Seattle Sounders 1-Portland Timbers 2
The Brian Fernandez legend continues to grow in the Rose City. On Sunday Portland’s newest Designated Player further endeared himself to the club’s supporters and the city of Portland with a pair of goals in the Timbers 2-1 win over fierce rivals, the Seattle Sounders.
As has been the case so many times between these two sides the pace was electric from the whistle. Within 20 seconds of the first half Seattle very nearly had the lead after Raul Ruidiaz broke past the Portland defense and had a one-on-one opportunity against Timbers goalkeeper Steve Clark. Despite being stuck in a precarious position Clark recovered making the diving kick save to end the chance.
After surviving the early scare Portland had their own chance to go up with Diego Valeri hitting a near-perfect corner kick into the box. Jeremy Ebobisse leaped up to hit a header towards the lower right corner of the goal. However, Sounders goalkeeper was there to bat it away.
Seattle weren’t as fortunate just minutes later. Portland manager Giovanni Savarese had been using defender Jorge Moreira as a wingback during the match to disrupt the Sounders backline. In the 19th minute it paid off with the Paraguayan international hammering a shot past Frei. While his shot hit the bar the rebound found Fernandez in front of goal with an open net, making it 1-0 for the visitors.
In the second half Seattle levelled the score with Ruidiaz picking off a headed pass from Timbers defender Sebastian Blanco to make it 1-1. The goal was his eighth of the season.
Before Seattle could even think about taking the lead though Portland responded. After a series of passes going South to North in the midfield Blanco hit a low curving cross into the box. After beating out two defenders Fernandez made a one touch shot with the inside of his right foot. While Frei made a valiant effort it was just beyond his reach.
The Sounders did have a chance to equalize for a second time after Kim Kee-Hee delivered a cross into the box for Ramon Torres. Although Torres put a good header on target Clark made the save, ending the match and giving his side the three points.
With the win, the Timbers (8-8-4, 28 points) move to within two points of the seventh and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. They will host another foe on Saturday when the Los Angeles Galaxy come to town (10:30pm EST/7:30 PM PST, ESPN+).
As for the Sounders (10-6-5, 35 points) the loss is their first at home in league play since September of 2018. Head Coach Brian Schmetzer will have a big task at hand this week in getting the players to transition to thinking about the opportunity lost on Sunday at home and to think about the opportunity ahead on Saturday in Houston against the Dynamo (8pm EST/5PM PST, ESPN+). While Houston have a pretty strong record at home this year (7-1-3, 24 points) they will be coming off of a midweek match against Club America in the LigaMX/MLS jamboree.
All photos are courtesy of Prost photographer Paul Kahl whose full gallery you can check out on SmugMug.
Seattle Sounders FC
Portland Timbers FC
