In his first game back from an MLS-issued, two-game suspension, Clint Dempsey scored two late goals (85′, 87′) and recorded a hat trick, helping the Sounders cap a wild comeback and salvage a 4-4 tie against the Timbers Saturday at Portland’s Providence Park.
The draw pushed the Sounders to 2-2-1 in an MLS season still in its infancy, kept the Timbers undefeated in their previous 18 home matches (11-0-7) and winless for the season (0-2-3). It also gave each team a point in the round-robin Cascadia Cup.
Early in the second half, the Timbers took a 4-2 lead with goals from Diego Chara (55′) and Maximiliano Urruti (57′). They appeared primed to to cruise to victory until Dempsey scored from the center of the box in the 85th minute, guiding it past backup Portland goalkeeper Andrew Weber. About a minute later, D DeAndre Yedlin was fouled in the penalty area by Portland M Ben Zemanski.
Dempsey’s ensuing penalty kick found the bottom left corner of the net and the Sounders held off a few late Timbers chances to avoid yielding the lead during the four minutes of stoppage time. With eight combined goals, the final tied the highest scoring match in Sounders history.
In the third minute, Sounders F Kenny Cooper opened the scoring against his former team by converting a corner from D Jalil Anibaba. In the ninth minute, Chara tied the game with a goal from just outside the box, then M Diego Valeri followed in the 14th minute with a score to give Portland a 2-1 advantage.
Dempsey tied the game at two in the 24th minute with a left-footed strike.
It was an MLS career day for Dempsey. After a faltering start to his Seattle career, he became the fifth player in Sounders history to record a hat trick and pushed his season goal total to four. And the Sounders regained some footing against the Timbers, who ousted the Sounders from the playoffs last fall.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2182979 https://sportspressnw.wpengine.com/?p=2182979">3 Comments
off topic, but is anyone besides me surprised and upset that the men’s ncaa final four bball games are not on over the air teevee? no more hoops for joe sixpack in the land of dystopia.
A draw in Portland isn’t a bad thing, given how the short home stand went. A point is still a point. And nice to see Dempsey with a hat-trick. Lots of new players this year and it’ll take time to develop chemistry, especially if Sigi continues to shuffle the deck every match as he has since coming to Seattle. Hard to create a consistent flow when you never know from match to match who your left midfielder or center-right defender is going to be.
BTW, I’m assuming “Providence Park” is what used to be known as “JELD-WEN Field.” I hate corporate names for sports facilities, even though I accept that they’re a fact of life. Too bad city leaders lack imagination to only sell naming rights to the playing surface and not the entire stadium or arena so the facility maintains some sense of identity, like “CenturyLink Field at Seahawks Stadium” even as the corporate sponsors change. Imagine what it’s like in Oakland, where corporate names come and go almost annually.
And, yes, notaboomer, not having the Final Four semis on over-the-air TV is pretty bad. I guess CBS figures more people are interested in the paint-drying pace of golf vis-à-vis the ever-popular Houston Open than the penultimate day of the college basketball season.
Salvage is right. Where was the defense in this match? At least we saw why Dempsey is paid his salary. He earned it yesterday.