MATCH RECAP: Sounders FC Loses Narrow 2-1 Contest on Road at Archrival Portland Timbers

PORTLAND, OREGON – Seattle Sounders FC (10-14-3, 33 points) dropped a narrow 2-1 defeat to the Portland Timbers (8-8-12, 36 points) on Friday evening in a Cascadia Cup matchup at Providence Park. With the loss, Seattle remains three points adrift of the MLS Cup Playoffs with seven matches remaining in the regular season. Meanwhile, Portland claims its first Cascadia Cup since 2017 with the win, capturing the regional trophy from Sounders FC, who had held it since 2018.

Seattle got the early goal, scoring in the eighth minute courtesy of Yeimar Gómez Andrade. After a short corner was taken by captain Nico Lodeiro, the ball found the feet of Alex Roldan, who played a looping cross into the box. Yeimar met the ball with his head right in front of goal to bag the set-piece strike. It was Yeimar’s fourth goal in MLS regular-season play since joining the squad in 2020, as well as Roldan’s 12th regular-season assist.

Portland leveled the match in the 41st minute on a penalty. After Portland drew a foul inside the area, Dairon Asprilla sent Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei the wrong way to level the game before halftime.

The hosts then took the lead in the 51st minute, scoring off a free kick that was knocked around inside the 18-yard-box before finding the feet of Sebastián Blanco. Despite several close chances in the remainder of the second half, Seattle was unable to find an equalizer, as the match ended a 2-1 win for the home team.

Following Friday's matchup in Oregon, Sounders FC faces a quick turnaround as it travels across the country to Florida to take on Orlando City SC on Wednesday, August 31 (4:30 p.m. PT / FOX 13, Prime Video, 93.3 KJR FM, El Rey 1360 AM).

MATCH NOTES

• With today’s result, Sounders FC remains below the line in the race for the 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs. Including Seattle, six teams are separated by four points or less between sixth and 11th place in the Western Conference.

• Tonight’s result in Portland clinches the Cascadia Cup for the Timbers for the first time since 2017. The Rave Green have claimed the last three Cascadia titles, an annual competition between Major League Soccer’s three Pacific Northwest clubs (including Vancouver Whitecaps FC).

• Dating back to 1975 and the first match between these two rivals in the North American Soccer League, today’s contest at Providence Park marked the 116th all-time meeting between Seattle and Portland. Despite tonight’s result, Sounders FC leads the rivalry with a winning record of 56-45-15. 

• Since joining MLS, Sounders FC leads the regular-season series 14-13-7, but the Timbers have a 3-1-0 edge in the postseason.

• In a strange twist to the rivalry, the home side in this series has won only three of the last 16 regular-season meetings, including tonight’s match. Prior to this evening, Portland’s last home win versus Sounders FC came on September 23, 2020. 

• Yeimar’s header early in the first half was the center back’s fourth MLS goal since joining the Rave Green prior to the 2020 season.

• With his assist on Yeimar’s goal in the eighth minute of play, fullback Alex Roldan recorded his sixth helper of the regular season, second on the squad behind captain Nico Lodeiro (eight assists). Roldan now has 12 career regular-season assists since 2018.

• Scoring an equalizing penalty in the 41st minute of play, Timbers forward Dairon Asprilla netted his third regular-season tally against the Rave Green.

• Portland’s go-ahead goal from Sebastian Blanco in the 51st minute was the Argentine’s fourth regular-season tally against Seattle, good for third all-time amongst Timbers scorers versus the Rave Green.

• For the second consecutive match, Seattle Head Coach Brian Schmetzer deployed a 5-3-2 formation with no changes to the starting XI from last Friday’s 3-3 draw at LA Galaxy. There was only one change to the bench, with Dylan Teves playing for Tacoma Defiance this evening.

MATCH SUMMARY

Seattle Sounders FC 1 – Portland Timbers 2

Friday, August 26, 2022 

Venue: Providence Park 

Referee: Ismail Elfath

Assistants: Corey Parker, Kyle Atkins 

Fourth Official: Mark Allatin

VAR: Geoff Gamble 

Attendance: 25,218 

Weather: 73 degrees and cloudy 

SCORING SUMMARY

SEA – Yeimar Gómez Andrade (Alex Roldan, Nico Lodeiro) 8’

POR – Dairon Asprilla (penalty)41’ 

POR – Sebastián Blanco (Dairon Asprilla, Eryk Williamson) 51’ 

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY

POR – Sebastián Blanco (caution) 11’

SEA – Nico Lodeiro (caution) 20’

SEA – Danny Leyva (caution) 23’

POR – Eryk Williamson (caution) 45’+2’ 

POR – Zac McGraw (caution) 78’

LINEUPS & STATS

Seattle Sounders FC – Stefan Frei; Alex Roldan, Yeimar Gómez Andrade, Xavier Arreaga (Jackson Ragen 58’), Nouhou, Kelyn Rowe (Josh Atencio 69’); Danny Leyva (Fredy Montero 58’), Albert Rusnák (Léo Chú 82’), Nico Lodeiro; Jordan Morris; Raúl Ruidíaz 

Substitutes not used: Stefan Cleveland, Jimmy Medranda, Ethan Dobbelaere, Will Bruin 

Total shots: 9 

Shots on goal: 2 

Fouls: 15 

Offside: 3 

Corner-kicks: 6 

Saves: 4 

Portland Timbers – Aljaz Ivacic; Claudio Bravo, Zac McGraw, Dario Zuparic, Bill Tuiloma; Eryk Williamson, Diego Chara; Sebastián Blanco (Jaroslaw Niezgoda 75’), Yimmi Chara (Cristhian Paredes 86’), Santiago Moreno (Marvin Loría 90’+3’); Dairon Asprilla 

Substitutes not used: Tega Ikoba, Pablo Bonilla, David Bingham, Josecarlos Van Rankin, David Ayala, Larrys Mabiala 

Total shots: 18 

Shots on goal: 6 

Fouls: 17 

Offside: 1 

Corner-kicks: 7 

Saves: 1