Commentary: Inability to beat Timbers at home leaves big hole in Sounders’ résumé

June 4, 2023 Updated Sun., June 4, 2023 at 2:04 p.m.

SEATTLE – One MLS Cup. Two more MLS Cup appearances. A CONCACAF Champions League title as well, which was a first for a Major League Soccer club.

These are the chief achievements over the past six years for the Sounders, who have also made five playoff appearances during that span.

It's possible that the Sounders are the most accomplished team in the MLS since 2017. That résumé is tough to compete against. But one thing they haven't been able to do since that year is beat their chief rival, the Portland Timbers, at Lumen Field during the regular season. That didn't change Saturday.

The matchup that typically begets the largest crowd of the season — the team announced 42,054 fans on hand for this one — has regularly left the die-hards disappointed. Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer is well aware of that regular-season no-win streak against his PNW nemesis and was candid Saturday about its significance.

"(Timbers coach) Gio (Savarese) is a nice man and a good coach — but that's a sore spot. It's kind of a black hole on the résumé for sure. He has had my number since he started with Portland. There's no denying that. That's a fact," Schmetzer said. "I saw our ECS newsletter and the start of a Decade of Dominance and some of the other things that floated around on social media and what does motivate me (is) to be better than my adversary. So we’ll reflect on that."

It's not that the Sounders just keep getting obliterated by Portland. There have been a couple of draws along the way and some narrow defeats — not to mention wins in PDX. But you’d figure a club as successful as the Sounders would have been able to deliver a Lumen Field win against their rival — especially in a season such as this one, when they came into the game in first in the Western Conference and the Timbers 10th.

It just hasn't happened, and Saturday, really never looked like it would.

Despite controlling possession for most of the game, the Sounders managed just five shots on goal. That was less than half of the Timbers’ 11. If you were a fan on the fence about soccer before the game, you probably wouldn't have jumped over to the pro fùtbol side afterward. Hyped as this contest might have been, it ended in the first scoreless draw between these two teams in their MLS history. More frustratingly to the Sounders, it prolonged a nagging winless streak in a season that's starting to stagnate.

"Of course we want to beat the Timbers at home — it's been a frustrating four or five years (six, actually) of not winning at home. We wanted to change that today," Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldan said. "It does sting that we didn't get the chance. We didn't play up to our standards to feel like we deserved a win."

A reporter asked Roldan if the tie felt like a "glass half-full" situation.

"No, actually. We got four points out of nine in the last three games at home," Roldan said. "I would take this as a negative, not being able to beat Portland."

It's not just the home games that have gotten away from the Sounders (8-6-3) lately, it's that they’ve won just two of their past nine contests, which include five losses. That's why even though they technically entered the game in first place in the conference, their points-per-match mark was much lower than that of St. Louis and LAFC.

No, this isn't like last season, when injuries and a possible Champions League Cup hangover led to missing the playoffs for the first time in its MLS history. But at the season's halfway point, there are still concerns despite its plus-.500 record.

Perhaps that's why Sounders goalie Stefan Frei's response to a question about not taking down the Timbers at Lumen in so long didn't focus on the opponent as much as others.

"They’ve had our number the last few games, it's frustrating," Frei said, whose team played three games in the past eight days. "Now it's about getting away from soccer for a hot second and recharging mentally and physically and finally being able to properly train again."

Plenty of motivation to maximize training opportunities. There are 17 games left on the schedule for a team eager to get back into the postseason. But it's hard to think the Sounders aren't eyeing Sept. 2 when Portland returns to Seattle.

The Sounders have done as much as any other MLS club over the past six years — but there's still something that needs doing.

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