By Toby Dunkelberg
Tuesday night saw the Portland Timbers travel up to Starfire Sports Complex to take on the Seattle Sounders in the 4th Round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. The sides have a vaunted history in the competition. In 2015 the Timbers snagged a win at Starfire amid red cards and injuries that eventually earned Sounders Clint Dempsey a ban from the competition.
2017’s iteration was largely devoid of first team drama as Portlands coach Caleb Porter was forced into playing a heavily T2 lineup due to a game on Saturday. While Seattle was on nine days rest coach Bryan Schmetzer elected to follow suit in trusting the youth with only three backups from the first team starting.
The Sounders started well controlling possession even managing to snag a quick goal thanks to Nouhou Tolo’s cross from the left that somehow managed to find Aaron Kovar on the far post. Seattle continued the pressure for the first 15 minutes. Ray Saari and Francisco Narbon dominated Portlands Andre Lewis and Ben Zemanski by pressuring the Timbers into turning the ball over. When the Sounders got the ball they floated out wide. Either to Tolo streaking up the left from his spot on the backline or to Aaron Kovar playing on the right as a winger.
The Timbers gradually caught on as Zemanski and Lewis controlled more centrally. Meanwhile Marco Farfan and Victor Arboleda marked Kovar on the right while Mohamed and Hanson combined to lessen Tolo’s impact. This defensive posture did little to generate anything going forward but it achieved it’s desired effect of stopping Seattle.
As Portland started to establish themselves they earned possession deeper and deeper in Seattle’s half. Eventually in the 38th minute they capitalized on that when Clarke and Zemanski combined down the left before laying in a slicing ball to Augustine Williams who slotted it by Sounders keeper Tyler Miller for the equalizer.
Seattle struggled to respond as they were slow to push forward as the second half picked up. Then they caught a break when Irvin Parra earned Seattle a penalty off a handball. Zach Mathers stepped up to take and calmly pushed it by Timbers keeper Jeff Attinella.
Seattle did an effective job of posturing defensively enough to gum up the works in the middle while allowing for pushes forward. Portland struggled to break through. There were a couple nervous moments for the home fans but they managed to preserve the 2-1 result.
In doing so they advance to the 5th round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. They’ll find out their opponent in the next round after Wednesdays matches finish. Either way they’ll have a quick turnaround as they switch their attention to NYCFC and their away game on Saturday.
Seattle Sounders FC
Portland Timbers
