PORTLAND, ORE. – Playing its third Cascadia Cup match of 2015 at Providence Park on Sunday afternoon in front of 21,144 fans and a nationally televised audience, Seattle Sounders FC (9-7-2, 29 points) fell 4-1 to Cascadia rival Portland Timbers (8-6-4, 28 points). Seattle remains atop the Cascadia Cup standings over Pacific Northwest rivals Portland and Vancouver, with Seattle holding a six-point total over second-place Whitecaps FC and the Timbers, who have four points apiece in the supporter-created regional competition. Seattle remains in the race for the Western Conference lead, with the Rave Green now trailing Vancouver in the West by three points.
Portland struck first in the 12th minute of play through midfielder Darlington Nagbe, as the Timbers capitalized on a lengthy possession, with Diego Valeri providing the assist on Nagbe’s long-range strike from outside of Seattle’s 18-yard-box.
Seattle evened the contest in the 38th minute courtesy of a Lamar Neagle volley, with the Federal Way native converting a Tyrone Mears pass during a free-kick taken from 40 yards out. The strike is Neagle’s fourth of the 2015 campaign, moving him into third place on the team’s scoring list this season.
Portland regained the lead deep into the second half with successive strikes from forward Fanendo Adi. In the 74th minute the Nigerian received a pass from Nagbe and curled a powerful shot past an outstretched Stefan Frei into the back of Seattle’s goal. Portland’s third tally of the day came just two minutes later, with Adi placing a low shot on-frame to give the Timbers a 3-1 lead. Second-half substitute Rodney Wallace added an insurance tally in stoppage time, taking a ball into the area from Maximiliano Urruti and putting a shot near the penalty spot past Frei.
Sigi Schmid’s side returns to action on the Xbox Pitch at CenturyLink Field on Friday, July 3 against Eastern Conference-leading D.C. United in a nationally televised contest (8:00 p.m. PT / UniMas, KIRO Radio 97.3 FM, El Rey 1360 AM).
MATCH SUMMARY
Seattle Sounders FC 1 – Portland Timbers 4
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Venue: Providence Park
Referee: Jair Marrufo
Assistants: Peter Manikowski, Paul Scott<
Fourth Official: Alex Chilowicz
Attendance: 21,144
Weather: Cloudy and 82 degrees
SCORING SUMMARY
POR – Darlington Nagbe (Diego Valeri) 12’
SEA – Lamar Neagle (Tyrone Mears) 38’
POR – Fanendo Adi (Darlington Nagbe) 74’
POR – Fanendo Adi (Rodney Wallace) 76’
POR – Rodney Wallace (Maximiliano Urruti) 90+1’
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
SEA – Gonzalo Pineda (caution) 17’
SEA – Andy Rose (caution) 52’
POR – Diego Valeri (caution) 52’
SEA – Lamar Neagle (caution) 71’
LINEUPS & STATS
Seattle Sounders FC – Stefan Frei; Tyrone Mears, Chad Marshall, Brad Evans – captain, Oniel Fisher; Andy Rose (Cristian Roldan 69’), Micheal Azira, Gonzalo Pineda, Marco Pappa; Lamar Neagle (Darwin Jones 82’), Chad Barrett (Andy Craven 60’)
Substitutes not used: Troy Perkins, Zach Scott, Dylan Remick, Thomà s
Total shots: 6 (Fisher, 3)
Shots on goal: 1 (Neagle, 1)
Fouls: 12 (Neagle, 4)
Offside: 2 (Craven/Rose, 1)
Corner-kicks: 4 (Pappa, 4)
Saves: 7 (Frei, 7)
Portland Timbers – Adam Kwarasey; Alvas Powell, Nat Borchers, Norberto Papparatto, Jorge Villafana; Darlington Nagbe (Jack Jewsbury 80’), Diego Chara, Gastòn Fernandez (Maximiliano Urruti 83’), Will Johnson, Diego Valeri (Rodney Wallace 66’); Fanendo Adi
Substitutes not used: Andrew Weber, Taylor Peay, Jeanderson, Michael Nanchoff
Total shots: 23 (Adi, 5)
Shots on goal: 11 (Adi, 3)
Fouls: 13 (Valeri, 3
Offside: 0
Corner-kicks: 7 (Johnson/Valeri, 3)
Saves: 0
MATCH NOTES
- Sounders FC now sits in second place in the Western Conference with 29 points (9-7-2), three points behind Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Portland is now tied with the LA Galaxy for third place, just one point behind Seattle.
- With six points through three matches (2-0-1), Seattle remains atop the 2015 Cascadia Cup standings, two points ahead of both Vancouver and Portland (1-1-1). The Rave Green have three remaining Cascadia Cup fixtures this season – beginning with a pair of home matchups against Vancouver on August 1 and Portland on August 30, followed by a September 19 clash against Whitecaps FC at BC Place.
- Sounders FC has now lost three straight MLS regular season matches for just the third time in club history. The first trio of consecutive defeats occurred from June 10 – July 4, 2009, while the club lost four straight fixtures from October 5 – October 19, 2013.
- Lamar Neagle’s first-half equalizer marked his fourth goal of the season, good for third on the team. The Federal Way native is the only field player on the club to have appeared in all 18 MLS regular season matches.
- Andy Craven made his MLS debut when he came on for Chad Barrett in the 60th minute. Seattle’s 2015 Third Round MLS SuperDraft selection was added to the Sounders FC First Team yesterday after scoring seven goals across all competitions for S2 this season.
