The Portland Timbers travelled north on Sunday night to take on the Seattle Sounders at CenturyLink Field, their first match played away from the confines of Providence Park since returning from the MLS is Back Tournament. Coming off a three-game winless streak, the Timbers needed a result to break out of their post-tournament funk and they got one, beating the Sounders 2-1 in a performance that looked like a return to the form that carried them through the knockout rounds in Orlando.
The match started with a sobering moment for the Timbers as Sebastian Blanco was forced from the pitch due to an injury. As the Timbers pressured Seattle deep in the attacking end, Blanco went in for a tackle on midfielder Joao Paulo and took him down, causing the Sounders player to fall on his leg and appear to bend Blanco’s knee sideways. It was immediately clear that something was wrong and after some attention from the Timbers trainers, Blanco was subbed out in the 5th minute.
Emotions went from one extreme to another for Timbers fans in the 9th minute when Eryk Williamson opened the scoring for Portland. Making a bursting run into the box, Williamson played a quick pass to Diego Valeri who flicked the ball on and back into the path of Williamson’s run. Now in behind the backline and one on one with Stefan Frei, Williamson took a touch on the ball before rifling home a volley that gave the Seattle keeper no chance at the ball.
After going up, the Timbers seemed to settle into the same pattern that has troubled them for the last three matches: sitting back and absorbing chance after chance from their opponents.
While the Timbers were able to keep things under control for most of the first half, real chances started to come for Seattle as the match approached halftime. In the 41st minute, Jordan Morris drove toward goal from space out on the Timbers’ right. With an open path, Morris dribbled forward, waiting for Steve Clark to rush off his line before hitting a curling shot toward the far post. Clark read the shot perfectly, however, and was able to get his glove up in time to block it away.
Despite Clark’s heroics, the Sounders kept the pressure up and, in the 42nd minute, got a goal of their own. After a curling Nicolas Lodeiro cross was headed away by Dario Zuparic, the look ball fell to Kelvin Leerdam making a late-arriving run to the top of the box. Leerdam shot with his first touch, crushing the ball through traffic and on goal with a spectacular volley that Clark could only wave at before it hit the back of the net and drew the match level at 1-1.
Adding injury to insult, the Timbers were forced to play the remainder to the half, including four minutes of stoppage time, without Larrys Mabiala after the big center-back went down holding his leg and was not able to come back onto the pitch, ultimately getting substituted at the half.
Coming out of the locker room, the Timbers looked re-energized and managed a pair of chances in the 49th and 50th minutes. First Jaroslaw Niezgoda took advantage of a poor touch in the box from Yeimar Gomez to snap off a quick shot, then Jeremy Ebobisse was able to turn on the ball and get off a shot from a tough angle. In both cases, however, Frei was able to get down and make the save.
The Timbers continued to control the run of play, keeping the Sounders off balance and breaking up any attempts to go on the break from the home side.
Keeping the pressure up, the Timbers were able to find the go-ahead goal in the 83rd minute, once again off a run through the middle from Williamson. This time, however, Williamson was the provider. Receiving the ball in space outside the Sounders box, Williamson dribbled forward before playing a perfectly weighted ball into the Seattle box for the curling run of Felipe Mora. Having timed his run to perfection, Mora received the ball in space with only Frei to beat and slipped a well-placed ball past the Sounders keeper for the score.