MLS First Kick: Union Head To Portland On March 12 To Open 2012 MLS Season Against The Timbers On ESPN2

The Philadelphia will travel to Oregon to face the Portland Timbers on March 12, part of the opening week of the 2012 MLS season.

The games is one of four opening week MLS games that will be featured on national television (the Vancouver Whitecaps and Montreal Impact game is nationally televised in Canda). ESPN2 will show the second ever meeting in Portland between the two teams, at 9:30 pm.

In their first match up, Portland eked out a 1-0 win at home versus the Union in a sloppy game, one in which Philadelphia center back Danny Califf was sick and right back Sheanon Williams moved into his position, with Gabriel Farfan and Michael Farfan playing as fullbacks.

A road game against the Timbers marks the third straight year that the Union will begin a season away. The Union are 1-1-0 in season openers thus far in the franchise's existence. Last year the Union grabbed a 1-0 win over the Houston Dynamo on a Califf goal. Two years ago it was a disastrous 2-0 loss to the Seattle Sounders that led to David Myrie's almost immediate release and the inability for SuperDraft selection Toni Stahl to find the field for the remainder of the 2010 MLS season.