SEATTLE — The Seattle Sounders welcomed the Portland Timbers to CenturyLink Field on Sunday evening in a battle of the Western Conference’s top two teams. The environment lived up to the billing.
An announced total of 51,796 people watched the Cascadia rivals share the spoils in a 1-1 draw, and it was as loud and intense a home match as Seattle has hosted all season.
“I didn’t have to say much [to motivate our players],” said Head Coach Brian Schmetzer. “The guys walk out in the stadium and the atmosphere in the stadium is what drives them. A lot of the guys have been around long enough to play in a bunch of these derby matches and they all get it. And if they don’t, or if it’s a rookie or a new guy like Nouhou, he’s going to understand now. He’s got a taste of it now. I really didn’t have to do much, the crowd usually does it for us.”
Fans erupted in the 18th minute when Cristian Roldan gave Seattle a 1-0 lead. The tally was his third straight against the Timbers at home dating back to last year and his sixth overall goal of 2017. While blocking out most of the noise during normal course of action, even the players noticed the raucous crowd on multiple occasions.
“In the course of the game, you don’t watch it, but at the end, you see everyone especially when Nouhou got the red card, you hear the crowd, you feel everything,” said Kelvin Leerdam. “It’s nice and very helpful for us that our fans are supporting us this much.”
That support has helped the Sounders run their club-record unbeaten streak to 11 matches and sit in first place in the West heading into Week 26. Schmetzer has still lost just once at CenturyLink Field in 23 MLS regular-season and postseason matches since taking over last July (16-1-6), and his club is ready for a final, motivated push following the upcoming two-week international break.
“They’re upset in there [following the home draw],” Schmetzer said of his team. “The mindset of that team is they prefer to play.”
