Sounders at Timbers recap: Portland crushes diminished Seattle

It took some time, but Seattle Sounders FC finally found a goal without their three DPs on the field. Lamar Neagle drew the match level in the 38th minute. Up until the 55th minute or so there was reason to hope for a point. Sure, the Portland Timbers took more shots, mostly from distance, but Seattle was surprisingly industrious for a side down 3 DPs and another starter.

Then it fell apart - hard. If fell 4-1, and Seattle still holds 2nd in the West (3rd in Shield) and is tied for the 2nd best goal differential.

Portland's waves of possession kept crashing home. Sounders FC could not manage to generate the danger they had earlier.

Fanendo Adi took advantage of the inability to stop Nagbe and Fernandez. In just a minute the game went from a possible 1-1 survival to a horror show. He scored. He scored again. He left the field and played with a chainsaw.

You'd think that would be the lowlight.

It wasn't.

Rodney Wallace further punished Seattle in the 90+1. He thinks he cut Seattle's throat, because you know molesting a chainsaw as a celebration was too classy.

The Sounders have now lost their last three matches in MLS play, and four overall. Two of those are to the Portland Timbers. July is going to be a rough month, with no Clint Dempsey nor Obafemi Martins.

Observations

• The Pineda/Azira central pairing isn't working. Pineda is a bit slow defensively and Azira does not do the thing Seattle needs its central mids to do offensively.
• Fisher on the right is OK, but on the left he's clearly third choice.
• Neagle and Barrett are better than Neagle and no one.
• Chemistry matters. There were times when Seattle looked for certain runs and they didn't exist. Players were not on the same page. That can be fixed. Maybe the club can tread water.
• Stefan Frei is again amazing. He's been amazing all year. There's no reason he shouldn't win save of the week this week.