PORTLAND – Coming off their 5-0 thrashing of FC Dallas earlier this week, the Seattle Sounders hoped that those newfound offensive fireworks would carry over to their Sunday afternoon rivalry matchup with the Portland Timbers at Providence Park.
Instead, the finishing woes that have plagued the Sounders for much their 2016 season would resurface -- the end result being a 3-1 defeat at the hands of their Cascadia Cup foes.
Timbers star midfielder Diego Valeri would tag the Sounders for two of his team’s three goals with forward Fanendo Adi bagging the other, as Seattle also struggled to contain Portland’s dynamic counterattack for much of the afternoon.
“We did have opportunities,” Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei said after the game. “We also knew what they were going to do. We should have been ready for it. Out of their three goals, two were essentially off counters. We should have done better on that.”
The Sounders offensive struggles were compounded by the absence of forward Clint Dempsey, who was suspended for Sunday’s match due to a red card that he picked up against Dallas on Wednesday. Seattle’s attacking corps couldn’t manage to pick up the slack in his absence, their lone goal coming from center back Chad Marshall in the 59th minute.
Jordan Morris, Nelson Valdez and Cristian Roldan all had clean looks at potentially game-altering goals at different points during the game, but couldn’t quite put any of them past Timbers’ goalkeeper Jake Gleeson.
“Sometimes we’re looking to beat people and totally outplay the guy before we shoot it rather than shooting when we have a little bit of space,” Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid said. “If you shoot with a little bit of space then all of the sudden, a guy sticks a knee out, it can deflect, all kinds of things can happen. I think that’s an area [our attackers can improve].”
When asked about his team’s struggles with defending the Timbers’ fast-paced counterattacks after the game, Schmid also cited Valeri as Portland’s catalyst. With Sunday’s brace, the standout Argentine now has nine goals and five assists in 21 games this season.
“We gave Valeri too much space and we didn’t know where he was at all times, even when we were attacking,” Schmid said. “We need to get tighter to him. If you give him that much time and space, he’ll show you he’s a good player.”
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Seattle can look forward to Dempsey’s return to the lineup for their next MLS match against Sporting Kansas City next Sunday, but will be without midfielder Ozzie Alonso who will be suspended due to yellow card accumulation.
The Sounders first order of business coming off Sunday’s loss, however, will be a return to U.S. Open Cup play where they’ll take on the LA Galaxy in a quarterfinal matchup on Wednesday in California.
