Roldan heads Seattle past Portland – Photo Recap

Saturday saw the first meeting between the Portland Timbers and the Seattle Sounders of 2017. The atmosphere had an extra air of excitement as it also marked the first meeting of the two sides after both had been crowned MLS Champions.

To heighten the excitement ECS unveiled a full TIFO display reading “The Rightful King Reclaims the Throne.” After the game Sounders Coach Bryan Schmetzer thanked ECS saying the show of support made him emotional after the game.

The Sounders started the same lineup from that beat RSL a week earlier. The Timbers were forced to slot in Lawrence Olum in as a DM for the suspended Diego Chara.

Seattle wasted no time. Attacking right from the get go they earned a corner. Nicola Lodeiro swung in a ball that Chad Marshall headed towards goal. Cristian Roldan got on the end of Marshall’s headed to nod it past Timbers keeper Jack Gleeson for his first goal of the season. The tally put Seattle up 1-0 after just four minutes of play.

Portland responded well for the next ten minutes. They focused on the right side of their attack. Using Sebaastian Blanco to exploit the space left by Joevin Jones’ ventures forward. With Blanco exploiting space and Jones providing width the the back most of the action focused on that side of the pitch.

For awhile it seemed as though all Porltand could do was launch in crosses from Blanco. But then tehy staeted combining in the middle. Adi and Valeri started to get into it and forced the Sounders into a string of three blocked shots in a span on thirty seconds.

Guzman was very involved in the match early on. In the 22nds minute he made a challenge on Dempsey from behind and in the commotion it looked as though Guzman took a hand to the face. Play stopped for a couple minutes as trainers looked at it. Guzman was later pulled at the half.

For the most part temper’s were kept under control. But that’s not to say there weren’t flare ups. The biggest two on the night involved Cristian Roldan who confronted Sebastian Blanco after his tackle in the first half, and was later kicked in the face by Dairon Asprilla when they were both going after the ball in the second half.

A little more than ten minutes later, Sebastian Blanco found himself in a 1-v-1 with Frei and somehow failed to even put it on target. Later on Ridgewell had a great opportunity off of a corner but just like Guzman, he couldn’t redirect the ball on target despite Frei being out of position. With those miscues the Timbers entered halftime down by a goal.

The second half started with a sub for Portland as Amobi Okugo entered for the injured Guzman. Portland, now without Guzman and Chara struggled in the midfield as Sounders Alosno and Roldan found themselves with more space.

The Timbers picked up where they left off but couldn’t for the life of them get any chances close to goal. In the 53rd minute there were claims of a hand ball from Portland as midfielder Darlington Nagbe took a shot that later bounced off Marshall’s arm. Referee Mark Geiger saw it and ruled it not a handball.

As the defense tired Jordan Morris started to make more runs in-behind for long balls over the top. He early converted on them too as Gleeson was twice forced to come out and make a sliding stop.

With the Timbers pressing for the equalizer Seattle’s attacking players stayed deep to help out. Dempsey, Morris, and Lodeiro all tracked back to defend. The Sounders also subbed on two more fullbacks in Jordy Delem and Oniel Fisher in order to see out the lead.

Despite Portlands best effor the match ended Seattle 1 – Portland 0. With the win the Sounders are just three points off the second spot in the west. Portland, now winless in five straight matches, is still above the yellow line but needs to start finding answers to their issues in the attack.

Roldan was everywhere on Saturday. Despite being the goalscorer he completely controlled the left side of the field and showed a level of tenacity that fans have come to expect.