📝Portland Timbers 0-1 Seattle Sounders: Late own goal sinks Portland | OneFootball

Major League Soccer’s touted Rivalry Week concluded with Sunday night’s marquee match-up between the Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders.

Rather than starting with a bang, this Cascadia Cup match simmered to a slow boil. The match was fairly even in midfield but the Timbers tried to pepper Seattle’s net, taking 22 total shots. Unfortunately for the Rose City faithful, 8 of those attempts sailed wide of the frame and a further 11 were blocked by Seattle’s defence on the way through.

Kim Kee-hee sparked the breakthrough when the Korean centre-back attacked up the right flank before hitting a low cross into the middle of the penalty area towards Raúl Ruidíaz. Trying to clear the ball before it reached the Peru international striker, Portland’s defender Julio Cascante bungled the ball into his own net past goalkeeper Jeff Attinella.

The 76th minute own goal ended up as the game’s only tally but wouldn’t be Cascante’s last moment of tension.

In the second minute of added time, the Costa Rican defender recovered to close down Ruidíaz and succeeded in breaking up the play but took a knock to his head in the process. Cascante could be seen bleeding from the left side of his face before receiving treatment for a potential head injury.

While Cascante and the rest of the Timbers were frustrated and disappointed by the final whistle, Seattle’s communications staff were clearly enjoying themselves on Sunday night.

The Sounders had any number of reasons to be happy with their win at Providence Park. The victory was their first at Portland’s home stadium in four years.

Sunday night marked the seventh straight win for the Sounders as they leap-frogged Portland in the Western Conference standings. Seattle now occupies a play-off berth for the first time in the 2018 season.

Portland had enjoyed four months without losing until falling to fellow Cascadia rivals Vancouver Whitecaps. Including that results on 11 August, the Timbers have now lost four consecutive league contests. Giovanni Savarese’s squad won’t have much time to lament their station, however, as they must quickly prepare to host Toronto FC on Wednesday.