The Portland Timbers open their 2026 Leagues Cup run on Thursday night when they host Puebla at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. PT, with the match also listed for 10:30 p.m. ET and 8:30 p.m. MDT.
For fans looking for the fastest way in, the match will stream live on Apple TV+ with a free trial, putting Timbers Puebla in easy reach on a single screen. It is a Group A matchup, and it arrives with the cleanest kind of urgency: the tournament starts now, and both teams get one first step before anything else matters.
The setup favors Portland in the eyes of the market, where the Timbers are listed at -200 on the moneyline, with a draw at +370 and Puebla at +400. That makes Portland the side expected to control the night, even if tournament soccer does not always follow the cleanest script. One bounce, one mistake, one early goal can turn a match that looks settled on paper into something else entirely.
Apple TV+ is carrying the game as part of its MLS Season Pass coverage, which includes every regular-season match, every MLS Cup Playoff game, every Leagues Cup match and the MLS All-Star Game, with no local blackouts. Most matches stream exclusively on Apple TV+, while select games are also simulcast on Fox Sports networks, giving viewers another reminder that the league's reach now lives mostly on streaming.
That is why Thursday matters beyond a single opening whistle. This is the first Leagues Cup match of the event for Portland and Puebla, and it comes with a clear start time, a fixed venue and a direct path to watch it. If the Timbers do what the odds suggest, they will take the kind of opening that can shape a group stage. If Puebla disrupts that script, the rest of Group A gets complicated fast.
