Young players showed their quality in loss to Timbers

RENTON — There was no hiding the frustration and disappointment the Tacoma Defiance felt in the immediate aftermath of their 3-2 loss to the Portland Timbers on Tuesday.

The Defiance had overcome a 1-0 deficit to take a 2-1 lead, which they held for about 30 minutes before a defensive lapse allowed the Timbers to equalize. Even then, the match seemed to be heading for extra time until Georgi Minoungou was whistled for an unnecessary penalty in what was likely the final minute of stoppage time.

Instead of celebrating a statement win, the Defiance were forced to reconcile with letting a result slip through their fingers.

"Everyone played their absolute hearts out," Defiance goalkeeper Andrew Thomas said. "We deserved so much more from that game than we got."

As nice as it would have been for the Seattle Sounders' second team to beat the Timbers' first team, the reality was the Defiance weren't really in this tournament to win it. The Defiance are primarily a developmental squad and in that sense, the Timbers game was a massive step forward.

"It was a great game, I'd say," Sounders general manager Craig Waibel told reporters on Wednesday. "We had the better of the chances and probably just didn't reward ourselves with the win.

"I'm really proud of quite a few of the guys. I actually don't think anyone underperformed on the field."

Coming into this game, this was billed as an opportunity to see how someone like Osaze De Rosario would fare against MLS-quality centerbacks. Facing veterans Zac McGraw and Dario Zuparic, De Rosario held his own and even scored a goal.

But that was almost expected at this point. What Waibel seemed more impressed with was the play of some of the younger players the Defiance used.

The starting lineup featured five players who are 20 or younger and no outfield players older than 23. That included 18-year-olds Snyder Brunell, Stuart Hawkins and Kaito Yamada, who formed the defensive spine of the team.

"That's a big task when you're playing you playing against an MLS team," Waibel said. "They threw out 400, 500 career MLS starts and had more than $10 million worth of players on the field.

"It was a phenomenal night in terms of development from a Sounders perspective. As I told the coaching staff last night after the game, you can't ask your guys to do more than they did."

Losing in the manner they did might not be the worst thing for their development, either.

"There's a metaphor I like: It's easy to hunt, but when you become the hunted you've got to figure out how to be smarter," Waibel said. "Our guys are hunting. Learning that craft and learning how to put teams away and walking off that field last night – I know it was a loss – but walking off that field, looking back at those opportunities, is going to help some of those guys grow."

In pursuit of a U22

Waibel acknowledged that several Defiance players the Sounders didn't necessarily see as MLS prospects at the start of the year have forced themselves into that conversation now. Signing those players and adding a U22 aren't mutually exclusive, but those performances do underscore the high bar a signing from outside the organization will need to clear.

"One of the biggest challenges is finding a 21-year-old that can come in and impact our team and actually play," Waibel said. "What we're finding is the level of our league, it commands a very significant spend in order to attract that type of player.

"What we're also finding is a lot of the players that have the ability to come to MLS now and contribute immediately are choosing top five leagues because we're not that far behind. The big separation between us and the top five, six in terms of finances and prestige – it’s a big challenge, but we're in a lot of conversations."

Waibel said the Sounders have approached at least a dozen players, but that the limitations around U22 signings connected to both transfer fees and salary create complications. Still, he seemed confident a deal would get done.

"We're not getting into conversations with players that we don't think can contribute," he said. "We're not really interested in signing a reserve. I'm very much lacking interest in spending money on a player that's going to sit and watch games."