Dempsey-less Sounders fall 3-1 to rivals in Portland

The Sounders headed south Sunday for their first Cascadia matchup with the Portland Timbers this season without star striker Clint Dempsey, thanks to his straight red card and subsequent suspension from Wednesday’s 5-0 win over FC Dallas.

Nelson Valdez replaced Dempsey up top, with the only other change to Wednesday’s lineup being Tyrone Mears for Oniel Fisher. The Timbers have been hit hard with injuries this season, but they sported a lineup that was pretty close to full strength. The home side flexed their muscles in this big derby match, knocking their rivals further down the pitch with a 3-1 win.

The first half started with a bang at Providence Park, thanks to that famously rambunctious Portland atmosphere. Tackles were flying all over the pitch, and both teams had relatively good shots on goal fairly early. Forward Jordan Morris had a wide open chance early on, but the ball spun wildly as he struck it and he sent the shot wide of the goal. As rivalry matches often do, there were plenty of fouls and a number of penalty shouts from both sides, but the scoresheet didn’t change until late in the half. Tyrone Mears and Osvaldo Alonso were caught too far up the pitch, giving Timbers midfielder Diego Valeri a ton of space in front of the box. He took his opportunity well and curled the ball past Stefan Frei right before halftime.

The Sounders came out swinging in the second half, earning three corner kicks in the first few minutes. Valdez came close with a header on one, but the rest didn’t really come to anything. Almost immediately after the last corner, the Timbers charged down the pitch and Valeri tussled with Joevin Jones a bit near the end line before curling it around and into the goal from what looked like an impossible angle. That put the Timbers up 2-0 after 50 minutes.

Not long after that, in the 59th minute, Chad Marshall gets one back for Seattle after heading in an Andreas Ivanschitz corner kick. Just as the Sounders finished celebrating, the Timbers’ counterattack charged back down the pitch and again caught Seattle’s defense off guard. Lucas Melano had plenty of space and time to get the ball to Fanendo Adi, who lost Marshall and fired the ball into the net to make it 3-1.

Man of the match: I really don’t think any of the Sounders players deserve such an award. Even stronger players like Alonso made mistakes in this match.

Turning point: The third goal really killed it off for the Timbers, putting the game too far out of reach for Seattle.

One reason to worry: Another loss for the Sounders, and this one hurts especially. The 5-0 win over Dallas is just a fleeting memory now.

One reason to relax: If the rumors are true, at least one reinforcement is heading to Seattle this week. They need something, desperately.

Spenser Davis also covers the Sounders for Sounder at Heart.