Five quick numbers that explain Sounders win over Timbers

In their first match against the Portland Timbers this season, the Seattle Sounders came out on top 1-0, putting them on a two-match winning streak after last week’s win over RSL.

As usual, the scoreline is the most important number in soccer—but here are a few other stats that help paint the picture of this match.

3

Both teams had three shots on goal, which isn’t surprising considering the scoreline. What is a bit surprising is how many shots it took for each team to get those three accurate shots: for the Sounders, it was 8. The Timbers, on the other hand, had 19 total shots. That’s 38% accuracy from Seattle, while the Timbers had just 16% accuracy.

47.9%

For one of the first times this season, the Sounders didn’t have the majority of possession. Granted, it was pretty close, but it’s still an anomaly for Seattle in 2017. The fact that they won this one and lost or draw many of the matches in which they had a large share of possession, speaks volumes.

41

Stefan Frei was shown a yellow card by Mark Geiger in the 41st minute for time-wasting, which boggled the minds of Sounders and Timbers fans alike. Not only are such cards given rarely in the first half, Frei didn’t even waste that much time. A strange call by Geiger that luckily didn’t affect the outcome.

76.5%

The lowest passing completion accuracy number for a Sounders player (bar the late introduction of Oniel Fisher, who only touched the ball three times), which went to both Jordan Morris and Brad Evans. Contrast that with the lowest completion number for a Timbers player, 61.1% from Sebastian Blanco. His fairly early substitution in the second half was likely due to his inability to keep possession.

50

Stefan Frei’s shutout against the Timbers was the 50th of his career, #1 for goalkeepers in the MLS era.

Quote of the day, presented without comment:

"It's undeniable to me that we were the better team on the day.” -Caleb Porter