Monday MLS Breakdown: Seattle shows its maturity in its victory at Portland

The strands of Seattle's promising season all came together in its pulsating 3-2 victory over Portland on Sunday afternoon.

A litany of factors – both positive and negative – present in this match make this affair a potential turning point in a season with CONCACAF Champions League, Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and MLS commitments still on the docket. One facet stands out as the proper starting place after Seattle emerged from the cauldron better known as JELD-WEN Field with all three points.

If this campaign unfolds as Sounders FC hopes it might, this result will serve as a testament to the improved fortitude in a Seattle side often exposed as mentally fragile during the past two seasons.

There were plenty of times when Seattle could have folded up shop – two deficits created by the home team against the run of play, plus the potentially devastating injury to Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (more on the impact of that blow later) early in the second half – and sauntered back up the I-5 with a defeat in hand. Lesser teams would have collapsed. This group might have folded when confronted with a similar situation in years past. Not now. 

“I think we've matured,” Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid told reporters after the match. “I think we've grown. Our character is better. We don't let a setback take us down. Last year, if something negative happened, it sort of impacted us for a little bit and we struggled to find our game again. Our psychology is a lot stronger. The character of the team is stronger. That's been our big change over the last two months.”

No one player personified that intellectual shift in this match more than Fredy Montero did. The Colombian striker has struggled for application and form this season, but he lacked neither of those qualities against the Timbers as he dragged his side back into the match on two occasions. His sumptuous opener from a free kick came as a result of extra work on the training ground, according to Schmid. His second goal owed much to Mauro Rosales' clever touch across the frame, but Montero moved to the correct spot and finished it deftly nonetheless. Most importantly, he showed the willingness to work for the team that will prove vital as he attempts to increase his modest five-goal haul in the second half of the campaign.

Although Montero may grab the headlines, Osvaldo Alonso once again deserves a share of the plaudits for his coolly taken winner from the spot. Alonso displays a remarkable level of consistency from game-to-game and submitted another impressive shift against a revamped Portland midfield (more on that later as well), but his ability to rise to this moment – seven minutes to play, three points on the line – shows why he has carved out a place among the league's top central midfielders. He played the telling ball over the top for Lamar Neagle to prompt the dead-certain penalty decision and then dispatched the penalty with aplomb.

“There were many things on my mind: it's a 2-2 game, in Portland, lot of people -- I was very nervous,” Alonso told the Seattle Times after this match. “I scored the goal and we got the three points, and that's most important for the team.” 

This dynamic team, however, could suffer significantly if Hurtado must sit out for any length of time after sustaining an apparent right knee injury during the second half. Hurtado remains the defensive anchor for a Sounders FC side that currently ranks sixth in the league in goals allowed. The dropoff from Hurtado to Patrick Ianni – the actual replacement against Portland in Hurtado's left center back role and the presumed choice if the Colombian defender misses time – is a steep one that could create uncertainty at the back for a group that needs solid footing with several players usually committed to the attack.

Such instability is further magnified by the continued problems presented at left back. Tyson Wahl played well enough to wrest the shirt away from Leo Gonzalez and hold off Zach Scott, but his lack of pace makes him a liability in the wide areas. Both Timbers goals came as a result of quick players – Kalif Alhassan on the first and Jorge Perlaza on the second – beating Wahl around the corner and serving dangerous balls toward the near post for Seattle defenders to deflect en route to goal. With Hurtado facing an uncertain future at the moment and Wahl capable of being exposed by speedy wingers, the entire left side of the Seattle defense appears somewhat suspect for the short-term.

The long-term – i.e., the post-season and the expected MLS Cup challenge – remains the primary objective for Sounders FC. Although one or two wrinkles cropped up on derby day to highlight potentially damaging flaws, Seattle can take solace from the fact that this victory against the Timbers reinforced the room for growth as this eight-match unbeaten run continues and this season progresses through a daunting gauntlet of domestic and international fixtures.

Five Points – Week 17

1. MLS couldn't have asked for a more appropriate scorer of its 10,000th goal: Chivas USA midfielder Nick LaBrocca is a MLS lifer – previous stops include Colorado and Toronto FC – who shows up for work each and every game. He isn't usually the most talented player on the field, but he works his socks off and he usually does the right things at the top of the Red-and-White's midfield diamond. His sixth goal of the season – a calm and professional conclusion to a tidy move from Robin Fraser's side – hit the milestone and opened the scoring in Chivas USA's 1-1 draw at Sporting Kansas City.

2. One sequence doesn't make or break a trade, but... : … Dwayne De Rosario did surge past Dax McCarty before tucking home the winner in D.C. United's 1-0 victory at New York.

3. An unexpected goalkeeping error sparks a match to life: RSL midfielder Andy Williams floated a free kick from distance toward FCD goalkeeper Kevin Hartman two minutes after halftime. Instead of catching the ball, Hartman bobbled the long-range effort and permitted the ball to squirt over the line. Williams' tally injected a bit of life into the match after a tight first half (FCD should have equalized with six minutes to play, but Chris Wingert cleared Jackson's gilt-edged chance off the line) and sent the Claret-and-Cobalt on its way to a crucial 2-0 victory. It did, however, perhaps come at an emotional cost ahead of Tuesday's Open Cup quarterfinal rematch in Frisco after Alvaro Saborio's petulant exit when he was withdrawn with two minutes to play.

4. New midfield look reveals the same old story for Portland: Timbers coach John Spencer scrapped  his preferred 4-4-2 formation for a 4-1-4-1 setup in Sunday's 3-2 defeat to Seattle. It didn't quite come off as planned from the run of play. Portland left Jorge Perlaza isolated (and forced him to make futile runs) for much of the first half – the wide players did a better job of pushing higher to provide support after the interval – and struggled to rectify its ongoing problems in possession despite the extra man in midfield. If Spencer wants to persist with this approach (and there are a few reasons – most of them related to defensive shape – to do so at this point), he must identify a more suitable player for the deep-lying role (James Marcelin did his best, but the Timbers need a top-shelf distributor and screener in that role) to facilitate possession, improve Perlaza's ability to link up with others and urge his midfielders to push onwards to provide more support to the lone frontrunner.

5. Chris Birchall deserves a stiff ban for his ghastly tackle on Patrick Nyarko: Los Angeles' 2-1 win over Chicago offered plenty of enticing fare for the neutral – at the very least, David Beckham put on a set piece masterclass – but not a soul needed to see Birchall's tackle on Nyarko in second half stoppage time.

Birchall arrived far, far too late to make a play on the ball and upended Nyarko (best player in a Fire shirt on the evening by far) with a robust challenge to halt a potential Fire counterattack (the Galaxy had six players inside the Chicago half at the time). The tackle sparked a fracas in front of the benches – full credit to Beckham to stepping in to shield Birchall and several Fire players for their efforts to express their displeasure about the tackle – as the two teams convened to discuss the matter. 

After the resulting scrum, referee David Gantar inexplicably showed Birchall a yellow card. Fire defender Cory Gibbs summed it up best as he pleaded with Gantar (as captured by the FOX Soccer microphones): “How is that a yellow card?”

It isn't. It's a red card, full stop.

(Note: Los Angeles coach Bruce Arena agreed with the caution and dubbed the tackle “fairly harmless, to be honest with you” during his post-game briefing, as captured by ESPN Los Angeles.)

Once again, the Disciplinary Committee must inject itself into the situation to rectify another instance in which its explicit directives – protect skilled players and punish severe tackles accordingly – were not enforced by the referee on the field of play. Birchall's tackle warrants significant remedial steps to uphold those directives.

Where does this tackle fall in the range of discipline already meted out this season? Birchall's actions – play the man at any cost to stop the break, even if it meant placing Nyarko in significant danger – probably land somewhere between Marcos Mondaini's lunge on Javier Morales (five total games, $1,500 total fine) and Brian Mullan's tackle on Steve Zakuani (ten total games, $5,000 total fine).

The ultimate punishment probably won't hit those heights (the resulting injuries no doubt played a role in those bans), but the tackle itself demands some stern form of supplementary discipline to reinforce the Disciplinary Committee's brief in 2011. 

Kyle McCarthy writes the Monday MLS Breakdown and frequently writes opinion pieces during the week for Goal.com. He also covers the New England Revolution for the Boston Herald and MLSsoccer.com. Contact him with your questions or comments at kyle.mccarthy@goal.com and follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

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