By Jayda Evans
The Seattle Times
It’s Brian Fernandez’s first taste of a Pacific Northwest rivalry, so naturally he had no decorum.
The newly acquired Portland forward waltzed into CenturyLink Field and fed off the hostility thrown at his Timbers team by the Sounders faithful. Fernandez dismissed that he was supposed to be intimidated or that Portland was to cower to Seattle on the Rave Green field as other teams have done in Seattle’s 13-match unbeaten streak at home.
Instead, Fernandez found his way to goals and spaces to look up and celebrate with Portland fans seated in the highest deck of the football stadium. The Timbers left with a 2-1 victory before a crowd of 50,072 Sunday night.
“There’s still some fire in this rivalry and it got stoked to a higher level tonight,” Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer said. “We’ll remember some of the things that happened (and) hopefully we can use that as motivation for the next game.”
In addition to losing at home for the first time since September 2018, the Sounders are in jeopardy of not defending their hold on the Cascadia Cup. The Sounders travel to Portland for the rivalry’s finale in August.
Fernandez put Portland on the board first in the 20th minute. The Argentine collected a rebound from a Jorge Moreira attempt that Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei tipped off the cross bar.
Sounders defender Roman Torres stood between Fernandez and the goal, leaping a hair too soon to stop the left-footed kick with Frei out of the box.
In the second half, Fernandez cut short an equalizer goal by Sounders striker Raul Ruidiaz in the 50th minute with his own in the 51st.
Fernandez faced double coverage from Torres and Sounders defender Kim Kee-hee, but the Timbers star utilized a well-placed pass from Portland midfielder Sebastian Blanco to swing a right-footed shot past Torres.
Portland signed Fernandez as a designated player in May from Liga MX. He has eight goals in his MLS debut season, also scoring against Seattle in a U.S. Open Cup victory in June.
“It took some of the wind out of our sails,” Schmetzer said of Fernandez’s second goal Sunday. “My guys put in a decent amount of effort but this wasn’t our best game up here.”
The match Sunday marked the 106th meeting between the clubs. The rivalry dates back to 1975, but had a dull feel in this rendition because of different aspirations for each club.
Seattle (10-6-5) needed the victory to get back in front of the Los Angeles Galaxy for second place in MLS Western Conference standings. Portland (8-8-4) entered the night four points outside of the playoff picture, and pick up three with the triumph.
In the new MLS Cup format, the higher seeds from each conference get the home matches in a single-elimination tournament.
“We had chances,” Sounders left back Brad Smith said. “It wasn’t our day and I feel sorry for the fans.”
The shared animosity you’d expect from a rivalry emerged as the match Sunday progressed. The crowd sneered at the officiating and Fernandez as he appeared to elbow Torres and had an awkward tackle against Kim that strained the defender’s right knee. After the match, players from both sides had words and shoved each other around.
Portland keeper Steve Clark was booed off the field by the remaining crowd. Clark had seven saves in the match.
Frei acted as a peacekeeper, jumping in huddles to separate players. He did the same in the corridors for the home and visitors locker rooms.
“They won the game, what’s there to fight for at this point?” Frei said. “Let’s not get silly ejections or other stupid things that will hurt the team. The answer to this game needs to come the next time we face them or in Houston, our next game (July 27).”
