Match Recap & Highlights: Seattle Sounders 2 - 2 Portland Timbers

A tale of two halves as the Timbers erase a two-goal deficit in Seattle

The Portland Timbers (7-9-11) are STILL unbeaten in Seattle since 2017 following a come-from-behind 2-2 draw against the Sounders (11-8-9) at Lumen Field. The result also meant that the Vancouver Whitecaps secured the 2023 Cascadia Cup.

Photo credit: Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Timbers

Recap

Miles Joseph made three changes to the team that beat RSL 2-1 on Wednesday night, with Eric Miller, Yimmi Chara, and Felipe Mora replacing Claudio Bravo, Sebastian Blanco, and Franck Boli in the starting XI:

The Sounders opened the scoring through Raul Ruidiaz in the 9th minute, before doubling their lead through Leo Chu in the 30th minute to stamp a dominant display from the hosts in the first half.

But the game flipped on its head eight minutes after the break when Chu was sent off for a second yellow card.

The Timbers would go on to score twice in three minutes, the first through Dairon Asprilla’s first touch in the 67th minute and the second a goal-of-the-year contender from Evander in the 70th minute.

Highlights

9’ GOAL SEATTLE, 1-0 The worst possible start for the Timbers, who concede what has to be their millionth set-piece goal of the season, this time to Raul Ruidiaz. Jackson Ragen flicked the ball onto Ruidiaz from a corner, who was unmarked at the back post.

17’ The Sounders released Jordan Morris with a ball over the top of the Timbers’ backline, and with all the time in the world Jordan Morris missed a sitter. The flag went up for offside anyway.

30’ GOAL SEATTLE, 2-0 Leo Chu won the ball off of Cristhian Paredes in midfield and blazed past the Timbers’ entire backline to easily slot a shot past Bingham 1v1 and double the Sounders’ lead. Paredes and McGraw were lost at sea on the play, which allowed Chu to take off his shirt after taking full advantage of the malaise at the back (remember that, now…).

40’ Felipe Mora had two great opportunities to score right before halftime, the first from a shot inside the box that was blocked, and the second from a header cleared off the line just moments later.

HALFTIME: The Timbers went into the break down 2-0 thanks to goals from Ruidiaz and Chu.

53’ RED CARD First-half goal scorer Leo Chu was given a second yellow card for a challenge on Zac McGraw in midfield, and sent off. Chu’s first card was for removing his shirt while celebrating his goal.

67’ SUBS Miles Joseph brought Dairon Asprilla, Sebastian Blanco, and Franck Boli into the match for Cristhian Paredes, Yimmi Chara, and Felipe Mora.

67’ GOAL TIMBERS, 2-1 With literally his very first touch of the match, Asprilla planted a header past Stefan Frei and into the back of the net. McGraw got the flick at the near post, and like Ruidiaz in the first half, Asprilla made no mistake at the back post.

70’ GOAL TIMBERS, 2-2 Just three minutes after Asprilla’s equalizer, Evander produced a goal that only he’s capable of producing for the Timbers, sending a thunderbolt from 25 yards out past a helpless Frei. He’s had some stunners this season, but for my money that’s Evander’s best of the year.

82’ SUB Antony entered the match for Santiago Moreno

FULL TIME: After five minutes of stoppage time the match finished 2-2 with both teams sharing the points.

Final Thoughts

A really good result for the Timbers, who extend their unbeaten streak against the Sounders to six matches and now two full MLS seasons. I can’t remember the last time I saw a game with two halves that were as polar opposite as the two the Timbers and Sounders played.

Seattle was DOMINANT in the first half. They scored twice but could, and probably should, have had two or three more than that as the Timbers came out of the gates completely lethargic. Leo Chu caused Mosquera and the Timbers problems the entire opening 45’, and set-piece/back-post defending issues reared their ugly head for Ruidiaz’s opener.

But two things got the Timbers back into that match: Chu’s red card in the 53rd minute, and Miles Joseph’s triple-sub in the 67th minute.

Yimmi Chara and Cristhian Paredes were bad in the first half — like aggressively bad. So bringing on Asprilla, who scored within seconds of entering the pitch, and Blanco’s experience in this rivalry was quite literally a game-changer for Portland. And Evander’s goal… What can you even say about it. It’s stunning from a Timbers perspective, deflating from a Sounders perspective, and another glimpse at what the club paid $10 million dollars for.

After the red card, I tweeted “The Timbers have the opportunity to do the funniest thing ever.” And while they couldn’t find a way to get all three points, leaving Seattle with another draw after coming back from two goals down is objectively pretty funny.

So in the words of

Sam Svilar

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Up Next: The Timbers are back home against LAFC on Saturday, Sept. 9, with kickoff scheduled for 7:30 p.m. PT.