TUKWILA, Wash. - Twelve seconds.
That’s how long it took for the ball to go from the Timbers’ end line to the back of the Sounders’ net on Diego Valeri’s opening goal in Seattle’s 3-1 loss to Portland on July 17.
A long clearance caught a Sounders side slow to react to the blistering pace of the Timbers’ Lucas Melano, who, along with Valeri, knifed through Seattle's defense with relative ease in a 2-v-3 situation. Portland have no shortage of attacking weapons and were able to punish Seattle before they had time to react.
And now, with the Timbers in town looking for more points at the Sounders’ expense on Sunday (6:30 p.m. PT; FS1/KIRO 97.3 FM/El Rey 1360AM), the onus is clear heading into the teams’ rematch at CenturyLink Field: Slow down the Timbers’ breaks.
“They caught us on the counter,” Sounders interim head coach Brian Schmetzer said Thursday. “Valeri, Melano, they’ve got some good players and good athletes. [Fanendo] Adi obviously is a handful. We’ll just work on making sure we don’t get caught in various different areas and make sure they actually have to deal with us.
“It is our home game and we’re a little bit different than the last time we played them, so we’ll hopefully be able to have them adjust to us rather than the other way around.”
The Sounders have been in good form since Schmetzer took over for longtime coach Sigi Schmid and signed Designated Player Nicolas Lodeiro last month, winning two of their last three and showing an offensive spark largely missing before a summer rejuvenation.
Lodeiro’s presence should mitigate some of the offensive pressure that Seattle was unable to withstand last month. As much as good defense can lead to good offense, the inverse is true as well. While also providing the offensive creativity and class for which he was signed, Lodeiro should force the Timbers’ midfielders to stay honest and perhaps be more hesitant to make 60-yard runs.
But it will be easier said than done stopping Melano, the Timbers’ 23-year-old Argentine Designated Player. He torched the Sounders again in the 64th minute in July when he dribbled from inside his own 18-yard-box to Seattle’s 18 untouched and found an open Fanendo Adi, who put the game out of reach at a time when the Sounders were pushing for a tying goal.
The total time from Portland’s box to the back of the net: Again, 12 seconds.
“At the end of the day we have to put in a good performance,” Sounders defender and captain Brad Evans said. “If we don’t, that’s a team that will punish you quick. … We try to find an equalizer and then it’s bang-bang and we find ourselves with our tail between our legs walking home.”
The Sounders' costly defensive lapses were exacerbated by the number of missed opportunities they squandered. Had they been able to execute, they wouldn’t have needed to push so many numbers forward and might have been able to limit the effectiveness of the Timbers' counters.
“We’ve got to be clinical in front of goal,” Evans said. “We have a chance to go 1-1 at some point with Jordan’s header in the box and he’s got another chance a couple yards from goal. … It’s not like we didn’t create chances that game, we just didn’t finish our chances.”
The Sounders have scored six goals in their last three matches and should have had even more against Real Salt Lake last week.
Sunday’s match is a chance for Cascadia revenge against their rivals, but it’s also an opportunity for the Sounders to continue a playoff push that all of a sudden feels within reach.
“We’re in a situation where we need points,” Evans said. “Bottom line.”
