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Sometimes life isn't flaming rainbows, towel ninjas and shaving bunnies. Instead it is preparing for your most heated rival and finding out that the desired formation and lineup will have to change - again. The Seattle Sounders did not play poorly against the Portland Timbers. Both teams' goals were in fact indicative of their very style of play.
When watching the game if you thought that the Timbers just punted the ball up the pitch praying for a foul in striking distance so they could perform set-play magic, there are quotes and statistics to back that opinion. If you thought that you like Seattle better with the ball on the pitch, but the weather seemed to effect things that's in there as well.
It wasn't a poor game, all things considered. But it was merely a single point at home. It was merely a single point against the Cascadia rivals. Highlights, Statistics (standard, opta powered, chart) and quotes including some that you won't find anywhere else after the break.
|
Goals by Period |
1 |
2 |
Tot |
|
Portland Timbers |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
Seattle Sounders |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Scoring Summary: |
|
SEA -- Alvaro Fernandez 3 (Fredy Montero 3, Roger Levesque 1) 52 |
|
POR -- Mamadou Danso 2 (Jack Jewsbury 4) 65 |
|
Portland Timbers -- Troy Perkins, Jeremy Hall, Eric Brunner, Mamadou Danso, Rodney Wallace, Darlington Nagbe (Sal Zizzo 61), Jack Jewsbury, Diego Chara, Kalif Alhassan, Kenny Cooper, Jorge Perlaza (Ryan Pore 84). |
|
Misconduct Summary: |
|
Referee: Jair Marrufo |
|
Referee's Assistants:-Fabio Tovar; Corey Rockwell |
|
4th Official: Tyler Ploeger |
|
Attendance: 36,593 |
|
Time of Game: 1:50 |
|
Weather: Rain-and-55-degrees |
All Statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial
Match Stats
Seattle Sounders FC
Portland Timbers
Seattle Sounders FC
Portland Timbers
12
Attempts on Goal
9
2
Shots on Target
5
8
Shots off Target
4
2
Blocked Shots
0
7
Corner Kicks
2
10
Fouls
9
16
Open Play Crosses
21
1
Offsides
1
0
Yellow Cards
0
0
Red Cards
0
51
Duels Won
46
52%
Duels Won %
47%
435
Total Pass
262
74%
Passing Accuracy %
63%
61.7%
Possession
38.3%
Seattle Sounders FC vs. Portland Timbers - Postgame Quotes
Sigi Schmid - Sounders FC Head Coach
(General Comments...) "Not pleased from the standpoint that we had the lead and we gave them a goal back. Their game is predicated around free kicks and set pieces. That's what their danger is. That's what they live for. The referee gave them quite a few. It seemed like our fouls happened for us on our (defensive) end of the field and theirs happened on their (offensive) end of the field. At the end of the day, we have to defend those things and we have to take care of that business. Losing a player like Evans changes it and losing (Erik) Friberg as we prepare for the game certainly changes things as well for us. You add it up and you have Friberg, (Brad) Evans, O'Brian White, (Mauro) Rosales, (Steve) Zakuani, that's a lot of pieces to be missing where they're not really missing any pieces.
"I thought we scored a good goal and at the beginning of the second half we got ahold of the game based on what we talked about; settling the game down a little bit. It's hard in this weather and I think the weather suited them a little bit more in the sense that they go direct and try to knock it up to their big men and they were a bit better at that than we were. At the start of the second half we did a decent job. That's the reason I thought we got the goal and we were around it a couple of times, but we need to finish it off."
(On game atmosphere...) "The atmosphere was great. You had their fans, which is something you normally don't have, a loud group from the opposing team, so that added to the pageantry of the game. But at the end of the day, we're at home and we need to get three points at home."
(On injuries...) "Friberg has a sprained ankle. We'll have to see. It's sort of a day-to-day thing. Evans pulled a groin muscle, so we'll have to see how that comes along."
(On goal...) "Roger Levesque hit the ball across and into the middle, and Fredy did a good job flicking it on with the header and Alvaro's first touch was very good and he finished it, so it was a good goal."
(On first half...) "It was hit and miss, a patchy game. For us, the big problem in the first half was having (Servando) Carrasco and (Osvaldo) Alonso in midfield together. They both sat back too deep, so it was very tough for our forward s to have a connection for someone to play back to. That's what we talked about at halftime, that one of the two of them needed to push up more. That was something we talked about before the game, but in the heat of the game they forgot it. And our outside guys needed to pinch in a little bit so we get guys underneath our forwards. It was pretty helter-skelter in the first half."
(On Carrasco...) "He's a rookie and he's going to make some good things and he's going to make some things that maybe aren't as good. Overall, he's a good player and has a good future. Sometimes him and Alonso, the pairing of the two of them is maybe not the best pairing because they both like to look for the ball in the same spaces. You're trying to get one to play off the other one a little more. That's something that we talked about before the game and talked about again at halftime. It got better for periods of time, but it wasn't as good as it needed to be. If they have more time together, playing together, that will get better."
(On physicality of play...) "I don't know if it's a rivalry on the pitch that make it physical. I think it was physical because that's the nature of their game. You don't see their goalkeeper throw the ball out and they're not going to build. Everything is either a punt or a goal kick. As a result, the ball's in the air, and they run guys outside in. Maybe I saw wrong, but you have guys on their team sometimes jumping and not even seeing where the ball is, just jumping in the air against our guys. So that was the physical side of the game tonight. It was a lot of contesting balls in the air. It's a lot of headers, it's a lot of knockdowns, it's a lot of second balls. I don't think that was because of the rivalry, it was because of the way they play."
(On Danso's defensive headers...) "You should win a lot of headers if you're going against Montero. If the ball's up in the air, he's a good player. If we could have gotten the ball on the ground more and taken him that way, then we would have forced him to defend a little bit more. Overall, he did what he needed to do today. At a crucial moment, we won a header and flicked a ball ahead in the box against Brunner who is probably better in the air than Danso, so those guys are obviously difficult guys in the air."
Nate Jaqua - Sounders FC Forward
(On the match and if it felt like a rivalry) "Yeah, there was definitely a little bit more to it. I think everybody was kind of flying around a little bit more. I think they did a good job the first half of letting us not get into a good rhythm. In the second half I thought we started playing well. We got the goal. We were kind of getting after them and had a couple of pretty good chances to put it away. We weren't able to do that and they were able to get a little bit of momentum. They're dangerous on free kicks."
Kasey Keller - Sounders FC Goalkeeper
(On the match) "Yeah, it's a little disappointing. The first half was pretty even. They had some shots, we had some shots. I agree with what Nate (Jaqua) said; I thought the first 10 or 15 minutes of the second half we came out and played some good stuff. Got the reward, got the goal. Then we just kind of messed it up a little bit, which is frustrating. We know they're a dangerous team on set pieces. We talked about it all week. They started winning a few more set pieces in dangerous positions and Jewsbury hits a great ball in and they have some big bodies in there. We're a little frustrated because we all thought we dropped our line a little bit too quick and let them get on top of us. You get a big kid like Danso in there, he's going to win stuff. Unfortunately he kind of just beat me to the ball. I couldn't get there quite quick enough, which was frustrating."
(On if the draw is more frustrating because of the rivalry factor) "It's a combo. Of course we would have loved 500 fans to drive home disappointed and wet and frustrated. We would love for our fans to be celebrating tonight. You get the 1-0 lead, and can we fight like hell to keep that? Unfortunately they are very dangerous on set pieces. They've scored over 70 percent of their goals on set pieces and there's a reason for that."
Roger Levesque - Sounders FC Midfielder/Forward
(On the match) "Having that one goal lead and the excitement that created...keep the pressure on after we scored the goal. We had a few chances to put it out of reach - didn't do that. We know they're strong on set pieces. A lucky bounce or whatever it was; a good goal by their center back. The atmosphere was great. The fans were great. There's no question about that. It was electric. The best atmosphere that I think we've had. That's definitely something to feed off of. Now I'm just looking forward to going down there and playing at their place."
(On the supporter's group pre-game display) "I'm definitely honored to be in that group of players who was honored. I thought there were a lot of good players up there. It was pretty amazing to be a part of that."
* (Is this one of those ties you stay up at night thinking about?) Absolutely. Playing at home, you try to make your home a fortress and always want to get three points at home regardless of who you're playing. Throw on top of that getting the lead and giving it away, that's definitely tough to swallow. It will definitely be one we think about and we need to figure out how to keep leads and win games.
Alvaro Fernandez - Sounders FC Midfielder (via translator)
(On the goal) "When I saw the play shaping up I started yelling and calling the play, especially when I saw the two defenders going after Fredy (Montero). After the flick I was one on one with the keeper and I was able to finalize."
(On if it felt any different going up against a rival in Portland) "It was a derby. I'm lucky that I've had the chance to play many of those in my career. They are sort of similar. Sometimes the teams don't start playing very well, but it's not only about that, it's also about the will and how much you really want it and how much effort you put in it. Thankfully we started ahead, but unfortunately we wound up giving up the lead."
* Brad Evans - Sounders FC Midfielder
(What was going on in the first half?) We just couldn't get good control of the ball in the midfield. There was no linkage there.
(Talk a little about the atmosphere) It was insane. The only other atmosphere that equaled that for me was 2009. I was pumped and ready to play. the crowd was ntus. it was awesome.
The game was hectic for sure. We all talked about feeding off the energy and providing the energy ourselves, but I think it almost got too chaotic at one point. You try to settle down, try to settle down and it just became too hectic.
(Satisfied with a tie?) It was a game I thought for sure where we'd get three at halftime. We scored a good goal and at that point we needed to do a better job of keeping possession
(Did this almost feel like a loss?) We're slowly, not dropping points necessarily, but we're trying to play catch up to our ties. never want to finish with more ties than wins and a lot of our ties have been where we relinquished our lead.
John Spencer - Portland Timbers Head Coach
(On Sounders FC pressing to start the second half...) "Obviously they are going to start and go after it. We were ready for it to start the first half but got complacent. I gave them a good positive team talk at halftime. I told them how happy I was with them and the effort they were giving. The good thing we regrouped being a goal down. I felt they were terrified with us during every set piece. They were worried about giving up a goal."
(On his impressions of the Timbers' goal...) "Jack Jewsbury has been fantastic for us, that is why we brought him here and made him captain. He has lived up to everything and more. Jorge Perlaza has to be given credit. The runs he makes are on par with some of the top strikers of the world. We need to try to get him some more service throughout the match."
(On the environment surrounding the match...) "It is always great to come up here. Everybody will realize when they leave JELD-WEN that it is more authentic. This environment is more close and connected to the team and the playing field. To be fair it is two great experiences. It is wonderful for MLS soccer to have two great setups first in Portland and second the Seattle Sounders."
(On his view of the Seattle goal...) "It hit the back of the net. I can't really remember the goal. A couple of times the ball got into the box that we didn't pick up properly. Eric [Brunner] and [Jeremy] Hall challenged for the ball but Fernandez was able to find it in the back and finished it well. He is a high quality player. We showed a lot for coming back tonight."
(On leaving this match with a tie...) "We take a lot of confidence with us. Sigi Schmid has done a tremendous job here and the whole organization is fantastic. They are a good team and we have come up here four months old and played well. We have to start showing that belief we have at home on to the road. I think we should that tonight."
Troy Perkins - Timbers Goalkeeper
(On coming up to Seattle and matching their performance...) "We wanted to come on up here and prove we belonged. I think all the guys were committed to do that."
(On the goal Seattle scored...) "Both defenders went for the same ball, a little bit of a miss communication. The ball just fell right to him and he made a good play."
(On the weather causing any problems during the match...) "Typical Northwest weather. A little bit of rain, the field played incredibly fast. Our FieldTurf is a little bit different. It doesn't play as fast when it is wet."
Mamadou Danso - Timbers Defender
(On being satisfied with the draw...) "We came here for the win. We didn't come here for the tie."
(On coming through with a goal...) "I'm very excited to get the goal. I have been here for two seasons and I understand the rivalry. We just wanted to win here and it is really an over the top feeling. We have been practicing free kicks all week. The ball was really just a fifty-fifty ball and I was able to make a play on it."
Kenny Cooper - Timbers Forward
(On the importance of getting a draw in Seattle...) "I think some teams find it difficult to come on up here and play. They get amazing support and the crowds support them really well. To be down and come back I think we showed great character. It was a great point for us."
(On the game living up to the hype...) "I think this is a game that fans have starting circling their calendars when the schedule comes out. The lead up to the game was a lot fun. As a player you crave to play in these games.