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Cascadia Rivalry: Clint Dempsey Scores Late As Seattle Draw Portland 2-2

The Cascadia Rivalry continued Sunday night when the Seattle Sounders traveled down the I-5 highway to take on the Portland Timbers at Providence Park.

PORTLAND, OR — The second chapter of the Cascadia Rivalry took place at Providence Park in Portland. The last outing saw the Seattle Sounders defeat the Portland Timbers by a 1-0 scoreline.

Seattle was close to opening the scoring in the fourth minute when striker Will Bruin got his head on the ball after a corner, but it went high over the bar. Seattle was granted a free kick a few minutes later when Alvas Powell took down Jordan Morris in a rough challenge.

Portland was able to venture down to the Seattle penalty area when Diego Chara played a ball into Fanendo AdiAdi struck the ball low, but Stefan Frei was there to make the save.

Darlington Nagbe put together a sequence of passes in the 24th minute near the penalty area. His ensuing shot was wide of the net but came close to putting the home side ahead.

Joevin Jones Strikes First

Seattle finally broke through in the 28th minute when Joevin Jones put home a rebound shot to break the deadlock. His initial shot was saved by keeper Jake Gleeson but his follow-up found the back of the net.

Diego Valeri earned a free kick just outside of the penalty area. His kick had a nice curl to it and almost would’ve ended up in the back of the net had Frei not been there to make the catch. Just a minute later, Dairon Asprilla almost tied the game when his header ricocheted off of the crossbar.

At the other end, Nicolas Lodeiro almost doubled the Sounders lead, but his shot was saved by Gleeson, and he was also marked offside.

Before the halftime whistle blew, the Timbers were awarded a lifeline from referee Ricardo SalazarDefender Brad Evans brought down midfielder Darlington Nagbe inside of the area. After communication with his near side assistant, Salazar issued Evans a red card for denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity.

Adi stepped up to take the penalty kick and converted to tie the game.

Timbers Turn Two

Just three minutes later, Asprilla was able to head home a corner kick in the upper corner to give the home team a 2-1 lead. Portland was riding high into the half after being up a man and equalizing the game before the goal. Portland would have the lead over their Seattle rivals 2-1.

Clint Dempsey came in off of the bench in the 56th minute. He tried to chip Gleeson in the 67th minute, but it was just high over the bar.

Dempsey Scores Equalizer

There wasn’t much action going in the second half. The majority was back and forth play, but rather slow. The Timbers kept ahold of their 2-1 lead over their rivals. With a win, Portland would climb to the top spot in the Cascadia rankings above the little brother side Vancouver Whitecaps

However, Clint Dempsey just needed one chance to make his mark and he did. The American — who was left off of the final 23-man roster for the CONCACAF Gold Cup — caught Amobi Okugo flat footed and headed home a Roman Torres cross. That goal would seal a point on the road for Seattle.

Next up, Seattle will play the San Jose Earthquakes in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, while the Timbers will play Sporting Kansas City away from home.

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