2006 Jul 22

Seattle Sounders  3 - 1  Portland Timbers
Qwest Field, Seattle, WA

Seattle: Chris Eylander; Danny Jackson, Noah Merl, Jake Besagno; Seyi Abolaji (Maykel Galindo 46'), Jordan Harvey (Jake Sagare 58'), Ben Somoza (CJ Klaas 65'), Kevin Sakuda, Leighton O'Brien (Craig Tomlinson 80'); Roger Levesque, Cam Weaver (Santa Maria Rivera 71'). Substitutes not used: Ben Dragavon, Gabe Sturm..

Portland: Martin Hutton; Scot Thompson, Jacobi Goodfellow, Josh Brown (Salim Bullen 70'); Michael Nsien, Mike Randolph, Lee Morrison (Gavin Wilkinson 46'), Tom Poltl, Luke Kreamalmeyer; Byron Alvarez (Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar 46'), Oral Bullen (Troy Ready 86'). Substitutes not used: Josh Saunders, Garrett Marcum, Alejandro Gutierrez.

Goals:
10' SEA: Weaver (O'Brien)
17' POR: Kreamalmeyer (PK)
25' SEA: Levesque (Besagno)
59' SEA: Galindo (Somoza)

Additional match reports: SounderCentral.com, Sounders, Timbers, Seattle Times.

Match report by Ron Stickney:

The Seattle Sounders finished a sweep of the home-away series against the Portland Timbers with a 3-1 win at home. The Sounders scored first with Cam Weaver's goal from a free kick play, then Portland tied it with a penalty kick by Luke Kreamalmeyer. Roger Levesque scored Seattle's match winner and in the second half Maykel Galindo added an insurance goal.

The starting lineup for Seattle was the same as the previous night in Portland, except that Leighton O'Brien was back from a red-card suspension to replace Andrew Gregor, sitting one out due to yellow card acccumulation.

The back-to-back wins by the Sounders knocked the Timbers out of the Cascadia Cup and nearly eliminated them from playoff contention. The Sounders took a two-point lead in the Cascadia Cup and the last two matches with the Vancouver Whitecaps will decide the cup.

The goalkeeper for Portland tonight was Martin Hutton, on loan from the Houston Dynamo of MLS.

First Half

Amazingly, Portland's Oral Bullen, playing as a forward, hit the far post squarely twice in the first five minutes. Just 40 seconds into the match, a ball over the top of Seattle's defense gave Bullen a chance to chip over the onrushing goalkeeper, Chris Eylander, and the shot hit the top of the far post and rebounded back into play. Then at 5' Byron Alvarez took a through ball at the center of the 18-yard line, held it, and dished it too Bullen who made a nice run on the left, and Bullen's shot again beat Eylander and again hit the far post and rebounded back into play.

The first Seattle shot came in the 9th minute with a shot/cross from Levesque, but goalkeeper Martin Hutton easily saved it.

10' Weaver (O'Brien). It was a long free kick from O'Brien, but it was placed nicely for Weaver's 15-yard header inside the far post. 1-0 Seattle.

The next chance was Seattle's as Weaver's drop pass to O'Brien led to a shot at the left post, but Hutton saved comfortably.

17' Kreamalmeyer (PK). Seattle right back Noah Merl got Portland sweeper Scot Thompson in the box just after Thompson touched the ball on, and even though the ball would have gone harmlessly out a foul was whistled and Portland had a penalty kick. Kreamalmeyer took the spot kick and sent it low left, beating Eylander. 1-1.

Seattle had a 22-yard free kick in the 20th minute, and O'Brien's free kick was over the wall but to the middle of the goal and easily saved by Hutton.

25' Levesque (Besagno). On the first corner kick of the match, O'Brien sent it to the far post for Besagno's header. Hutton pushed it onto the post, and Levesque was there to head the rebound directly in. 2-1 Seattle.

Seattle tried to increase their goal count in the 27th minute when a long free kick was sent low to the far post, but Hutton was there for the block save and he collected the rebound. In the 29th Weaver dropped a pass for a shot by O'Brien that Hutton saved, pushing it straight up, and a Seattle attacker was called for a foul when it came back down.

Portland had a promising free kick from the top left corner of the penalty area in the 41st minute, but Byron Alvarez sent it directly into the wall.

The lone red card of the match came in the 42nd minute when Mike Randolph punched O'Brien in the face. O'Brien got a yellow, either for what provoked Randolph or for the push after. Short a man, Portland would have no good shots the rest of the way.

The last chance of the half came from an O'Brien corner kick, which hit the back side of the crossbar and went out for a goal kick.

Halftime: Seattle 2-1 Portland

59' Galindo (Somoza). After 14 minutes of the second half without a scoring chance, substitute Galindo set one up and finished it. Galindo took a pass near the halfway line and had time to spot Levesque on a run up the right side. Levesque sent a short square pass to Ben Somoza, who put a nice ball into Galindo's path, and Galindo shot low and hard to the far side for the insurance goal. 3-1 Seattle.

The next chance came in the 67th when a drop pass to Kevin Sakuda was sent on goal and saved, and Levesque's put-back on the rebound got past the keeper and was cleared by a defender. Later in the same minute Galindo had a shot after a feed from Levesque, but he missed the top far corner by yards. In the 67th an O'Brien free kick play was busted but Galindo got a shot from the loose ball and missed the top near corner by a yard.

Portland's first shot of the second half came in the 78th when substitute and assistant coach Gavin Wilkinson blasted a shot up the middle from 20 yards after a square pass, but he missed the top right corner by yards.

The remaining good chances were all for Seattle. Substitute CJ Klaas fed right to an open Jake Sagare (substitute) in the 83rd for a sliding shot, but Hutton had it covered for a save. Santa Maria Rivera (substitute) sprung Craig Tomlinson (substitute) with a ball over the top, but Tomlinson's chip shot with Hutton charging went way too high. Rivera sprung Galindo and he fought through two defenders for a shot, but sent it well wide of the far post. In the 89th Levesque sent a nice ball up the middle to Tomlinson, but Hutton came out to prevent a shot and Tomlinson's pass across the goal mouth went unclaimed with nobody on the far-post run.

Final: Seattle 3-1 Portland

Statistics:
           Seattle   Portland
Shots:       20         7
Saves:        1         8
Corners:      4         2
Fouls:       18        19
Offsides:     7         1

Misconduct:
14' POR: Brown cautioned after he and Weaver tangled
14' SEA: Weaver cautioned after he and Brown tangled
16' POR: Poltl cautioned for kicking O'Brien late
22' POR: Alvarez cautioned for retaliating against Somoza after Somoza's routine foul
28' SEA: Harvey cautioned for a foul near the touch line
40' SEA: Somoza cautioned for what he said to the referee after a Seattle foul
42' POR: Randolph sent off for striking O'Brien in the face
42' SEA: O'Brien cautioned either for what caused Randolph's punch or for a push after Randolph's punch
76' POR: Alcaraz-Cuellar cautioned for chopping down Rivera

Referees: Colin Tait; Josh Wilkins, Robert Burnett; Mark Oliver

Attendance: 2,993