With a must-win mindset, the Portland Timbers traveled to Seattle for a Cascadia Rivalry game. And with the Thorns playing OL Reign later that day, the doubleheader was supposed to be a double party.
Both the Timbers and Seattle Sounders entered this match off a losses a couple days before, so they wanted to leave that behind and look better against their opponent.
Of course, the intent was there. But neither team could gain control of the game in the first 20 minutes. Portland tried to exploit the left side, with Cristhian Paredes and Evander sending balls to Dairon Asprilla, but Asprilla couldn’t get a shot off.
Quality vs quantity
Although it is true that the Timbers generated the most chances in this game, it was the home team who had the best opportunities to open the score. Not that Seattle created many, but their final xG was 0.35 while the Timbers had an xG of 0.27.
It was Asprilla who could’ve opened the scoring on the counter twice, but missed in his attempts.
The fact that those were the best chances the Timbers could create says a lot.
“I think we did create some moments in the final third. I remember the one with Asprilla, I remember not too many, but two or three,” said Timbers head coach Giovani Savarese about the chances his team created. “We were aggressive with shots. Maybe not so much with crosses. In order to get more players a little bit more into the box, I think what was missing today was a little bit of that final product.”
As shown below, the coach was right. The Timbers were not aggressive with their crosses at all.
Cristhian Paredes did everything well
“Our two defensive mids had to go press higher so the space in behind was big, and [Nicolás] Lodeiro kept looking for that space,” said Savarese. “But we always had one player stepping to make sure that we can manage the situation, and they did it very, very well.”
One of those players that stepped in was Cristhian Paredes. The Paraguayan was great in the midfield, winning duels (he was first in the team with 10) and creating chances (he was second after Evander with three).
He was also first in tackles with and second in recoveries with 11, after Claudio Bravo.
Final thoughts
As much as both teams tried, the match was truly disappointing, and neither club looked good in the final third. Seattle looked even more sterile than the Timbers, and what was supposed to be a big rivalry clash ended up being a dull game without much to celebrate.
But what I think was way more disappointing was to see Seattle fans leaving the stadium after the match finished. It was a doubleheader; they’re supposed to support Seattle soccer, and that includes the women. Shame on you, Sounders fans!