Tukwila, Wash. – The Seattle Sounders scored two goals with a one man advantage to defeated the Portland Timbers 2-1 Tuesday night in the second round of the U.S. Open Cup at Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, Wash. Timbers defender Cameron Knowles was ejected late in the first half.
The Sounders advance to play Major League Soccer’s Chivas USA in the third round in July.
The Portland and Seattle rivalry continues to grow deeper as the two sides played another physical match. There were eight cards issued throughout the match including an ejection in the first half.
Knowles was sent off in the 41st minute being called for giving an elbow to a Seattle player in the box. The foul set up the game tying penalty kick by former Timber midfielder Hugo Alcarez-Cuellar.
Goalkeeper Josh Wicks recorded six saves stopping several one-on-one chances by Seattle. In the 30th minute, Wicks took the ball off of the foot of Seattle midfielder Sabastien Le Toux as he charged off his line and met Le Toux 12 yards from the goal line.
Portland took a 1-0 lead in the 19th minute on a header by Thompson from eight yards out. Set up by a free kick from midfielder Andrew Gregor, Thompson finished inside the near post past Seattle goalkeeper Chris Eylander.
Alcarez-Cuellar tied the match at 1-1 on a penalty kick after Knowles was ejected from the match.
The Sounders took a 2-1 lead in the 70th minute on a header by defender Jake Besagno. The second-half sub headed in a long ball into the box by forward Greg Howes.
The Timbers travel to San Francisco to face the California Victory on Thursday before returning home to play host to Miami FC at PGE Park at 7 p.m.
Notes: The Sounders have never lost at Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila, Wash. dating back to 2004 …
Lineups:
POR: GK Wicks, D Griffin, D J. Thompson, D Knowles, M S. Thompson, M Gregor, M Poltl (Taylor, 81), M Higgins, M Hague (Morrison, 45), F Jordan, F Bagley (Lara, 45)
SEA: GK Eylander, D Merl, D Scott, D Treschuk, D Sakuda, M Gardner (Rivera,88), M Le Toux, O’Brien (Besagno, 45), M Alcarez-Cuellar (Sturm, 83), F Levesque, F Howes
Scoring Summary:
POR: J. Thompson (Gregor), 19
SEA: Alcarez-Cuellar (PK), 41
SEA: Besagno (Howes), 70
