By CALEB SONNELAND
In the return leg of the heated Cascadia derby between hosts Portland Timbers and the traveling Seattle Sounders, it was the visitors who marched away with all three points and the bragging rights in the Pacific Northwest with a 3-2 win.
Osvaldo Alonso smashed home the game-winner in the 82nd minute from the penalty spot after substitute Lamar Neagle was felled by Eric Brunner inside the area to set up the spot kick. Brunner was subsequently sent off for the challenge and left the hosts to finish the match short-handed.
But it was Fredy Montero who was the hero for the visitors and the villain for the hosts as the DP snagged two second-half goals at the Jeld-Wen to keep his side in contention.
After having looked lethal all match, Montero finally got on the score sheet in the 57th minute when he curled home a beautiful free kick just inside Perkins near post to even things up. The DP hit the shot with a chip on his shoulder after being harshly fouled outside the area by Danso and the two exchanged words before the latter had his name put into the book.
The Colombian doubled his total in the 74th minute after a good ball from substitute from Lamar Neagle found Mauro Rosales who touched on to Montero for the striker to smash home from close range for his fifth goal of the season.
The Timbers had regained the edge in the 70th minute and looked to close out the game when Jorge Perlaza sped down the left side and had a shot/cross that was deflected off Tyson Wahl and past a hopeless Kasey Keller. Keller cut a frustrated figure between the sticks as it was the second goal he conceded in the match but was helpless to prevent.
Portland was first off the mark after Kalif Alhassan forced a Jeff Parke own goal just 49 seconds into the second half. Alhassan skipped down the right hand touchline before zipping the ball into the area and off Parke's foot to leave Keller with no chance and give the hosts a 1-0 advantage.
Montero had a handful of chances all day but couldn't complete his hat trick, even in the 88th minute when his free header six yards out was denied on the line by Perkins. Sounders fans screamed goal, but replay showed that the Timbers shot stopper kept the effort out.
Montero continued to look lethal just minutes after his goal when Friberg fed the Colombian into the area, but once again, Perkins made himself big and came up with a point blank save to keep things level.
It went from bad to worse in the 55th minute when starting center back Jhon Kennedy Hurtado went down with a knee injury in the build up to a good Portland offensive that saw Jorge Perlaza miss a tap-in from six yards out while already up 1-0. Hurtado was replaced by Patrick Ianni after being forced to leave the game with a right knee injury.
The packed house in Portland was a hostile environment for the visitors and cut an intimidating place to play.
"It was crazy," said Neagle. "The Timbers fans were intimidating, or they tried to be."
Portland packed 18,627 into the Jeld-Wen and those in attendance were very vocal throughout. But was Neagle nervous to come in for such a big fixture?
"No, not really. I got 30 to 40 minutes to go out there and do my thing. I was fresh and I knew I could run at their outside backs, so I did."
Neagle was an impact sub, setting up the assist on Montero's second goal and drawing the game-winning penalty in his impressive shift.
The rematch in Portland follows the first clash between the two rivals when they slugged out a 1-1 draw thanks to goals from Alvaro Fernandez and "Futty" Danso.
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What did you think of the game? How much does this result mean in the Pacific Northwest? Is Montero your Man of the Match?
Share your thoughts below
We started with this one at the end of the match and a lil old lady said , “you can’t sing the other teams songs! ”
Quit the name calling ?
Agreed so quit calling people going to root for their team annoying.
Wow.
I thought you were only talking about the initial part when he was laying on the field. If they were booing as he was leaving then they are dumber than I already thought. It further prooves the point the vocal fans in Portland have no class.
I’ll take being a customer of a team that has a history of winning over being a bunch of Hooligan wannabes.
Any chance that with a few years of sell-outs/ad revenue/pro shop sales the team can afford to make the upgrades without public support?
Don’t forget, the anti-everything crowd is still having an absolute fit about the city pitching in 11 million (I hear QWEST cost a little more than that) to redo the stadium. You don’t get a whole lot for that kind of money but it is MUCH better than it was before.
Ultimately I think they will find creative solutions to pulling back the tarps (like extending the concourses out onto the sidewalks during the games) and adding more seats, but yeah – there was a significant part of seeing how the old girl would run after the renovation and figuring that all out later.
Actually, my friend Doug says it is, so…
I’ll side with Travis &co. on this one. It’s one thing if a guy is a known flopper or if his team has anything to gain by delaying the game. Hurtado never flops and had nothing to gain by delaying. Moreover, he was obviously in a great deal of pain and he immediately, adamantly, and continually signaled to the Sounders’ sideline that he needed help and a sub. It wouldn’t happen at Qwest or Empire Field, and it wasn’t the best moment for Portland fans.
+1 on ECS needing to do a better job of spreading songsheets one way or another. It took like a season-and-a-half for anything beyond the most basic call-and-response to spread throughout the stadium.
I am only talking about the morons that were booing Hurtado when the was being taken to the locker room.
You know what he meant. Don’t be silly.
Are you awared that TA are customers too?
I am not even a Sounders fan lol. Nice try.
Portland Customers were booing Hurtado when he was being taken to the locker room.
Are Portland fans too stupid to know that when they take a player out of the game, that he could be injured?
Customers or Custimbers?
Are you kidding Ricky? You do realize that he was being booed before he was subbed out right? Not only that but it was after the slightest of touches and he looked like he was screaming for a foul and for the Timbers to put the ball out. And as one of your fellow customers pointed out the exact same thing would have happened if a Timber went down on your terrible pitch.
Sorry to hear you ran into some fools while down here. Guess the stupidity comes with the rivalry.
We would all love to see them roll back the tarps but, the sad fact is that the concourses and amenities just can’t handle bigger crowds. Getting money for east and south end was hard enough. No way they could of gotten the funding they would of needed to upgrade the rest of the stadium. While it isn’t as nice or new as Qwest (that stadium seem to big for soccer at the moment) I like our 85 year old stadium and the history that goes along with it.
I would say it is More Wrigley or Fenway to Seattle’s Yankee Stadium.
An anecdote about one person isn’t a way to make a point about the general attitude of a major metropolitan city.
We got harassed by a few jerks, but most of the Timbers fans were great to our small group of non-ECS SSFC fans.
That was a great match to be at. Jeld Wen surprised me a bit. There seemed to be a lot of places they could have put more seats but didn’t during the remodel, and there was actually tarps behind the TA. I thought they could sell those out pretty easily.
TA does a better job than ECS at getting the songsheets distributed throughout the stadium.
The stadium was okay, but it was minor-league compared to Qwest.
Those are the really expensive seats (on the far side of the field). Hardly any real fans can afford to sit over there. It’s too bad they’re also the ones that are always on camera.
Ricky I think you only have to look late in the Brazil v US game today when the Brazilian defender was writhing on the ground and had to be carried off only to immediately jump off the stretcher as soon as it is off the field of play and spring back up to try and check back in. When an opposition player goes down we all as fans have a hint of skepticism. As Lassidawg put it, I can guarantee every fan base has a similar reaction. It is not like they waited to get an injury report before starting to chant, it was nearly instantaneous.
I saw Timbers Army stand the whole game (and I’d expect no less), but the folks across the field from the camera sure seemed to be sitting.
It’s funny how often I hear that Seattle doesn’t care about the rivalry…yet there was some dude a section over from me wearing a Seattle jersey with “puck fortland” customized on the back and he had his buddies take his picture with the TA in the background.
I thought it was a good game. Even though the Timbers didn’t really score their goals outright, they created the chances that put them into the position to get those goals into the net. That said, I as a player myself never feel quite as good about a goal that went off of some defender’s foot. I mean I know a result is just that, but it just doesn’t feel the same.
And even after all of that, the Sounders still won. Fought back each time and came up with 3 points in the end. A very fun game to watch, heated and all. And Rosales is my new favorite Sounder. That guy is going to get a big bump to stay with the team next year, he literally makes plays happen, especially in the absence of Zakuani.
Neagle is a surprise for Seattle while big Cooper offers little. He’s NBA forward tall and is atrocious in the air.
They took him out of the game. How can they not tell that he was injured?
I hope that Mullen plays vs Seattle.
Nice win streak you guys have going on lol.
To be fair as a Seattle fan I would say that would be the reaction at any place including Seattle, because it is impossible to tell when players are faking and injury.
That was a great showcase for the mls, except the first half where Portland as the home team decided to sit back and do aost nothing.
Now as Seattle fans we get to enemy #1 is coming to town. Will Colorado be dumb enough to play Mullen.
Youvn’t heard? They have No Pity In the Pose City
Also forgot to add way to show class by booing Hurtado when he was injured Portland fans. He looked quite distraught and you guys cheered what could be a serious injury. That is why nobody likes you
Is there any news about the Hurtado injury yet? Him and Parke have been playing quite well together as of late, really would be a shame to lose him for an extended period of time again.
Right, because being tied for 3rd most home wins in the league equates to not being able to win at home
lolol!
How does being annoyed by some fans make me jealous and an ignorant idiot? From the few Timbers fans/supporters I’ve encountered, it’s been frustrating and annoying trying to coordinate things between fellow MLS supporters groups. Seattle supporters have been much easier to collaborate with. That’s just my opinion, there’s no need for the name calling, Charles.
I know, nothing worse than a fan base that stands and cheers their team for a full game. We need to get Portland out of the league as quick as possible they are making other supporter groups look bad.
He wants the Sounders to win them and take them well? I’m not sure I understand the question. It was Spencer who took exception to the comment that Portland scores a lot of goals off of set pieces. How many goals do they have from the run of play this year?
Ahahahaha I always love when the timbers lose. Most annoying and weirdest fans ever.
It is the mantra of the jealous.
Like Timbers’ fans have gotten used to their team losing to Seattle…get used to the ignorant idiots.
What?!! You don’t think Portscum will make the playoffs???
great game
I guess that the customers are very happy. Keep talking s..t about other fan bases.
Keep quiet until your team wins something.
I am not a Sounders fan but I am really happy that the TA will not be talking crap for the rest of the year.
Timber fans are always so quiet after a loss. Where are the apologist trolls? It must have been someone’s fault.
The late great David Halberstam, discussing the Sonics-Blazers rivalry in his fabulous book *The Breaks of the Game,* wrote that “A Seattle-Portland game was always special. There was a natural rivalry between the two cities, particularly as far as Portland was concerned.”
That was back in 1979, but some things never change. Which is to say that while this was a nice win, Seattle should and does have its eyes on much bigger things than topping a struggling expansion side in early July.
What a great showcase match for the league, though.
I don’t really see what is so annoying about Timbers fans. Care to elaborate?
How does Ziggi feel about set pieces now?
Great win. Tyson Wahl sucks, but we won despite of him. Nice try Portland. See you next year.
So true. I think Seattle has enjoyed scoring goals on itself a bit this year…
I’d hope Seattle is aspiring to higher standards than that, but I’ll take it for the time being. 🙂
Good win on the road in any circumstance, let alone a rivalry match. Impressive to see Seattle fall behind twice and still come back for 3 points. This team has a lot more backbone than their first two MLS incarnations.
Portland cant win on the road and at home lol.
We’re less annoying! I’ll take it.
I didn’t see the game, but good on Seattle. Portland fans have been way more annoying than Seattle was in their first season.
Loved the “Sound Proof” scarves the Timbers Army held up after they just lost. Must have been too busy explaining to their friends how Portland is “Soccer City USA” to have noticed the scoreline.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game that close where one of the teams scored all five of the goals. 🙂