Timbers, Sounders set for Cascadia clash
Portland, OR (SportsNetwork.com) - The Cascadia Cup rivalry takes center stage on Sunday as the Portland Timbers welcome Seattle Sounders FC to Providence Park.
Billed as one of Major League Soccer's fiercest rivalries, both teams will have a little extra motivation to claim three points as both sides are coming off poor performances in their last outings.
Seattle suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the San Jose Earthquakes on home soil at CenturyLink Field last weekend and a 1-0 defeat against the Philadelphia Union on Wednesday.
The Union had a great chance to snatch the lead on the half-hour mark when Andrew Wenger was struck with a high boot to the face by Dylan Remick inside the penalty area.
Maurice Edu stepped forward to take the kick, but his effort was saved by goalkeeper Stefan Frei, who dove to his right.
Cristian Maidana went close with a shot from the top of the penalty area in the 56th minute, but the lone arrived in the 69th minute.
Sheanon Williams lofted a ball to the front of goal for Sapong, who got up and turned a header past Frei from six yards despite Frei getting a hand to the ball.
Seattle had a good chance to level the contest in the 89th minute when substitute Darwin Jones dashed down the right wing and into the penalty area, only to fire his shot into the outside of the net.
"I thought they all did all right. I thought Oniel Fisher played well at outside back. We weren't sure if Jimmy [Ockford] could play 90 minutes, he's been out for a month and played his first 60 minutes back last week. So he hasn't really been in that groove, but I thought he did all right."
Portland will be desperate to get back at it after being embarrassed by a 5-0 score by the defending champion Los Angeles Galaxy on Wednesday at the StubHub Center.
Sebastian Lletget got things going in the 13th minute when Juninho's deflected pass fell kindly into his path, allowing him to easily beat goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey from 10 yards.
Lletget had a hand in the second goal as well as he was tripped from behind by Max Urruti as he entered the penalty area, which let Keane send Kwarasey the wrong way from the spot.
Keane then played provider in the 33rd for Robbie Rogers as he threaded a pass between two defenders for Rogers to curl the goalkeeper with a first-time shot.
Gyasi Zardes wasted a good chance four minutes later when he fired over the net from six yards with the net at his mercy, but the Galaxy still took a 3-0 lead into halftime.
The hosts eased off a bit after the break, but they managed to add a fourth goal in the 72nd when Juninho stole the ball and played a one-two with Keane before beating Kwarsey.
Liam Ridgewell was sent off in the 78th minute for a high challenge on Alan Gordon, reducing the Timbers to 10 men, while Jose Villarreal capped the scoring two minutes from time with a well-placed free kick.
"It seemed like everything that could go wrong today, did. Obviously we were playing a very good team, on the road, they showed what they could do last week versus Philadelphia, and we were well aware of that," said Timbers' head coach Caleb Porter. "They punished us, for it seemed like every mistake we made, and we made some big ones. I thought we started well, we had three or four opportunities where we pressed them and countered them, we looked to be the team that was on the front foot to start the game and then in a five minute span we are down two goals."