This Week in Sounders Gifs: Gifts of 3 points are the best (animated)

I enjoyed this display a lot:

A good ball over the top to Nelson Valdez starts off the series of events that leads to Obafemi Martins' opening goal:

Valdez starts it off with basically a perfect slide tackle. Portland's Fochive helps out by lunging in for the ball and losing out to Oba's strength. Oba then fights through Powell's arm to the chest and when Powell stumbles he actually lunges the ball away from the path of Borchers. Thanks guys!

Are you sure those weren't fouls? Let's look at "LP's Three (tm)":

1) Gift One: Fochive attempts to poke the ball away by lunging his left leg in front of Oba. Oba has the strength to stay upright and keep the ball rolling.

2) Gift Two: Powell also makes the mistake of thinking he is stronger than Oba. A high hand in the chest is no match to Oba's strength and he easily fends this off.

3) Gift Three: Powell then stumbles all on his own and his way down, he attempts to slide kick the ball away from Oba. What he ends up doing is touching the ball enough away from Borchers and right into the path of Oba. Thanks buddy.

But what about Valdez slide tackle? Wasn't that illegal? Well not really. He did slide and it was from behind - but he never makes contact with Borchers. In fact it looks like he only gets contact with the ball even in his follow through:

Either way, Oba Flip:

Stefan Frei was a monster in this game, saving us on multiple occasions.

Cat-like reflexes:

You shall not pass, Valeri:

Good recovery and slide timing by Tyrone Mears, good positioning by Frei:

Penal! Penal! Penal! Without going into detail, just watch the gifs and you can make your own judgement:

Brad Evans to the spot again. Hard to argue when he hasn't missed:

That was definitely a group hug we all needed. Just don't mess up the hair, guys: