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MLS Game of the Week

Sounders v. Timbers Stands Out Among Cool Clashes

Portland is still missing a few key players, but Sunday night's Cascadia Cup clash between the Timbers and the Sounders highlights an unusually strong weekend slate in Major League Soccer. 
BY Brooke Tunstall Posted
April 24, 2015
2:30 PM

AS THE MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER season moves deeper into its second month, a sufficient number of trends and patterns are emerging to make more and more match-ups intriguing. 

  • New England is unbeaten in five straight and hosts a Real Salt Lake team that’s been beaten just once...but is currently below the playoff cut because it has tied half its games.
     
  • The reigning champion Los Angeles Galaxy are wounded and struggling for consistency with its reconfigured lineup but the defending champions are still a worthy measuring stick for a New York Red Bulls team that is the league’s lone unbeaten side. 

  • And in a battle of teams at the top of their respective conferences, D.C. United takes its stingy defense to Vancouver to try and contain the Whitecaps and league scoring leader Octavio Rivero.

And while all of those games should make for compelling theater this weekend, none of them qualify as our choice for MLS game of the week. That honor goes to Sunday night’s Cascadia Cup matchup that sees Portland and the Timber Army traveling up I-5 to face the Seattle Sounders (9:30pm ET, Fox Sports 1, assuming the NASCAR race doesn't go late—not that we're still bitter about missing last week's game!)

Both teams are still struggling to find their best form. Sometimes the Sounders (3-2-1) look like the toast of the league, which it was for most of last season. And other times the team manages just one goal in a three-game stretch, as it did before rediscovering its offense last week against Colorado.

Portland (2-2-3), which is looking to return to the playoffs after barely missing out a year ago, began this season with three straight ties and has since alternated wins and losses the last four weeks.

THE SUBPLOTS

Are you kidding? This rivalry goes back to when there were franchises with the same names in the original NASL and continued through years of lower division soccer until both made the jump to MLS in 2009 (Seattle) and 2011 (Portland).

But it’s the fans that make this rivalry special. Seattle’s attendance isn’t just about the 40,000-plus who attend every home game but about the noise and passion they create at CenturyLink Field. Just like the city they represent, Portland’s attendance is smaller than the Sounders’ but its fan base is just as passionate and, more importantly, every bit as loud.

Toss in the proximity and the history and the rivalry between the cities themselves, where Seattle thinks it’s the center of the Northwestern Universe and Portland thinksit's the authentic embodiment of the region, and you’ve got all the ingredients for a great game before the first pass has been made.

Simply put, in terms of atmosphere there isn’t a better rivalry in MLS and maybe not even in all of American professional sports. (Maybe Yankees-Red Sox in a pennant chase. Maybe.) 



On the field, the Sounders have things the Timbers still crave—like trophies and consistent playoff appearances. And in the cut-throat Western Conference, both sides need points so this match will be played at a fever pitch.

The Sounders are slowly coming back to health while Portland is missing injured midfield stalwarts Diego Valeri, Will Johnson, and Rodney Wallace. Darlington Nagbe is a delight to watch but will be asked to do a lot. Again.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

In Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins, the Sounders have the best forward pairing in MLS—when both players are healthy. Dempsey is still nursing a sore hamstring but he’s got three goals and three assists this year and Martins has scored four times. 

When this attacking duo is on its game, they are a handful for the best defenses in the league. 

Portland does not have one of the best defenses in the league.

A shaky backline proved to be the Timbers' undoing last year. The team addressed that by adding Premier League veteran Liam Ridgewell last summer and then getting MLS veteran and former Best XI center back Nat Borchers from Salt Lake this winter. 

The pair have helped Portland tighten things up in the back, allowing just one goal per game (though Martin and Dempsey provide a tougher test than any they have faced to date). 

Also keep an eye on the Sounders’ backline experiment, where veteran Brad Evans is learning center back on the fly. He could have his hands full with Portland’s big Nigerian striker Fanendo Adi.

THE X-FACTOR

For all the big-name talent on the Sounders, often the difference-maker is a player it once kept getting rid of: Lamar Neagle. Cut by the Sounders twice and traded away once before returning in 2013, Neagle has scored 19 goals and registered 13 assists since being reacquired—including a brace in a win last week over Colorado.

Able to play either flank spot and as a striker, Neagle is often overlooked when defenses key on Dempsey, Martins, and the likes of Gonzalo Pineda and Marco Pappa. As noted, the Timbers’ defense is much improved but it will be so focused on the rest of the Sounders’ attack that it sets the stage for a player like Neagle to thrive.

PREDICTION

Portland's defense is improved but is midfield is missing too much right now and Seattle will take advantage, coming away with a 2-0 win.

Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. Follow him on Twitter.

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