Column courtesy of PortlandSports.com, a partner of Oregon Sports News, written by Edward Kilgarriff
This weekend, the Portland Timbers host longtime rivals, the Seattle Sounders.
The most well-known enemy of the Portland Timbers, is none other than the Seattle Sounders. Well let’s start with what’s new.
The Sounders were busy in the off-season; they offloaded their best striker.
Without Eddie Johnson, they would have never made the 2013 playoffs. In his stead, they brought in Ex-Timber, Kenny Cooper. No slouch, Cooper is a great goal poacher; he tallied 17 goals at New York in 2012. He doesn’t create many opportunities, but he does finish off any chances that may fall his way.
Another departure was Mauro Rosales. The playmakers were mostly surplus to requirements after the Sounders acquired the services from USMNT ace, Clint Dempsey. Dempsey has so far failed to be the playmaker that Seattle had expected. Clearly a different class in the MLS, Dempsey hasn’t clicked with his teammates to provide reliable play for Cooper or Obafemi Martins.
Added to this, Dempsey will be returning from a two game suspension, so the Sounders might have to find a creative spark from somewhere else.
That spark could have possibly been provided by Steve Zakuani, had he not been traded to the Timbers. Lamar Neagle looks to be the Sounders creative threat up front, however the Washington native will be looking to improve on his best season to date by getting into double digits in goals scored.
At the back, Chad Marshall arrived from Columbus and goalkeeper Stefan Frei arrived from Toronto. The Swiss goalie was brought in to replace the increasingly erratic Michael Gspurning, whose bizarre performances towards the end of 2013 earned him the door. Frei has been a competent replacement, which has brought some level of consistency to the last line of defense for Seattle.
Unfortunately for Seattle, their most veteran defender, Djimi Traore was red carded last week, meaning that he will miss the road trip to Portland. Marco Pappa, the former Chicago hit man, signed on with the Sounders this season, and might well make an appearance in the midfield. Sounders boss Sigi Schmid hasn’t really found the time for Pappa this season, however with the offensive woes continuing, he may deploy the Guatemalan at Providence Park.
Another former Fire player, Jalil Anibaba, could possibly slot into a make-shift back line. He picked up his first 30 minutes of the season last weekend after Traore received his marching orders.
Finally, Osvaldo Alonso is the engine of this Sounders team. He wins the ball like Will Johnson, and can spot a through ball like Diego Valerie.
So all in all, Seattle will not be starting their first 11 against the Timbers. However, there is plenty of depth in the Washington State side to ensure that the Timbers will have a busy outing on Saturday. Alonso will have to be neutralized for the Timbers attack to succeed.
At the other end, look for the Sounders to try to use speed up the center to create opportunities, so the Timbers defense had better have their running shoes on. And that’s this weekend’s enemy!
GAME INFO
Providence Park, Portland, OR
SATURDAY, APR 5
Kick Off at 12:00 p.m. PDT
WHERE TO WATCH
Watch live on Root Sports at Pizza Schmizza
Read more columns from PortlandSports.com by clicking here
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
