SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC v. PORTLAND TIMBERS

Greetings to my brothers and sisters in Green. It’s been a minute since our last league match at LAFC. 53 days to be exact, but whose counting? The timing couldna be better though, with arch-rivals Portland headed into town to contest the Pacific Northwest derby. So, build a bonfire…someplace safe, preferably. It’s gonna be a wooly one.

What: MLS league and Cascadia Cup match, Seattle Sounders FC v. Portland Timbers.

Where: Royal Brougham Park, Occidental Avenue, Seattle, Washington.

When: 7:40 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, Thursday 16 July 2026 CE.

At Stake: Points in the league and in the Cascadia Cup. Sounders are currently 10th place in the league table on 24 points, nine points adrift of leaders Nashville. A Sounders victory could potentially vault us as high as 5th place, should the following results go our way: Chicago must lose to visiting Vancouver, and LA Galaxy must defeat or draw visitors LAFC in El Traffico. Thursday night’s match will be Sounders’ first Cascadia Cup match. Vancouver has defeated Portland twice and sits atop the standings with six points.

Where to Watch: Apple TV. As this is a home fixture, you have the option of selecting the KJR simulcast in the control layer using the alternate audio button.

Where to Listen: KJR 93.3 FM and El Rey 1360 AM.

Royal Brougham Park on a midsummer’s night. Portland the visitor. No quarter asked. No quarter given. Following what will likely be a bit of cleansing rain, these auld rivals will square off with the aim of taking all three points with Cascadia bragging rights on the line. People like to say “It’s not personal, it’s just business”, but in this instance it is both business AND personal.

A lot of players hurt for us. It’s not going to be easy going. But those that get the chance to be in the team for us are a different breed. They don’t understand the concept of quitting or breaking under the strain. They crack on and run their socks off, until they can run no further.

The Treecutters will provide us with a stern test of our ability and resolve. We’ve had a crap last five matches, and so have they. Can the Sounders break their patchy stretch of form? I wouldna bet against us. I’ll tell you that for nothin’.

Sounders. Timbers. It’s MLS League and Cascadia Cup football under the Thursday night lights at Royal Brougham Park. GO ON YOU SOUNDERS!!! GET IN!!!

Before kick-off, please join me in the auld toast: “TO THE SEATTLE SOUNDERS FOOTBALL CLUB…AND VICTORY!!!”

With Gomez Andrade, de la Vega, and both Roldan brothers out,

Thursday night’s derby is going to be one tough row to hoe.

The Good News

Sounders are still in the top 10 league places and are tied for best defence in the MLS. I’d say roughly ⅔ of the league would give much to be where we are in the standings at present.

Sounders are 5-1-1 this season in all competitions when playing at Royal Brougham Park. We are 6-1-1 at home if you count the Spokane CONCACAF Champions Cup match. In stark contrast, Portland are 1-1-6 on the road this season.

Sounders were on a long unbeaten streak before we ran into the Los Angeles teams just before the break. It was nine matches unbeaten in the league (6-3-0), and I think even more than that, if you factor in CONCACAF Champions Cup.

Portland’s recent form is slightly more crap than ours at 1-1-3 in their last five. Timbers have had such a crap year so far that it got Phil Neville sacked.

Portland is having a terrible time attempting to keep the ball out of their nets, averaging two goals conceded per match. Sounders are 7-0-0 in all competitions this season when they score two or more goals.

Portland have not defeated us in the league since 31 August 2024.

Danger men for the Sounders are Rothrock (4 goals, 1 assist), Rusnak (3 goals, 4 assists), De Rosario (2 goals, 1 assist), and Ferreira (2 goals, 5 assists).

The Bad News

The danger men for Portland are Kelsey (5 goals, 3 assists), Bassett (2 goals, 3 assists), Antony (2 goals, 1 assist), and Lassiter (2 goals, 1 assist).

Help on the way from the transfer market so far…absolutely none. The MLS summer transfer window ends on 2 September.

Of all 30 clubs in MLS, only three — St. Louis, Kansas City, and Atlanta — have scored fewer goals than our 17 this season. Going forward, this is going to be a problem unless we find a way to sort it.

If you look at the results of Sounders and Portland against common opponents, it’s a mixed bag, at best. Sounders were better against Salt Lake, Colorado, San Jose, Minnesota, Houston, and Vancouver. Portland were better against Kansas City, San Diego, LA Galaxy, and LAFC. Damned if I can explain it.

Cody Baker has been loaned to New England Revolution. I think Baker might’ve been Nouhou’s only understudy at left-back. Sooooo, we’ll see how that works out. Good on Cody though, as he’s good enough to play in the team, but has only made three league appearances for Sounders this season. He has only been selected in the team once in 13 league matches.

The Side I Would Select

I’d say injuries don’t leave much choice selection-wise. That said, I’d have this lot.

Rationale:

Lopez at right-centre-half because he’s a good option and also arguably the best available option, as almost everyone else who plays that position is injured. That said, I also believe Stu Hawkins would do just fine in the same role. Kossa-Rienzi at right-back because he’s the only healthy option there with Alex out. Kossa-Rienzi will, however, have to do better than last time out when he lost his mark, sealing our defeat at Figueroa Street just before the break. Dotson and Brunell are arguably the two best healthy options for the two holding midfield roles. Morris at right-forward because he’s: 1. not a true centre-forward, and 2. Rothrock leads the club in league goals this season and plays on the left — the same side that Morris favours. De Rosario because he’s hit two league goals, the most goals scored by any of our centre-forwards this season. Osaze is also a very tall, powerful striker, featuring a bit of technique with the ball at his feet to boot, and would give any centre-halves attempting to mark him a difficult match every time out.

GK     Thomas

LB     Nouhou

LCH    Ragen

RCH    Lopez

RB     Kossa-Rienzi

LDM    Dotson

RDM   Brunell

LF     Rothrock

CAM   Rusnak

RF     Morris

CF     De Rosario

The Side I Think The Gaffer Will Select

I’m struggling to recall a time where Gomez Andrade and both Roldan brothers were unavailable for selection at the same time. Schmetz likes Morris leading the line, and he likes Ferreira on the right with Rusnak at the #10. With due consideration for our injuries, I think this group is a safe bet.

GK     Thomas

LB     Nouhou

LCH    Ragen

RCH    Lopez

RB     Kossa-Rienzi

LDM    Dotson

RDM   Brunell

LF     Rothrock

CAM   Rusnak

RF     Ferreira

CF     Morris

Intangibles

The Referee for Thursday night’s match will be Rosendo Mendoza.

SEA record with Mendoza as Ref: 5-3-2

POR record with Mendoza as Ref: 4-3-5

If you take a look at the standings before every match, you would have a reasonable expectation that if one team was significantly better than the opponent in the standings that the result would favour the significantly better team. This is not the case in MLS. You can beat the team that’s top of the league like a drum one day, and absolutely bollux the job against the 30th place team the next. Unpredictability can be a good thing, but not as a steady diet of utter and complete inconsistency. Sounders are 10th place in the league, Timbers are 23rd, yet they are separated by only 10 points in the league table. The point is, it’s fucking irritating, and makes predictions nearly impossible.

Timbers gave former Manager Phil Neville the sack on 25 May. Reserves Manager Jack Cassidy is now caretaker and it’s his first match in charge. Cassidy was once the Lead Academy Coach for Luton Town, who were in the English Premiership as recently as two years ago. Cassidy also had been Coach and Pathways Manager of Cambridge United U-21s. If I’m that bloke, I’m proper hungry to secure the permanent job as Timbers Manager, and his squad will be running their socks off to earn a regular place in the new Gaffer’s team. So prepare for that level of motivation from the visitors come Thursday night.

General notes on personnel

Portland transfers IN:

Bye (New England Revolution) free

Bonetig (Western Sydney Wanderers) €1.7M

Bassett (Colorado Rapids) €2.25M

Aravena (Gremio) loan

Caicedo (UNAM Pumas) €2.2M

Izoita - reserves

Portland transfers OUT:

Carballo (Gremio) end of loan

Crepeau (Orlando City SC) free

Paredes (Cerro Porteno) free

Rojas (Libertad) free

Zuparic (Hapoel Haifa) free

Ayala (Inter Miami CF) €1.7M

Rodriguez (MLS Pool)

Comparison against common opponents

SEA 2:0 COL

COL 2:0 POR

(against COL: SEA 1-0-0 +2, POR 0-0-1 -2) decisive edge SEA

RSL 2:1 SEA

RSL 2:0 POR

(against RSL: SEA 0-0-1 -1, POR 0-0-1 -2) marginal edge SEA

SJ 0:1 SEA

SEA 3:2 SJ

POR 1:3 SJ

(against SJ: SEA 2-0-0 +2, POR 0-0-1 -2) decisive edge SEA

MIN 0:0 SEA

MIN 2:0 POR

(against MIN: SEA 0-1-0 0, POR 0-0-1 -2) edge SEA

HOU 0:1 SEA

HOU 3:2 POR

(against HOU: SEA 1-0-0 +1, POR 0-0-1 -1) decisive edge SEA

SKC 1:1 SEA

POR 6:0 SKC

(against SKC: SEA 0-1-0 0, POR 1-0-0 +6) decisive edge POR

SEA 1:1 SD

SD 1:2 POR

(against SD: SEA 0-1-0 0, POR 1-0-0 +1) edge POR

SEA 0:2 LAG

POR 1:1 LAG

(against LAG: SEA 0-0-1 -2, POR 0-1-0 0) edge POR

LAFC 1:0 SEA

POR 2:1 LAFC

(against LAFC: SEA 0-0-1 -1, POR 1-0-0 +1) decisive edge POR

VAN 0:3 SEA CCC

SEA 2:1 VAN CCC (Spokane)

POR 1:4 VAN

VAN 3:2 POR

(against VAN: SEA 2-0-0 +4, POR 0-0-2 -4) decisive edge SEA

Know Thine Enemy

The Treecutters as they lined up in their 1:3 defeat by visiting San Jose at Morrison Street on 23 May.

GOALKEEPER

James Pantemis, 29

Canada

Notable Clubs: FC Montreal (2/0), CF Montreal (34/0), Valour FC (7/0), Portland Timbers (48/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1M

Notes: Developed by Pierrefonds, Lakeshore, and Montreal Impact. Won 2x Canadian Championship with Montreal Impact.

DEFENCE

Jimer Fory, 24

Colombia

Notable Clubs: Atletico Nacional (19/0), Deportivo Pereira (48/1), Independiente Medellin (27/0), Portland Timbers (39/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.8M

Notes: Won a Colombian league title with Atletico Nacional and another one with Deportivo Pereira. Won a Columbian Cup with Atletico Nacional.

Kamal Miller, 29

Canada (52/0)

Notable Clubs: Orlando City SC (28/0), CF Montreal (60/3), Inter Miami CF (22/0), Portland Timbers (57/1)

Estimated Transfer Value: €2.5M

Notes: Developed by Malvern SC, North Scarborough SC, and Vaughan Azzuri. Played his university football for Syracuse (78/7). Won a Canadian Championship with CF Montreal. Won a Leagues Cup with Inter Miami CF.

Finn Surman, 22

New Zealand (22/3)

Notable Clubs: Selwyn United (1/0), Wellington Phoenix (45/1), Portland Timbers (46/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.8M

Notes: Developed by Selwyn United and Wellington Phoenix. Won an OFC Nations Cup with New Zealand. Named OFC Nations Cup Best Young Player 2024.

Brandon Bye, 30

United States

Notable Clubs: New England Revolution (189/10), Portland Timbers (14/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.8M

Notes: Developed by Kalamazoo Kingdom and Alliance FC. Played his university football for Western Michigan (64/22). Won an MLS league championship with New England Revolution.

MIDFIELD

Cole Bassett, 24

United States (1/1)

Notable Clubs: Colorado Rapids (144/29), Feyenoord (8/0), Fortuna Sittard (10/0), Portland Timbers (10/2)

Estimated Transfer Value: €3.5M

Notes: Developed by Colorado Rush and Colorado Rapids.

David Da Costa, 25

Portugal

Notable Clubs: Lens (107/9), Portland Timbers (43/5)

Estimated Transfer Value: €5M

Notes: Developed by Lens.

Joao Ortiz, 30

Ecuador (9/0)

Notable Clubs: Universidad Catolica (1/0), Plaza Colonia (3/0), Deportivo Quito (2/0), Cumbaya (18/2), Clan Juvenil (27/1), Deportivo Cuenca (20/0), Delfin (55/3), LDU Quito (13/0), Independiente del Valle (68/2), Portland Timbers (28/0)

Estimated Transfer Value: €1.5M

Notes: Full name: Julio Joao Ortiz Landazuri. Developed by El Nacional and Universidad Catolica. Won a Copa Sudamericana, Ecuadoran league title, Recopa Sudamericana, and an Ecuadoran Supercopa with Independiente del Valle.

FORWARD

Antony, 24

Brazil

Notable Clubs: Corinthians (3/0), Arouca (63/8), Portland Timbers (83/16)

Estimated Transfer Value: €5M

Notes: Full name: Antony Alves Santos. Developed by Coritiba, Renovicente, and Joinville.

Kevin Kelsy, 21

Venezuela (4/0)

Notable Clubs: Mineros de Guayana (33/5), Shakhtar Donetsk (27/7), FC Cincinnati (23/6), Portland Timbers (47/12)

Estimated Transfer Value: €4M

Notes: Developed by Mineros de Guayana. Played for Venezuela (13/2) at youth levels. Won two Ukrainian Premier League titles with Shakhtar Donetsk.

Kristoffer Velde, 26

Norway (1/0)

Notable Clubs: Haugesund (101/21), Lech Poznan (72/18), Olympiacos (21/4), Portland Timbers (22/4)

Estimated Transfer Value: €5M

Notes: Developed by Kopervik, Vard, and Haugesund. Won a Greek Super League and Greek Cup with Olympiacos.

Familiar Faces

Timbers goalkeeper Trey Muse was with the Sounders organisation in 2017 and then from 2019-2021, playing 24 matches for the Sounders FC Reserves.

Squads

Sounders FC from:

Frei, Thomas, Anchor, Hawkins, Kossa-Rienzi, Lopez, Nouhou, Ragen, Sailor, Brunell, Dotson, Gomez, Kingston, Rusnak, Arriola, De Rosario, Ferreira, Morris, Musovski, Rothrock, Tsukanome.

Portland from:

Pantemis, Muse, Sulte, Kamal Miller, Bye, Bonetig, Eric Miller, Jura, McGraw, Surman, Smith, Fory, Da Costa, Bassett, Chara, Caicedo, Ortiz, Lassiter, Mora, Antony, Kelsy, Aravena.

Note: Velde is listed as out but not due to injury. So it’s a mystery…

Injury List

(as listed on mlssoccer.com at press time)

Sounders FC -

OUT: Gomez Andrade (hamstring), de la Vega (knee), Kim (hamstring), Petkovic (knee), Alex (hip), Cristian (quadriceps).

MATCHDAY DECISION: Sailor (hamstring).

Portland -

OUT: Fernandez (lower body, we’ll say yeast infection), Guerra (core, we’ll say nipple dermatitis), Mosquera (foot/ankle).

MATCHDAY DECISION: none.

Discipline

(as listed on mlssoccer.com at press time)

No players suspended from either team.

Fun Fact

Sounders FC Reserves defeated San Jose Earthquakes II by a score of 0:1 on 12 July. Midfielder Xavi Gnaulati hit the late winner for the reserves in the 81st minute. In the team for the reserves: Anchor, Phoenix, Winslow, Sandnes, Alvarez, Gaffney, Gnaulati, Robles, Jauregui, Carli, Bronnik. On the substitutes bench: Shour, Brown, Emert, Flores Gonzalez, Smith. The Sounders FC Reserves played five matches over the World Cup Finals break, amassing a record of 3-1-1 during that spell. These were the results:

Sounders FC Reserves 2:1 Houston Dynamo 2

Sounders FC Reserves 1:0 Real Salt Lake Reserves

Minnesota United FC 2 2:2 Sounders FC Reserves

Sounders FC Reserves 0:2 Timbers 2

San Jose Earthquakes II 0:1 Sounders FC Reserves

Sounders FC Reserves are now 21st in the MLS Next Pro table (out of 30 teams) on 24 points, 16 points adrift of leaders Austin FC II. The Reserves next fixture will be on 19 July at Real Salt Lake Reserves. Kick-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. PDT.

Well done over the break, lads. You’ve made us proud.