Portland Timbers – Seattle Sounders All Set For Key Playoff Battle

The Portland Timbers played to a entertaining 2-2 draw on Saturday night against Houston Dynamo, simultaneously frustrating and thrilling fans with head-scratching plays and scintillating goals.

A disastrous final five minutes of the first half saw Bonieck Garcia and Will Bruin score for Houston in quick succession to give the visitors a 2-0 lead going into halftime, despite Portland controlling the run of play for much of the half. But the Timbers continued to follow the only-in-Hollywood script that has defined this season thus far, with Darlington Nagbe tallying a goal in the 76^th minute and newcomer Lucas Melano scoring his first goal in Timbers green to equalize in the 86^th minute. Add in a very unfortunate (and deserved) red card for Diego Chara in the 91^st minute, and one could argue that the final 15+ minutes of the match had more excitement than many MLS games do in all 90 minutes.

Despite coming back to split the points, Portland and Coach Caleb Porter have to consider this a missed opportunity. At the end of the day, the Timbers dropped points at home against a weakened opponent (Houston was missing three key starters) that is chasing Portland in the standings.

With the draw, the Timbers remained in 4^th place in the Western Conference with 40 points, now only five points clear of a hard-charging San Jose squad and an unexpectedly-struggling Seattle Sounders, who fell to Real Salt Lake 2-0 this weekend. The Timbers have a difficult eight-game slate to close out the MLS regular season, including four games against current Western Conference playoff teams as well as hosting current Supporters’ Shield leaders New York Red Bulls.

With Coach Porter and the Timbers traveling to Seattle next weekend, the final Cascadia Derby match of the season for Portland now holds even more importance and urgency for both squads. In fact, this very well may be the most important regular-season meeting of the northwest rivals since Portland joined MLS in 2011.

The Sounders will come into the match with 35 points earned from 26 games, where they sit in a tie for the 6^th and final Western Conference playoff position with only eight games remaining. Those eight games include away games against San Jose, Vancouver, and Sporting Kansas City, along with home games against always-dangerous Toronto FC and Los Angeles Galaxy. With San Jose, Houston, and Real Salt Lake all nipping at Seattle’s (and Portland’s) heels, the Sounders cannot afford to drop points at home with such a difficult final stretch upcoming and expect to remain in a playoff position.

Seattle will be hosting Portland as the end cap of an incredibly difficult stretch of games for the Sounders. Their match against Portland will be Seattle’s fifth game in 14 days, including a Wednesday trip this week to Honduras that will cover nearly 4,000 miles each way.

Unfortunately for Portland, they will be traveling to Seattle minus one of their key players, as Chara’s red card earned him a suspension for this weekend’s match. Veteran utility man Jack Jewsbury will probably be called on to fill Chara’s position but, while certainly serviceable, he does not bring the same athleticism or tenacity to the Portland midfield. This change will also impact Portland’s attack, as Jewsbury will be far less likely than Chara to press in the Seattle half of the field for fear of being caught out of position by Seattle’s dangerous attackers.

The Timbers will lean on the developing chemistry between Nagbe, Melano, and Diego Valeri along with the continued excellence of the back line and goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey. For Portland to earn a result in one of the most hostile environments (particularly for the Timbers) in all of MLS, all will need to have strong games.

In particular, the defensive pairing of Liam Ridgewell and Nat Borchers must be at the top of their game, as Seattle talisman Clint Dempsey is expected to make his return from a minor hamstring injury and join running mate Obafemi Martins to form what has been the deadliest striker duo in MLS over the last two seasons.

Timbers-Sounders is a fantastic rivalry, almost certainly the best in all of American soccer. Every game between them has an added importance to both players and supporters, and the level of intensity reflects that. This season has seen a pair of relatively lackluster affairs between the two, with Seattle winning the first 1-0 against a shorthanded Timbers squad, and Portland returning the favor last month 4-1 against a limping Sounders team. The rubber match next weekend will see both teams (hopefully) field near-full strength squads in a match that will not only decide bragging rights between the two for the season, but will also go a long way in determining whether the Timbers, Sounders, or both qualify for the post-season.