The Seattle Sounders' four-game unbeaten stretch -- a run that put the team back into playoff contention in the Western Conference -- ended with a 4-2 defeat to the Timbers on Sunday. The defending MLS Cup champions exacted some revenge for their 3-1 loss in Seattle last weekend and with the win, Portland put four points between themselves and the Sounders in the standings.
Fate dealt the Sounders a bad break as Clint Dempsey is out for the foreseeable future because of concerns over an irregular heartbeat. Dempsey was key to the Seattle revival in recent weeks, leading the attack and scoring goals for a team that had struggled offensively for most of the season. Without him on Sunday, Seattle fell behind 4-0 and although they made a late bid to come back with two early second-half goals, they ultimately fell short.
Meanwhile, the Timbers looked every bit MLS Cup champions for 84 minutes, minus a brief blip when they conceded two goals and allowed Seattle back into the game. Fanendo Adi's return -- he did not start against the Sounders in Seattle last week because he missed the team flight -- made an obvious difference. Portland can kick on from the win and firm up its playoff spot in the West, but as one of the more maddeningly inconsistent "good" teams in the league, there's no telling if it will actually do so.
At least the final Cascadia Cup match between the Sounders and Timbers means the end of the silly Rickroll War started by the Emerald City Supporters' strange tifo choice last week.
D.C. United doused/put out/extinguished the Fire on Saturday, and no, none of those descriptions do the thrashing justice. A final scoreline of 6-2 only marginally expressed just how poor Chicago was and how rampant the United attack proved to be.
Chicago's league-worst road record surely played a role in how D.C. coach Ben Olsen deployed his team, but the performances he got out of Argentine playmaker Luciano Acosta and third-year forward Patrick Mullins should inform his choices for the balance of the season. Mullins scored three times in the rout, showing the type of nose for goal that made him a two-time Hermann Trophy winner at the University of Maryland and a top pick in the 2014 MLS SuperDraft. Somehow, it took until his third team for Mullins to get a real shot to make a difference in an MLS lineup, but it finally looks like his time is here.
Give coach Veljko Paunovic, and to an equal extent the Fire organization, credit for their commitment to a plan that has shown almost no return in 2016. Yes, the Fire are technically still in the playoff hunt in the East, but this sure looks like a year sacrificed on the altar of a long-term program. Maybe he's merely making excuses as the losses pile up, or maybe Paunovic is being sincere when he puts a positive spin on a 6-2 defeat on the road against a team that was tied for the fewest goals scored in the league (with, of course, the Fire themselves) heading into the match.
"I think our guys did their best and I want to congratulate them on that," Paunovic said after the game. "It's very important to us to give that message to all our rivals -- that we're going to do our best even in a situation like today where we had 10 men on the field. It's a hard loss, it is, but we learn from our mistakes, we believe that a team in the process of becoming a champion has to lose games like this. It happens to everyone."
The Fire boss highlighted his team's performance after going down a man in the first 35 minutes and therefore gets a little more leeway. Still, that's an awfully rosy picture for a team at the bottom of the standings.
Orlando City SC coach Jason Kreis told anyone who asked during the days leading into his side's home match against New York City FC that it was just another game for him. But it's hard to imagine the former NYCFC boss didn't feel some little surge of satisfaction after Sunday's 2-1 win against a club that fired him after just one year on the job in the Bronx.
The win over NYCFC gives Kreis a 2-2-2 record since taking over from Adrian Heath, and moves his team within a point of the last playoff spot in the conference.
It took a penalty kick for Orlando City to find the winner, but they'll take victories no matter how they come. Leadership and purpose from Kaka in an important game is a good sign that the Lions have a good shot at qualifying out of the East.
Bradley Wright-Phillips probably won't win the MVP award this season, but the Red Bulls' striker deserves plenty of plaudits for pulling himself into the Golden Boot race and lifting his team in the process. Wright-Phillips scored the only goal of the game as his side beat the New England Revolution 1-0 on Sunday.
The Revs are 0-5-1 in their past six games with just two goals scored over that period. There's really no excuse for a team with so many quality attacking players to be on a run that poor.
Elsewhere, Toronto FC's 2-1 home loss to the Montreal Impact is a blow to the Reds' confidence and a reminder that nothing is easy in this league, but don't be surprised if Greg Vanney's team bounces back in a big way next weekend on the road against the Fire.
Jason Davis covers Major League Soccer and the United States national team for ESPN FC. Twitter: @davisjsn.
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