friday and tallied again in a 1-0 win over Saint Marys on Sunday. http://www.airmaxclearance.com/ . The injury bothered Bledsoe in the Suns victory over the Clippers on Monday and he sat out the teams home loss to Memphis on Thursday night. Air Max Clearance Sale . Capitals head coach Adam Oates said Ovechkin was injured in the first period against the Vancouver Canucks on Monday and clarified it was not a head injury. Air Max Wholesale China . LOUIS -- Roman Polak was celebrating even before Alexander Steen scored the winning goal in Saturdays 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.ROME -- An Argentina side without Lionel Messi beat Italy 2-1 Wednesday in a friendly match honouring Pope Francis. Gonzalo Higuain put Argentina in front in the 20th minute and substitute Ever Banega doubled its lead four minutes into the second half before Lorenzo Insigne pulled one back with his first goal for Italy in the 76th minute. Higuain, Napolis new signing, was one of several Argentina players currently in Serie A. Pope Francis is an avid football fan, who comes from Argentina. He met the teams in the Apostolic Palace on Tuesday. AC Milan and Italy striker Mario Balotelli missed the match with an injury. Both he and Messi returned to their respective clubs Tuesday night. The last time the teams met was in 2001 -- also a friendly in Rome that Argentina won 2-1. Before that, Diego Maradonas Argentina eliminated host Italy from the 1990 World Cup on penalties in a semifinal in Naples. "We met a team of great quality, one of the best in the world," Italy coach Cesare Prandelli said. "We made mistakes coming out of defence and started badly, but then we did well. "We lacked that grit and finish around the penalty area, but the team did well. Honor to Argentina, it is a very strong side." The match was also used to promote peace and camaraderie in sport and to that end both teams had been staying at the same hotel and had travelled to the Stadio Olimpico together. Italy captain Gianluigi Buffon and his Argentina counterpart Javier Mascherano also planted an olive tree in a temporary pot after the national anthems, as a sign of unity. The tree will be kept in the Vatican gardens. All that had little impact on the teams competitiveness on the pitch, as the match was fast-paced right from kickoff. Italy had a good chance early on as Daniele De Rossi collected the ball in his own penalty area and dribbled downfield before lifting an accurate long ball to release Pablo Osvaldo. However, Argentina goalkeeper Mariano Andujar rushed out to clear the danger. It was Osvaldos first match back since being kicked out of the Confederations Cup squad for insulting his club coach at Roma -- a breach of Prandellis strict code of ethics. The Roma striker was born in Buenos Aires. Argentina went even closer twoo minutes later as Higuain raced into the area but Giorgio Chiellini got in a perfectly timed tackle to clear the ball for a corner before the former Real Madrid player could unleash a shot.dddddddddddd Chiellini, who was celebrating his 29th birthday, also headed the resulting corner out to safety. Argentina took the lead after Italy lost the ball in midfield and Erik Lamela picked out Higuain, who was given too much space in the box by De Rossi and Verratti and he curled a shot into the right hand side of goal. Italy started looking more dangerous, especially down the right flank, and almost took the lead in the 39th minute. Antonio Candreva put in yet another cross from the right, but Claudio Marchisio -- seemingly surprised to find himself completely unmarked -- failed to connect from a meter out. Argentina should have doubled its lead on the stroke of halftime when Rodrigo Palacio slid in, in front of an empty net, but didnt connect properly with Angel Di Marias cross and blazed the ball over the crossbar from close range. Argentina did so shortly after the restart. Higuain rolled the ball across to an unmarked Banega following a swift counter attack, and the halftime substitute drilled a low shot into the bottom left corner. Argentina could have extended its lead in the 56th minute when Palacios ball was parried by Federico Marchetti -- who had come on for Buffon moments earlier -- but only as far as Higuain. However, Marchetti got back up swiftly to palm away his effort and De Rossi cleared the danger. Italy almost grabbed one back but Andujar did well to tip Alessandro Diamantis free kick onto the crossbar. The rebound was eventually bundled into the net by Candreva, but he was clearly offside. The hosts did reduce the deficit in stunning fashion. Osvaldo touched the ball onto Insigne and, with his first touch, the 22-year-old lifted the ball perfectly into the top right corner from 25 yards. It was Inisgnes second game for Italy. "It was a wonderful sensation to score," Insigne said. "I always try those shots and it went well tonight. "It was a wonderful feeling to meet the pope, I got goosebumps because it doesnt happen every day. I still need to fully realize it happened." ' ' '