The Portland Timbers hosted the Seattle Sounders on a rainy Saturday night at Providence Park, and after going down early in the second half, the Timbers would explode with four goals in eighteen minutes for the 4-1 win. Dairon Asprilla, Nathan Fogaça, Juan Mosquera, and Jarosław Niezgoda would all score for the Timbers, while Raúl Ruidíaz had the lone goal for the visitors.
The first half didn’t feature any goals, though each team had a few decent chances, but the game was 0-0 at halftime.
The Sounders would break the scoreless tie in the 58th minute when Obed Vargas made a nice overlapping run down the right side, then sent a low pass into the box that no Timbers defender was in position to defend, and Raúl Ruidíaz was there to one-time a nice shot into the lower left corner that Timbers goalkeeper Aljaž Ivačič just watched slip into the net without even moving, and the Sounders had the 1-0 lead.
But the Timbers would tie the game in spectacular fashion in the 71st minute, when Santiago Morena sent a cross into the box that Dairon Asprilla would meet with a spectacular bicycle kick effort, and it was Seattle goalkeeper Stefan Frei who was frozen in his tracks this time, as the ball was in the back of the net and the game was suddenly a 1-1 tie.
Before the buzz at Providence Park about the Asprilla effort had even settled, the Timbers grabbed the lead when Nathan Fogaça would beat two Seattle defenders and take a left-footed shot inside the box at Frei deflected, but could not keep out of goal, and in only five minutes, a 1-0 deficit had become a 2-1 lead.
But the Timbers goal-fest wasn’t over yet, when just five minutes after Fogaça had scored to give the Timbers the lead, his shot from the top of the box, that was blocked by Frei, ended up being knocked home past a prone Frei by Jarosław Niezgoda, and the lead had surged to 3-1.
But the Timbers weren’t done yet. as the match neared stoppage time, the Timbers were in a 5 on 3 counterattack, and Juan Mosquera found himself unmarked as he got to the top of the Seattle 18-yard box, and blasted home a shot into the top right corner of the net, and the lead was 4-1, which would be the final score.
With the win, the Timbers have won four straight matches against the Sounders, and are now tied with 18 wins, 18 losses, and 7 draws vs. the Sounders in MLS regular season play.
