With just 15 minutes left in a taut and very scoreless rivalry match, Portland Timbers substitute Fanendo Adi nearly scored a goal with his first touch of the match. Just two minutes later, Sounders FC substitute Andy Rose just about did him one better. Just minutes after coming on, Rose’s shot opened the door for Clint Dempsey’s tap-in winner.
Just like that, another Cascadia Cup rivalry match to Sounders FC.
With his first touch of the match in the 77th minute, Rose stung the palms of Portland keeper Adam Kwarasey, who couldn’t lock down the carom. Before he could pounce on it, Dempsey raced in from the eves and knocked in the rebound that ultimately put the padlock on Seattle’s 1-0 victory.
It perhaps wasn’t the prettiest way to capture all three points, but it was as effective as any. The goal launched Seattle to third in the Western Conference with 13 points from its first seven matches. Here are three big points from Seattle’s resounding win.
Dempsey strikes again
Something about the Timbers tends to spark Dempsey’s creative side. Coming into Sunday’s match, Dempsey had scored in three consecutive matches against Portland, many of them decisive. On Sunday, he made it four straight with his 77th-minute winner, which was also his sixth all-time against the Timbers. Since the Timbers made the series an MLS rivalry in 2011, nobody’s scored more from either side of the divide.
Dempsey was at his creative best on Sunday, ripping off his usual bevy of back-heels, no-looks and how-did-he-see-that through balls. But his moment of true target striker-dom with less than 15 minutes to play was what grabbed the loudest headlines.
Still, Dempsey’s creativity paid dividends for a Seattle side forced to pick apart a Portland team that was content to sit back until late in the second half. Dempsey’s high passing percentage despite his ever-present desire to pull off the unnatural spoke to his efficiency. He managed to complete 83-percent of his 54 passes, and two of Seattle’s three shots on target came via a Dempsey pass.
That other shot? It was Dempsey’s goal. The most dangerous player in the league’s most vibrant rivalry struck again on Sunday, and the goal only underlined another neon-bright 90 minute performance.
Sounders FC blunt Timbers’ listless attack
There was some conjecture as to whether Timbers coach Caleb Porter would trot out prized attacking midfielder Diego Valeri for the match. Valeri missed the entire first two months of the season with an injury he sustained last year, and Portland needed him badly. When he was listed on the bench, those questions were deferred to the second half. Maybe as a sub? When Gaston Fernandez came on in the 61st, those thoughts dimmed even further. With the nature of the match, it quickly became obvious the Timbers had no use for him.
Much of that was due to Seattle’s uncanny ability to harry the Timbers’ attackers into lost possession and win balls in the air. Porter set up the dangerous Darlington Nagbe underneath striker Maxi Urruti, but Nagbe’s frequent wanderings opened up space for the Sounders to build. Further, Portland routinely sat back and invited Seattle toward the attacking third before their two banks of four seized up and looked to cut out passing lanes.
Portland has looked increasingly like a long ball team under Porter, and nothing about Sunday changed the narrative. In that sense, Sounders FC did well to keep from over-extending and allowing Portland in behind. The Timbers didn’t register their first shot on target until the 51st minute and weren’t dangerous until a few fleeting last-ditch patches in the final 15 minutes.
Much of that was down to Osvaldo Alonso’s impact on the defensive end. He hounded Nagbe for 90 minutes, pushing him out of the hole underneath Urruti and forcing him to make increasingly desperate decisions. Nagbe completed 90-percent of his passes, but most of them were squared off or shuttled backward, and almost none of them were particularly dangerous.
With Nagbe in Alonso’s pocket, Urruti stranded and both Diego Chara and Jack Jewsbury rocked backward, there was little the Timbers attack could do but watch continual strings of possession go begging.
Ascendent Sounders FC attack finally breaks through
The Timbers absorbed a tremendous amount of pressure, especially early. While the possession numbers were largely even, Sounders FC spent the majority of its time building into Portland’s half. Meanwhile, the Timbers were mostly content to ping it around at the back to avoid calamity in a tight rivalry match on the road. To wit, four of the Timbers’ top five passers in terms of volume were each of the defenders. So while Portland did complete a large percentage of its passes, most of them were harmless.
But that placed a unique amount of pressure on the Sounders FC attack, which was suddenly tasked with pulling the Timbers out of their bunker and finding space. And that proved to be exceedingly difficult for most of the evening.
While the Timbers were content to let their defenders do most of the heavy lifting on the passing front, Seattle built through the ironclad figure of Alonso. He completed an incredible 58 of his 61 passes, and he led all players from either team with five total tackles. With that level of dual threat in the midfield, Seattle was able to quickly turn over Portland and re-start attacks near midfield. That might not have directly created a Sounders FC goal, but it simultaneously kept pressure on Portland and off the Seattle back line.
Portland finished with a whopping 27 interceptions. All but five of those came in its own half, and 11 came in and around the Timbers’ own box. With that level of resoluteness, it was always going to take a special moment to break that down.
And the Sounders got it off a long throw that ultimately fell to Rose, which created a rebound that ultimately fell to Dempsey, who ultimately felled the Timbers. Again.
