Portland Timbers Play Seattle Sounders To a 1-1 Draw

On May 17, another chapter in the Sounders vs. Timbers rivalry was written, though it wasn’t a particularly exhilarating match. It was a 1-1 draw, where the bite was felt between players in previous matches. So why is that, and how did the match turn out this way?

Match Takeaways

The match lacked that rivalry spark, and there was a reason. With Diego Chara of the Timbers out with a lower leg injury, it took out one of the few veterans who were there when the rivalry was at its most intense. The Sounders had the likes of the returning Kim Kee-Hee and MOTM Cristian Roldán continuing his rebound in form with an 8.3 match rating.

Both squads are made up of players brought in recently who played for other clubs. This in the short term means they don’t quite understand the weight of this rivalry and haven’t butted heads enough to get personally invested. So until a year ago, this was the derby days we should expect.

How Did the Match End Up a Draw?

The scoring was opened by the Seattle Sounders, with star player Albert Rusnák getting the first goal in the 30th minute. Then the Timbers responded with Santiago Moreno in the 36th minute with an assist from David Da Costa. This was a case of oil meeting water; hence the draw.

The Timbers were happy to let the Sounders have the ball and pass it around the midfield with a solid defense and an amazing performance by Finn Surman, keeping the Sounders out of the box too often. They were dangerous on the counterattack whenever they could. This allowed Seattle to have more opportunities, but the Timbers had the better ones.

The Standouts From This Match

We’ve touched upon Cristian Roldán and Finn Surman, a Timbers and Sounders player. Roldán controlled the match with his 3 tackles, 88% of passes completed, and his 2 dribbles, helping him have 9% of possession. Surman’s impressive 4 tackles, 93% pass completion, 2 headers won, and many impressive off-ball decisions made him a giant brick wall for the Sounders to get by and a big reason why they didn’t pull away for the win.

Sounders Struggle To Finish

A large part of the reason the draw turned out to be a draw is the Sounders’ poor finishing. Bringing to mind the discussion of Morris’s and Jesus Ferreira’s disappointing form so far in front of the net, and whether the Sounders should get a new striker soon.