PORTLAND, Ore — The mood surrounding the Seattle Sounders has been pretty weird lately. It certainly didn’t start with their loss to the Portland Timbers about a month ago, but that game did short-circuit what seemed to be the start of another midseason turnaround.
Rather than build off a win over Atlanta United a week earlier, the Timbers loss started what became a 1-3-2 run. In between, the Sounders had found themselves embroiled in a fan protest, lost Román Torres to a positive PED test and seen their spot in an 11th straight postseason turn precarious.