PORTLAND, Ore. — The first half could not have possibly gone much worse for the Seattle Sounders than it did. Shoddy set-piece defense? Check. Inability to hold the ball in midfield? Check. Lack of danger going forward? Check.
The Portland Timbers didn’t just play their game to perfection over the first 45 minutes, they somehow exceeded that. What was crazy that even at 4-0, there were chances they left wanting. Stefan Frei made at least one other-worldly save. But Caleb Porter probably didn’t know what to tell his team at halftime, other than "do that again."
Brian Schmetzer responded by making a pair of second-half subs, something you almost never see at the professional level.