By CALEB SONNELAND
Playing in front of an electric Qwest Field crowd, the Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers slugged out a 1-1 draw that had to leave the home team disappointed and the visitors happy with a road point against their arch-rivals.
Mamadou 'Futty" Danso's header cancelled out an Alvaro Fernandez striker to help give Portland bragging rights in the first MLS installment of one of the best soccer rivalries in the United States.
Portland captain Jack Jewsbury played the role of provider again, delivering the pass that Danso beat Seattle goalkeeper Kasey Keller to for his second goal of the season.
“We showed a lot of character,” said Portland head coach John Spencer. “We go down a goal and I bet there’s a lot of people sitting at home thinking, ‘Here we go. Portland’s going to lose by three or four.'”
The draw was a letdown for a Sounders team that saw some early chances wasted at the start of the second half, and saw some late-game search for a winner unanswered.
Seattle head coach Sigi Schmid spoke for most Sounders players and fans when he stated he wasn't happy with the result.
"We had the lead, we gave them a goal back," Schmid said. "Their game is predicated around free kicks and set-pieces, that's what they live for.
"The referee gave them quite a few, you know, it seemed like our fouls were happening in our end of the field, and their fouls were happening in theirs. But, at the end of the day, you gotta defend those things and take care of business."
After a highly-anticipated buildup to the match in Seattle, it was Portland that took early control of the game, focusing its pressure down the wings with Khalif Alhassan and Darlington Nagbe and looking to find Kenny Cooper and Jorge Perlaza in the middle.
Seattle started the match with Montero and Jaqua up top with Brad Evans coming in for the injured Eric Friberg, who was out with a left lateral ankle sprain. Jhon Kennedy Hurtado replaced Jeff Parke in the starting lineup to combat the offensive threats of Kenny Cooper and Jorge Perlaza.
It was Nagbe who looked threatening from the whistle and was challenging Tyson Wahl and the Sounders back line throughout the first half. Nothing came of his pressure and Wahl, as well as the Sounders, grew into the match-up as the half went on.
The Timbers did well to get forward and apply pressure to Kasey Keller's goal early on and send out a message that they weren't in Seattle to play for a draw.
In the 27th minute, Cooper niftily worked some space on the edge of the box and had a crack on target, but Keller was up to the challenge and collected.
The intensity was upped at Qwest after a physical elbow from Brad Evans found the head of Diego Chara. The Portland midfielder went down for a minute or so before getting up to resume play, much to the displeasure of the Sounders faithful.
Just before the break, Seattle found itself in a great position for a free kick with DP Fredy Montero standing over it, but the Colombian striker could only put his effort into the side netting as the first half came to a close.
The Sounders came out swinging in the second half with Nate Jaqua going close twice within the opening two minutes of the half.
The Sounders made their early pressure pay off after Montero was found at the edge of the penalty area and laid off a pass for Fernandez to smash home past Perkins.
Fernandez had himself in quite a bit of space after Jeremy Hall was sucked in on Montero, and Steve Zakuani's replacement on the left wing found himself on the score sheet yet again.
Montero had a chance punched away by Perkins only minutes later after being laid off by Nate Jaqua inside the area, and the Sounders looked ready to make the score 2-0 against a shell-shocked Timbers team.
The second Sounders goal never came, and Portland showed that it was well up for the task as Jorge Perlaza nearly nipped behind Hurtado and chipped Keller but Patrick Ianni was on hand to clear the line.
Portland found its equalizer in the 65th minute when Danso rose well to a Jack Jewsbury cross, beating Keller.
The Sounders applied heavy pressure late in the match, but Portland's defense held firm and earned a valuable road point against its arch rival.
oh ya im aware they are trying but i haven’t seen any results.
just compare the upgrades and developments that other teams have done since ’09. If they want to keep the intensity that the fans bring they better show it on the field.
It was a FAIL on the part of the Seattle FO to place the away supporters in the midst of “Family Section”.
Seriously, what would you expect? If the ECS was close by the family section you’d probably be thinking and saying the same things.
Just sayin…..
I agree that ECS could have done better. Their chants didn’t engage the whole stadium the way they sometimes do. ECS could do more to reach beyond the Brougham end.
My seats are below the away section. The TA was solid and I give them props. I will say though, that it isn’t all that cool to act beligerantly towards folks who are basically in the family section. I enjoy bringing my daughter to games but I’m glad I didn’t bring her to this one. A part of Sounders success is that they have appealed to a broad range of audiences in Seattle. To me it’s a success for MLS to have that sort of mainstream audience.
Fernandez looked like a DP, was by far the best player on the pitch.
You need to take into account that this team should have Zakuani. Very good player. Also, they added Friberg from Sweden, who has an ankle sprain. They also added Mauro Rosales from Argentina, who has a hamstring pull. Nkufo was supposed to be there, but left the day before the season. During the July transfer window, Seattle will have Nkufo’s cap space and DP slot open and room for one more good player. The FO has already stated they will use the ability to add talent.
I was pretty blitzed last night and some college age TA (I’m early 30s) almost took a swing at me. He was cheering the draw and I started singing the “Where’s your trophies, Where’s your trophies, Where’s your trophies, Timber fans, never won one, haven’t got one. . . ” song. All in all it was a blast and good natured.
PDX is built to play long-ball/crap soccer though and yesterday’s conditions definitely fit their game more than ours.
neither of these teams will make the playoffs right this year. good job building your club up but neither is performing..
if i was a seattle fan I would be pissed they must be raking in the dough and not spending it on significant player upgrades. The fact that they are not stacked like New York, LA, Salt Lake or Colorado is awful. yaya Fernandez is good and N’Kufo was good for a few games.. Montero is okay but this team lacks the excitement that the fans bring.
The difference is attendance numbers stems from the luxury suites. I think the bowl itself is full at slightly under 36K, and that is how they define “sellout.”
+1
:D)
^ troll face
Love that picture up there! 😀
It is what happens when you’re part of the BEST rivalry in American sports. You get caught up in the fun of bantering at each other.
Agreed. It’s just rivalry talk.
Yeah, why watch any league in the world when you can wake up early to watch EPL by yourself like Zilo?
Thanks for watching. But take your comments somewhere else Eurosnob.
best thing about the game was the fans and fernandez.. other than that a bit sad the game was nationally televised.
Happy enough with the draw considering all the injuries Seattle has. 5 of our 10 field players out? I’ll take a draw every time over a loss. Hopefully we have Rosales, Friberg, Evans and OBW back for the return leg. Also, Fernandez was a monster last night.
And Portland has a better team than I thought. Excited to see the progress of Charra, Perlaza, and Nagbe. Those are 3 GREAT additions to MLS.
Regarding the support, why all the fuss? Both sides did a proper good job. Nice to see.
Most of crowd noise over the TV/Radio has more to do with where the production team puts microphones as opposed to stadium noise.
I remember a Philly game recently where they put the mic too close to one guy and he alone sounded louder than the rest of the stadium.
I noticed that, too. In fact, if you look at their attendance numbers this year they’ve had 36,xxx with a different final 3 numbers every time (sometimes it goes up, sometimes slightly down)
Our expensive seats are often vacant after half and before kick off as well. And that is what the camera looks at.
Sigi must have watched different game than me. Seemed like Seattle was trying to foul early to stop the counter attack on our side. The goal came from a foul almost at midfield. Seattle had quite a few in our end right outside the box.
Timber obviously have the edge on set pieces both ways.
Seattle more technical (and missing starters), Portland more athletic (with a full squad).
Best part was the crowd noise for the Timbers goal was equal to the Seattle goal on the radio. Hear the army about 25% of the time, obviously not as loud as the 35k the whole game, but I did not have to strain to here the chants all game long.
We’ll stop talking about the bandwagon jumping when you stop talking about attendance. Oh and nice jab about our away form. How does it feel to not win at home? 18k > 36k.
Haha!
Nice backhanded comment. We will keep our mess. Snob. Go sit in front of ur TV and watch ur EPL. We will continue to GO to our stadiums and support our teams…..
As a Timbers fan I want to see him stay on his feet more. We might have gotten that PK if he didn’t go down all the time. When he doesn’t go down he tends to keep the ball. So frustrating to watch.
I’m very happy that Seattle didn’t win. Their fans are the 2nd most annoying fans in the history of pro sports…just behind those who think that the ANY EPL match is a work of art & talk about “proper footy culture.”
Actually we found it hilarious. Someone even started a #thoughtsfrommyyacht hashtag to keep the jokes flowing in Seattle.
Yeah, I’d much rather be watching Wigan-West Ham!!!
Just because it says EPL on the jersey patch, doesn’t mean it’s not two teams playing mid-tier Championship caliber soccer.
Credit to both Ptown and Seattle fans for the turn out. I have no idea why you want to watch that when there is the EPL but props for still supporting that mess. Cheers
Did anyone see this WSJ article? http://tinyurl.com/3vr5gf5
“The Great Hipster Soccer Showdown”
I’m sure neither Potland nor Seattle fans will like it but I thought it was pretty funny.
Good luck trying to raise the league attendance with idiots like JZ.
Who is going to start supporting a team when some idiots from Portland and other teams are going to start calling you bandwagon, customers, etc.
By the way this is a family event and the kids are welcomed too. I see no harm in parents buying food for their kids.
TA stop making stupid comments.
Get a brain and a road win before you start talking crap.
I didnt know that you win thropies because you have great fans lol.
needs to be reviewed for sure. could see a couple game suspension and fine
There was a downpour the t.v. didn’t quite capture ( fans looking for shelter during the half ). & it was a cheesy Jumbo pretzel, thank you very much! Back in our seats just before the kick, so…..SUCK IT!
Isn’t that what Drew Carey is going for?
Comical.
I was there, TA was in effect.. easy to be drowned out by a much bigger audience, but they did very well. No shame and in fact I was impressed by the TA effort.
When your front office does not want away supporters and actively works to prevent away supporters from showing up, you’ll often find less away supporters in attendance.
This is a huge blow to Seattle. A draw at home is always disappointing and leaves the Timbers the advantage when the Sounders travel to Portland in July.
The ECS Tifo display was definitely impressive, but I feel the Seattle supporters, while larger in number, lack a lot of the organization and structure compared to the well oiled machine of the Timbers Army.
Also, the critique of Seattle as “customers” as opposed to supporters rang true when the stadium looked half empty when the 2nd half kicked off. Busy getting nachos for the kids?
I had to listen over the radio and it seemed the only time I could hear the crowd was during a shot, goal, or protest to the ref. I expected to at least hear a dull roar all game but it was not there. The best I heard the crowd was early in the second half but it quickly went away after the Futty header.
“a record attendance of over 36,000”
Don’t the Sounders sell out every game? Why does it always seem like they’re getting a “record crowd”? Do they let in one more person every game just to be able to say that?
Portland fans were scattered thoughout the crowd and the TA did themselves proud in the stadium. The ECS was NOT well enough organized and can do better.
Portland can be happy with their performance tonght. Seattle cannot.
Hardly. 500 Portland fans were heard loud and clear amidst 36,000 Seattle fans. Put down your lattes and cheer.
That as well, although I feel like that was a weak shout. Cooper seems to go down very easily for a big man
…or no replays of the Cooper penalty shout
I heard “Onward Rose City” as clearly as any of the Sounders chants
Frustrating result as a Sounders fan, gave up a goal on a pretty tame free kick that was similar to what Portland did last week. Keller failed miserably on that set piece as did the marking. Also feel like we were denied a clear penalty on the hand ball in about the 76th minute I think it was, of course its hard to know for sure when ESPN only shows one replay.
Alonso should have been carded for that cheap shot on Chara’.
Over the TV, the Timbers Army were sometimes louder than Sounder fans. But good atmosphere all around.
That said, decent game despite the weather.
Troll go away
Excellent atmosphere— 36600 in attendance despite the constant downpour. Timbers showed up even thou their fans didn’t.
Sigi, your team was under your fouls committed per game average. Why complain about the ref?