PORTLAND — When the Seattle Sounders exited their team bus and headed inside Providence Park for their match with the Portland Timbers on Sunday afternoon, they could not have predicted all that was about to happen in the opening 45 minutes.
Not this team. Not this Sounders squad riding a five-game unbeaten streak, including a resilient late draw on Wednesday night in Houston. Not at this point in the season, with a spot in playoff positioning for the taking, and a newfound attacking confidence stemming from a new formation and the addition of Designated Player Nicolas Lodeiro.
Yet, there they were at halftime, walking dejected into the tunnel beneath a euphoric Timbers Army. Steven Taylor’s wide-open header in the 44th minute was the Timbers’ fourth of the half and the punctuation mark on what ended up a 4-2 Timbers win, the first time the Sounders allowed four goals in a match since June 28, 2015, coincidentally, a 4-1 loss to the Timbers at Providence Park.
“A lot [went wrong]," interim head coach Brian Schmetzer said. “I will accept the blame for the first half. It’s my job to make sure that the team is prepared. And obviously that didn’t happen. Give credit where credit is due. I think Portland came out, they scored the timely goal on the set piece, started us reeling back a little bit … that won’t happen again.”
Seattle had two choices in the locker room at the break: Continue to play passively and risk getting run out of the Portland entirely, or try and save face.
“We played like crap the first half," captain Brad Evans said. “Schmetz came in and said, ‘We’re going to do one thing. We’re going to play for the badge, and if you don’t do that, I’ll pull you off.’”
Within 90 seconds, the Sounders had pulled one back on an Andreas Ivanschitz shot that was deflected into the net by Taylor. Four minutes later, forward Jordan Morris, who had been on an island in the first half and unable to create anything dangerous, headed in a second goal off a brilliant cross from Lodeiro.
Fifty-one minutes in and the deficit had been cut in half, but the Sounders would fail to find the back of the net again. The opportunities came, but the finishing did not in the team’s third game in eight days.
“I think we spent a lot of energy trying to get two [goals]," Schmetzer said. “I think the response in the second half was good. What I asked them to do at halftime, they did … I won’t make excuses for heat, travel, multiple games in a week. I won’t make that excuse. Not as long as I’m here.”
The Sounders will have some time now to watch the film and try and digest and correct what went wrong in the opening half. Due to a bye during the upcoming international break, Seattle’s next league match won't be until Saturday, Sept. 10 at the San Jose Earthquakes, a team that sits just one point ahead of it in the Western Conference standings.
“We need to start games like we did in the second half,” Morris said. “We came out slow and they took advantage of us … We’re putting it behind us and moving on. We’re still confident that we’re going to make a run and make the playoffs.”
