Portland hosted a lack luster Cascadia match with a 1-1 draw against Seattle

The best rivalry in MLS kicked off in Providence Park when the Portland Timbers hosted the Seattle Sounders last night. The Timbers Army honored the 123rd meeting of these two teams with a TIFO following their horror film theme, “We are here to bring you misery!”

Portland was without their captain Diego Chara due to a “questionable low body” injury while Maxime Crépeau was back in goal as James Pantemis recovers from a leg injury. Kevin Kelsy and Zac McGraw were both unavailable with low back issues.

Juan Mosquera v Seattle (Photo by Diego G Diaz/ProstAmerika.)

The energy inside Providence Park was palpable and transferred to the pitch for the first 20 minutes of the match as both teams sized each other up. Juan Mosquera made a strong run in the 8th minute, taking a shot in stride from the 18 yard line that missed to the left.

Portland had possession in Seattle’s half in the 18th minute when a shot from Antony was blocked by Seattle’s defense but only cleared to Jimer Fory, giving the Timbers another chance. Fory found Ortiz in the midfield, who passed to Santi Moreno up field. Moreno took a few quick touches then sent a long shot from over 20 yards out that sailed over the crossbar.

The Sounders created the first real work for Max in the 22nd minute when he made a low catch save of Albert Rusnák’s ground shot from the corner of the arc.

Head referee, Rosendo Mendoza, gave the first yellow card of the match to Portland’s David Ayala for a challenge from behind on midfielder Obed Vargas near Seattle’s. Seattle’s head coach, Brian Schmetzer, had some choice words for Mendoza before the yellow card was shown to Ayala, much to the displeasure of Timbers coach, Phil Neville.

Seattle’s free kick from the foul was easily headed away by forward Felipe Mora.

Seattle scores first in Providence Park (Photo by Diego G Diaz/ProstAmerika.)

Vargas sent a long pass down field to Danny Musovski, who beat Kamal Miller in the foot race to win the ball and get a pass off to Rusnák. Rusnák was wide open at the top of the arc and sent a straight shot into the near side of the goal. Max made a diving effort to his right but was milliseconds late.

Max did get a save on the following play when Musovski took a left footed shot from the left side of the box.

Portland was given the second yellow of the match in the 34th minute. It went to Kamal Miller for fouling Nouhou. Seattle again was unable to capitalize on their awarded free kick.

The Timbers were fired up after the Seattle goal and were pushing the ball downfield with intensity. Juan Mosquera was able to play higher up the pitch due to New Zealander center back Finn Surman’s ability to quickly cover the space on the back line.

Ds Costa’s pass to Moreno for the equalizer1 (Photo by Diego G Diaz/ProstAmerika.)

The tenacity paid off in the 36th minute when the ball passed from Santi at midfield to Da Costa, to Juan on the right side as Santi made a run up the middle. Mosquera found Da Costa repositioned ahead of him in perfect position to shoot or pass. Da Costa earned the assist when he found Sani on the 6th yard line in front of Stefan Frei, who did not have a chance to adjust from the threat of Da Costa to Santi. Moreno sent the ball over Frei’s head for the equalizer.

Musovski and Alex Roldan both had shots blocked by Timbers’ defenders in the final minutes of the first half. Juan took care of Musovski in the 41st and Miller blocked Roldan in the 45+1. Yéimar Gómez Andrade’s header off a corner following Kamal’s block was saved by Max. Muscovski tried once more with a header in the 45+3 but Finn Surman was there with the save.

The second half of the match felt like a different game. Portland did not have enough energy or drive to be play makers and the results show that. Phil had made a two-man substitution during the half to protect Kamal on the yellow and add fresh legs to the midfield. Dario Zuparic took over on defence and Christian Paredes replaced Joao Ortiz.

The only notable action in the 20 minutes of the second half was Nouhou picking up a yellow card in the 50th for fouling Moreno. This was Nouhou’s 45th career caution card.

Maxime Crépeau with a gigantic leap in goal for the Timbers. (Photo by Diego G Diaz/ProstAmerika.)

Cristian Roldan sent a rocket at Crépeau in the 66th minute. Max made a giant leap but did not need to get a hand on it as it sailed over the goal. Phil used the reset to bring on Jonathan Rodriguez for Antony.

Moreno tried for the go-ahead goal in the 67th minute but was blocked by Christian Roldan.

Seattle made their first two substitutions in the 71st brining in two fresh forwards,

Paul Rothrock and Pedro de la Vega. Rothcock made his presence known immediately when he took a shot on goal in the 73rd that was blocked by Surman.

Each team made another substitution near the 80th with Eric Miller replacing Mosquera for Portland and Georgi Minoungou taking over for Musovski on the Seattle side. Minoungou took his first shot in the 88th that was saved by Max.

The last play of regular time went to another Seattle substitute. Pedro de la Vega’s shot in the 89th minute was also saved by Max just before the extra 4 minutes of stoppage time was announced.

Omir Fernández and Claudio Bravo entered the match for Portland, replacing Santi and Jimer Fory in the 90+1.

Portland defenders Maxime Crépeau, Finn Surman and Dario Zuparic. (Photo by Diego G Diaz/ProstAmerika.)

Seattle managed to get two more goal shots in before the final whistle. The first from de la Vega was handled by Surman and Rothcock’s header on the following play missed to the right.

The final score was a 1-1 draw. Drawing to Seattle at home always feels like a loss to the home fans and was certainly not the results Phil Neville was looking for. “We were sloppy. We were careless…I’m frustrated, and I told them (the team) that my expectation of them is better than what I saw tonight.”