Sounders v. Portland U.S. Open Cup, community player ratings

Sounder at Heart readers chose Stefan Frei as man of the match in the Seattle Sounders' 3-1 victory in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal against Portland Timbers.

Frei led four Sounders who finished about a 7 in average rating, scoring a 7.64. Osvaldo Alonso scored 7.47, Marco Pappa received a 7.31 and DeAndre Yedlin a 7.21 from about 275 readers who submitted ratings. That number of people who cast ratings is significantly higher than with previous U.S. Open Cup games, likely because of the opponent. The highest number of ratings cast in any game this year was the draw in Portland in MLS regular season action. It will be interesting to see how many people take part come Monday.

Perhaps the most surprising rating was given to Lamar Neagle, who received a 5.85 despite a strong turn after he was moved forward in the 64th minute.

Here's the full look at the community ratings for the game. Reader scores follow the player's name, followed by my ratings in parenthesis and then the difference between those two numbers in italics.

Player: Average Fan Rating (Author Rating) Difference

Stefan Frei 7.64 (7) +0.64 A great score for Stefan here as he took out every potential scoring threat that came his way save the stoppage time goal that forced the game in to extra time. Earlier in the year the ratings, and the comments in these player ratings threads, seemed to reflect some concern with Stefan's ability to win a game for the team. But like Marco Pappa and Jalil Anibaba, Stefan seems to have quieted those fears with solid play as the season has carried on.

DeAndre Yedlin: 7.21 (7) +0.21 DeAndre was threatening in his 90-minute shift and this score reflects how pleased readers were to see him back and performing at such a high level.

Chad Marshall: 6.92 (7) -0.08

Zach Scott: 6.50 (7) -0.50

Jalil Anibaba: 6.03 (6) +0.03

Ozzie Alonso: 7.47 (8) -0.53 I had chosen Ozzie as my man of the match in this game as I felt he took over after half-time. The score here isn't that different, though. A few people gave Ozzie 9s and he even received one 10. Several others scored him a 6 on the night; I guess feeling that his spectacular goal didn't move him beyond "good" for this one.

Gonzalo Pineda: 6.86 (7) -0.14

Brad Evans: 6.74 (8) -1.26

Lamar Neagle: 5.85 (8) -2.15 This is the biggest discrepancy between one of my scores and a community rating this season. I had boosted Lamar for many positive plays in this one, especially with his passing that included the cross that Alonso leapt and scored on. I also had him with the most positive impact in the extra time. There were comments in the voting thread Thursday that some people are too hard on Lamar. He received many 5s on this ballot, which we call "adequate" and is basically "average or just below average." Several people gave Lamar 4s. And some even gave him a 3, or "poor," for this performance. I would love to hear from those folks with their thoughts in the comments below about what they saw, or didn't see, from Lamar in this one.

Chad Barrett: 5.01 (5) +0.01

Cam Weaver: 5.13 (6) -0.87

Subs

Marco Pappa: (64th minute): 7.31 (8) -0.69 This is one of the top scores for a substitute this season as Marco came on and changed the complexion of the game. Thanks to extra time he ended up playing nearly 60 minutes in this one and had the final goal that ended any thought of a second Timbers comeback.

Kenny Cooper (79th minute) 6.38 (6) +0.38

Michael Azira (90th minute): 5.76 (6) -0.24

The key to the 1-10 scale:

1. Horrible
2. Awful 
3. Poor
4. Flawed
5. Adequate
6. Good
7. Very good
8. Great
9. Superb
10. World Class