Timbers Knock Imploding Sounders Out Of US Open Cup

The game was getting tight, the night was getting dark, the cards were down, and the stars were out, and there was just no way that Seattle was going to beat the Portland Timbers. So the Sounders did what the Sounders do when they’re pushed into a corner: They lit themselves on fire.

Brad Evans, Michael Azira, and Clint Dempsey were all sent off, and with Obafemi Martins stretchered away and no substitutes remaining, Seattle finished their US Open Cup title defense with seven men and fans throwing objects at the Timbers’ bench, onto the field, and at over-matched officials.

It was the kind of unrelenting, uncomfortable drama that could only be summoned between Portland and Seattle. By the way, this was just the fourth round of the Cup at an overrated third-rate stadium that seats 4,000. This rivalry is incredible, and when it’s hot like it is right now, there is no greater spectacle in American soccer.

For Portland, this result is massive. The eventual 3-1 win that emerged out of all the surreal acrimony and discipline is the Timbers’ first win over the Sounders in any competition since the 3-2 playoff result at Jeld-Wen Field in November 2013 that knocked the Sounders out of the playoffs.

It serves as revenge for the Sounders knocking the Timbers out of the Open Cup in this same fixture last year. In that game it was Diego Chara who got the red card, and Seattle who poured in two extra time goals for a 3-1 win. This result is poetic — it’s just that the Sounders did the collapse part bigger and better.

Let’s be clear: This game was a tough ask for the Sounders from the beginning. They were missing a glut of key players with injuries and international duty, they didn’t have the weekend off from MLS play like the Timbers did, and they lost Martins just seconds after making their final sub.

Still, none of that means that Portland didn’t deserve to win. Caleb Porter made this game a priority and started the best 11 players he could field—including, surprisingly, Diego Valeri. It paid off. Indeed, any franchise that can eventually turn Troy Perkins into Adam Kwarasey deserves a little joy once in a while.

Several Timbers deserve special commendation. Taylor Peay was called on to replace Alvas Powell late in the first half and ended up playing 80 minutes of self-assured, competent soccer in the most important match of his life. Not once did he appear especially over-matched, even when Dempsey, Martins, and Lamar Neagle were all in the game.

George Fochive and Jack Jewsbury were both terrific in central midfield. Jewsbury was his reliably calm self, but Fochive was especially up for the Sounders’ attack — disruptive, combative, and cool for 120 minutes. He’s an MLS starter, and you shudder to think where the Timbers would be without him this year.

What won’t be talked about? Nothing much, except Diego Valeri returning from injury and popping up to give the Timbers the lead, Adam Kwarasey entering Rimando Mode in the middle of the second half, a terrific performance from Norberto Paparatto, Brad Evans’ red card, Martins’ equalizer and then subsequent injury after an accidental collision with Nagbe, of all people, Rodney Wallace’s winner, Fanendo Adi’s atrocious 95 minutes, and the Sounders changing their jerseys from black to white at halftime.

What won’t quite escape the headlines is Troy Perkins being absolutely humiliated by letting a meek little dribbler of a shot from Maxi Urruti leak under his body and in for the third goal. Perkins’ transition from hero to zero in Portland is complete, and his transition from MLS mainstay to out of soccer appears to be well underway, too.

The story, of course, is with the Sounders’ implosion. Once they went down to nine men, there was just no way they could hold off the Timbers for the allotted 30 minutes of extra time. Wallace’s decisive goal, his first of the season, was a mere formality.

And this meltdown was incredible. Sigi Schmid threw the corner flag. He walked off the Sounders bench before the match was over because he felt like, “He was going to choke a referee.” His words, not mine.

Dempsey’s red? He got his first yellow for grabbing the referee’s book and throwing it onto the ground, and he got the second yellow for tearing it in half.

Seriously. You just can’t make this stuff up. Seattle is the world’s best fireworks show.

The fans played their part too, necessitating a police escort for the referees. In reality, the match official did well. Evans deserved his red after half-stomping Jorge Villafaña, Azira for a stomp on Fernandez, and Dempsey for his staggering piece of petulance.

For a few of those Sounders fans, the night ended in arrest. For the Sounders team, it ended with six outfield players and half a goalkeeper. Portland kept their heads, and slayed the giant. Who knows where this Open Cup run ends—although the Timbers just beat the best team they will have to play—but it’s already provided the game of the season and, indeed, the best game for this franchise since 2013.

It only added to the spectacle that the game wasn’t televised—save for a shaky YouTube stream voiced by the overbearing Ross Fletcher. The incidents were hard to see, the details impossible to pick out. But now, there will be repercussions. You can be sure of that.

The injuries to Martins and Powell will have to be assessed, the discipline for Dempsey and his not-so-merry band to be handed down. This defeat is Seattle’s first ever in the MLS era at Starfire, and the first ever to an MLS side as an MLS side in the Open Cup. Historic in so many ways.

The Sounders come to Portland for the only time this year on June 28. Portland has now reeled off four wins in a row, but this one obviously stands out above the rest. Thanks, Seattle. You’re the best.