Timbers attack too much for Sounders

PORTLAND — Perhaps Sunday will fade in significance as the rest of this MLS season unfolds, but Portland Timbers fans will surely enjoy the memory of a 4-1 win over their heated rivals from Seattle at steamy Providence Park.

Fanendo Adi scored twice in less than two minutes, giving the Timbers a late two-goal lead, and Rodney Wallace added a finishing touch in stoppage time to finish off the Sounders. Oh, and Darlington Nagbe scored his first goal of the season to highlight a dynamic afternoon from Portland’s attacking midfielders.

“It was great for our attacking guys to open the floodgates,” Timbers coach Caleb Porter said. “We were due for a game like this.”

The win is the second in less than two weeks for Portland over Seattle, including a U.S. Open Cup victory. Portland’s fifth win in six league games pulled the Timbers back into third place in the Western Conference, now just a single point behind second-place Seattle.

The go-ahead goal came in the 74th minute when Nagbe made a strong run up the field and pushed a pass to Adi who was able to beat the reach of Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei. Adi said he didn’t look where Frei was, but just turned and shot.

“The ball came inches behind me. I had to adjust quickly to get the ball in the right direction, so I was just focused on trying to hit the ball,” he said.

On a day when 23 Portland shots saw Frei add to his league lead with seven saves, it was a cathartic moment for the home team and its fans. The celebration was still at full throat when Adi scored again.

Gaston Fernandez — who played perhaps his best game as a Timber — forced a Seattle turnover off the kickoff and pushed the ball to Wallace for the pass that sent Adi with the ball storming forward. With Fernandez an option to his right and Wallace to his left, Adi had space to drill home the dagger.

In stoppage time, Maximilliano Urruti made a steal and fed Wallace for his first goal of the season.

But the more significant season’s first goal was from Nagbe in the 12th minute, a rocket from 30 yards that put the Timbers up 1-0.

The goal came the way many of Portland’s 23 shots did and was just the kind of opportunity Porter hoped would develop with three creative midfielders playing underneath Adi. Adi touched a forward ball from Norberto Paparatto to Fernandez, who pushed it to his right for Diego Valeri. Valeri’s quick touch forward sent Nagbe running into a pocket of space.

“We tried to play into Adi and then get three guys narrow running off him,” Porter said. “I thought we gave them a lot of problems, we found a lot of shots through that central channel in that dangerous space in front of their back four.”

From the start Sunday there was no sign of the Timbers team that was throttled in Los Angeles on Wednesday. But the match was tied 1-1 at halftime thanks to a well-placed free kick by Seattle’s Tyrone Mears that found Lamar Neagle at the back post for the tying goal in the 39th minute.

“We felt that we had performed better than them and we played at a higher level than they had,” captain Will Johnson said of the Timbers mood at halftime. “And we knew that they played Wednesday (at Philadelphia) and traveled and we knew we’d get a lot of chances in the second half.”

The chances came, including a Jorge Villafana header off a corner kick that Frei managed to swat away and a chance for Wallace in the 72nd minute that caught him wrong-footed. But moments later Diego Chara won possession in midfield, Nagbe sprinted forward, Adi delivered and all was right for the Timbers and their faithful.

From the pitch: Timbers 4, Sounders 1

Where they stand: Portland (8-6-4, 28 points) is tied with Los Angeles for third place in the West. Seattle (9-7-2, 29 points) is second in the West.

Lineup notes: As expected, Paparatto started in place of the suspended Liam Ridgewell. Valeri and Johnson were both in the starting lineup for the first time this season. Wallace replaced Valeri in the 65th minute as Valeri works his way back to full fitness. Seattle was without forwards Clint Dempsey (suspension) and Obafemi Martins (injury) and midfielder Osvaldo Alonso (injury).

Scoring summary

TIMBERS 4, SOUNDERS 1

Seattle FC 1 0–1

Portland 1 3–4

First half–1, Portland, Nagbe 1 (Valeri), 12th minute. 2, Seattle FC, Neagle 4 (Mears), 38th.

Second half–3, Portland, Adi 7 (Nagbe), 74th. 4, Portland, Adi 8 (Wallace), 76th. 5, Portland, Wallace 1 (Urruti), 90th+.

Goalies–Seattle FC, Stefan Frei; Portland, Adam Kwarasey.

Yellow Cards–Pineda, Seattle FC, 17th; Rose, Seattle FC, 52nd; Valeri, Portland, 53rd; Neagle, Seattle FC, 71st.

Referee–Jair Marrufo. Assistant Referees_Peter Manikowski. Paul Scott. 4th Official_Alex Chilowicz.

A–21,144 (20,000)

Lineups

Seattle FC–Stefan Frei, Tyrone Mears, Chad Marshall, Oniel Fisher, Brad Evans, Gonzalo Pineda, Marco Pappa, Lamar Neagle (Darwin Jones, 82nd), Andy Rose (Cristian Roldan, 69th), Micheal Azira, Chad Barrett (Andy Craven, 60th).

Portland–Adam Kwarasey, Alvas Powell, Nat Borchers, Norberto Paparatto, Diego Valeri (Rodney Wallace, 66th), Will Johnson, Jorge Villafana, Darlington Nagbe (Jack Jewsbury, 80th), Diego Chara, Fanendo Adi, Gaston Fernandez (Maximiliano Urruti, 82nd).