Evans played well against his arch-rivals and looks to finally be settled into his new position

By Toby Dunkelberg

Stefan Frei – 7.5 – Frei has slowly but steadily climbed up the ranks of MLS keepers and currently has the lowest goals against average at 0.71. In this match Frei lived up to that standard and came up big a couple times. He stopped Chara’s long blast, bailed out Evans in the 55^th minute, and made some impressive saves to thwart Portland’s late surge. He only had one blunder on the night, a bobble late in stoppage time, but that looked to be inconsequential lapse in what was otherwise a superb outing.

Tyrone Mears – 6.5 – He got beat a couple of times early on including one nutmeg which fortunately ended with the ball out of bounds. In the first half is seemed like Mears would make an interception but then give up a foul or some other defensive blunder. But he improved in the second half and was rock solid. It seemed like he was assigned to focus on defense as he rarely got forward. But with the clean sheet preserved the tactic obviously worked.

Brad Evans – 8 – It took about nine weeks but it looks as though Evans has really settled into his centerback role. He dominated in the air, won many balls on the ground with his feet, and stopped clear cut chances with a couple slide tackles. The fact that he did this without Chad Marshall at his side and against Portland makes it even more impressive. A good performance from the captain.

Zach Scott – 7 – It’s always tough to slot into a lineup, especially when it’s against your arch-rival. Scott came through big time and played just as well as he did in the playoffs last year, which is to say he played well. He got a little too far forward at times and had trouble marking Portland’s speedier players, but he played great for a nearly 35 year old back up.

Dylan Remick – 8 – In the post-game interview Sigi Schmid said he had two starting quality left backs, but on Sunday night Remick looked like one of the best left backs in the league. Unlike Mears, who largely stuck back and defended, Remick used his speed to abuse Portland’s right sideline. He nutmegged a guy, had the throw in that led to the lone goal of the night, and played smothering defense. He didn’t make a mistake all game, and controlled Asprilla and Powell out of the match. A tremendous performance that might leave Leo Gonzalez on the bench for the foreseeable future. .

Marco Pappa (Off 86′) – 6.5 – Pappa played well but he looked just a little bit out of sync with the rest of his teammates at time. A lot of his passes were lazy and soft, or just a but to much for his teammates to handle. He did track back well and contributed on defense, as well as having good interplay at times. But overall he didn’t look menacing going forward.

Osvaldo Alonso – 7 – Another classic Alonso performance. He controlled the midfield and got many interceptions. At this point you know what you’re getting from Alonso.

Gonzalo Pineda – 6 – Didn’t get all that involved but continues to be the main conduit for Seattle’ distribution on both sides of the ball. Most of Pineda’s work goes unnoticed but he was an important part of the Sounders ability to have so much possession in Portland’s half.

Lamar Neagle (Off 77’)– 6.5 – It was a bit of a polar night from Neagle. He had a lot of good touches like a great cross that Martins should’ve put away and a curling shot at the end of stoppage, but he also had a lot of bad touches where once again he’d run at two defenders and come up empty handed. To me those good shots outweigh the bad and so I gave him a six and a half

Obafemi Martins – 6.5 – Like Neagle, Martins generated a couple of really good shots. What was perhaps more impressive was how he was able to body off Ridgewell and Borchers who are know for being physical centerbacks. But the Nigerian really should’ve done better with his shots as he had at least two blatant opportunities that went just wide of the posts. Martins has been a little off for the last couple of weeks, hopefully he can find his form on the small confines of Yankee Stadium.

Clint Dempsey – 7 – Outside of the goal Dempsey really didn’t lay all that much better than Martins. They both dropped into the midfield frequently to generate attacks, but unlike Martins Dempsey was able to gain possession deep in the Timbers third a couple of times throughout the match that Seattle really should’ve been able to convert. The goal, and the determination to win those balls lifts him up to a seven.

SUBSTITUTES

Andy Rose (On 77’) – 7 – It looked as though Rose’s shot would’ve gone in without Dempsey’s touch on the line. Even still it was a weak shot that someone else probably could’ve done better with but Rose put it on target and that’s what matters. Outside of the goal Rose helped to clog up the center and see the match out, and for that he gets a seven.

Leonardo Gonzalez (On 86’) – N/A– Came on late and played as the wide midfielder to help lock down the defense. There isn’t enough to go on to give a rating.