Three keys: Sounders look for revenge in 2nd match vs Timbers

One of the greatest rivalries in American soccer resumes play on Sunday – and again a week later – as the Portland Timbers ride up I-5 to take on the Sounders at CenturyLink Field. It will be the second matchup of the season between the two Cascadia clubs, with the first being the Timbers’ 3-1 thrashing of the Sounders in Portland last month.

Things are different now, though. Seattle has a new lease on life after the shakeups of a few weeks ago. Brian Schmetzer came in as interim head coach for the ousted Sigi Schmid, and that was followed by one of the biggest signings in club history, Nicolas Lodeiro.

Those changes have put the Sounders on a three-match unbeaten streak going into the weekend, and Lodeiro has had a hand in nearly every goal scored in that time. The Sounders still sit all the way down in ninth place in the West with 27 points, however, so this match – and every match from now on really – is a must-win for the Sounders if they hope to squeak into the MLS Cup playoffs.

The Timbers have had a better season than Seattle, but not by much. They’re hovering just above the playoff line in sixth place with 32 points and an 8-9-8 record. That puts them only six points ahead of the Sounders, the same number of points at stake in the two matches between them in the next week. Portland’s recent record has been pretty average at 2-3-1 in its last six matches, including last weekend’s 2-0 away loss to DC United.

Despite having their top attackers in for about the last month – starting with the defeat of the Sounders – the Timbers have been absolutely wrecked on the defensive side of the ball in recent weeks. One of the better center backs in the league, Nat Borchers, is out for the season with a ruptured Achilles tendon, and Liam Ridgewell only recently returned from an injury of his own, so they’ve had to dip into the transfer market to try and shore things up at the back.

Left-back Vytautas Andriuskevicius was recently signed and has made a few appearances, and former Newcastle United defender Steven Taylor made a fairly high-profile move to Portland a couple weeks ago. He hasn’t made an appearance for the first team yet, but Taylor’s first outing with T2 culminated in an own goal and subsequent substitution after just an hour. He was a fine player when fit at Newcastle, and a first-team debut in Seattle could reveal a lot about how much he can offer the Timbers. Caleb Porter wouldn’t reveal Taylor’s availability in a teleconference with the media on Friday, but he did say he was pleased with the player’s performances with T2.

Here are three kets as the Sounders take on the Timbers at 6:30 p.m. Sunday on KIRO Radio 97.3 FM:

1. Have the Sounders learned their lesson?

The loss in Portland weighed heavily in the Sounders’ dressing room, especially because the home side made it look way too easy. The Timbers’ counterattack was brutal and clinical on that day, and the Sounders seemed to have no answer for the threat of Diego Valeri. But this is a much different team, even if the personnel look pretty much the same. Schmetzer’s influence, along with the addition of Lodeiro, have turned the Sounders into a well-oiled machine. The defense still could use some improvement, but the way that Schmetzer sets up his team will help immensely in stopping the Timbers from destroying on the break. Lodeiro will make the attack much more potent and give his forwards many more chances to score. He’ll also have an in-form Clint Dempsey, who was suspended in the last match.

2. The Timbers have abysmal away form this season.

This isn’t an exaggeration. Portland currently sits second-to-last in away form in the West, better only than the Houston Dynamo, who are the worst team in the conference. The Timbers have six points from 12 away matches this season and an 0-6-6 record. With the weight of the rivalry, and backed by the famous Seattle atmosphere, things are going to be very, very difficult for the Timbers on Sunday. Even if they do bunker down, which I fully expect, their leaky defense will be susceptible to an amped-up and highly-motivated Sounders squad.

3. Set pieces could decide it all.

This isn’t necessarily because both teams are especially good at set pieces this season; in fact, both teams are in the bottom half of MLS in terms of goals scored from set pieces. What makes this an especially big part of this match is that both teams have conceded some pretty stupid goals from set pieces in recent weeks, most notably from corner kicks. The most basic of basics in soccer, both the Sounders and the Timbers have been pretty questionable in defending them lately. The Timbers’ defense looked utterly befuddled by DC United’s Steve Birnbaum as he scored from a corner in last week’s match. The Sounders were similarly punished for poor marking and focus against Orlando City, when Seb Hines knocked one in from a corner a couple weeks ago. Luckily for Seattle, it went on to win that match 3-1 thanks to Clint Dempsey’s hat trick. In such an important, emotional match, neither team will want to give up a foolish goal like these Sunday. If they do, it could turn out to be decisive.

Spenser Davis also covers the Sounders for Sounder at Heart.

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