Sounders, Timbers play to 1-1 draw before heading for postseason
SEATTLE (AP) — Antony Alves Santos scored in the second half to help the Portland Timbers earn a 1-1 draw with the Seattle Sounders in a Decision Day match on Saturday night to close out the regular season.
The draw drops Seattle (16-9-9) into the No. 4 spot in the Western Conference, meaning the Sounders will host the fifth-seeded Houston Dynamo in a first-round match next weekend. Portland (12-11-11) had already wrapped up a berth in the wild-card match and will travel to play the Vancouver Whitecaps on Wednesday with regular-season champion Los Angeles FC awaiting the winner.
Seattle grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 37th minute on defender Yéimar Gomez Andrade’s first goal of the season. Albert Rusnák notched his career-high 16th assist this season on the score.
Portland pulled even in the 68th minute when Antony took a pass from Evander Da Silva Ferreira and scored. It was the sixth goal of the season for Antony and the career-best 19th assist of the campaign for Evander, who also has a career-high 15 netters in his second season in the league.
Obed Vargas was tagged with a second yellow card in the 69th minute after picking up his first four minutes earlier, forcing the Sounders to play a man down from there.
Stefan Frei turned away one shot in goal for the Sounders. He led the league with 14 clean sheets for the second straight season, matching his career high.
James Pantemis totaled five saves for the Timbers.
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