Wasteful Timbers Lose 2-1 to Seattle

Despite dominating much of the game, the Timbers lost 2-1 at home to the Seattle Sounders on Sunday afternoon.

The Timbers controlled the first half, spending most of the opening 45 minutes in Seattle’s end. All the passing led to very few good chances, though, and the Timbers were frustrated to see the half end 0-0.

The teams switched ends of the field in the second half, but the Timbers continued to control the ball. All their hard work seemed ready to be rewarded in the 55^th minute, when Eryk Williamson stole the ball, made a quick pass to Jeremy Ebobisse, who was then brought down in the box by Sounders defender Shane O’Neill.

As Diego Valeri lined up the PK, many Timbers fans assumed the game would soon be 1-0. Unfortunately, when Valeri tried to put his shot down the middle, Sounders keeper Stefan Frei saved it.

But then referee Chris Penso went to video review and ruled that someone for Seattle was guilty of encroachment. It might have been Frei coming off his line, or it might have been defender Nouhou Tolo entering the box early. Whoever it was, Valeri got a second opportuntiy on his PK.

Which he also missed, banging the ball off the post. There was a rebound, which Valeri put into goal, but it didn’t count, since Frei never touched Valeri’s initial shot.

Less than five minutes after Portland wasted those two chances to go up 1-0, the Sounders received a penalty call at their end, and Raul Ruidiaz was not so wasteful.

Things got worse when goalkeeper Jeff Attinella was stretchered off the pitch in the 68^th minute with what appeared to be a right hip injury, forcing the Timbers to use their 4th-string keeper, 19-year-old Hunter Sulte.

A little more than 10 minutes after entering, Sulte would let the Sounders score their second, this one on a free kick header by Freddy Montero.

Having gone from 0-0 and standing over a PK in the 55^th minute to being down 2-0 in the 79^th minute, the Timbers seemed a bit shaken, but still managed to pull within a goal when defender Bill Tuiloma scored on a beautiful free kick in stoppage time.

That was the end of the scoring, though. The Sounders walked away with the 2-1 victory, and the Timbers, after dominating much of the game but being unable to put the ball in the back of the net, could only blame themselves.