Schmid didn’t have Marc Burch available because of suspension. David Estrada was out with an ankle injury, and Lamar Neagle – acquired from Montréal in the offseason – could not play against his former team as conditions of the deal. “Leo [Gonzalez] has been playing left back for us, so [Marc] Burch being out, it wouldn't have changed our lineup. [Pat] Ianni being injured, [Adam] Johansson being injured, Estrada being injured, Neagle not being available,” said Schmid. “Those definitely affected things in terms of our lineup and our lineup choices. This group has played together.” With the choices, Mauro Rosales moved into an underneath striker role, below Eddie Johnson. “We didn't have a lot of options with guys being out injured, so those were the choices that we made. I don't think it was so much a matter of those choices,” said Schmid. “It was just a matter of maybe we thought because we had gone undefeated that it would just keep going, because we won the Desert [Diamond] Cup it would just keep going. We all got to look at it and say, 'Hey, we need to come out a little hungrier, a little sharper.’” Following the league opener, Sounders FC reached the semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions League with a rare defeat of a Mexican club, defeating Tigres UANL 3-2 on aggregate. In the first leg in Monterrey, Tigres scored the game’s only goal. Here’s the Sounders FC team: Michael Gspurning, Zach Scott (DeAndre Yedlin 81), Djimi Traore, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leo Gonzalez, Alex Caskey, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Mario Martinez (Marc Burch 89), Mauro Rosales (Lamar Neagle 68), Eddie Johnson. Then in the second leg, Tigres took a first-half lead, but goals from DeAndre Yedlin, Djimi Traoré and Eddie Johnson sent Sounders FC into the semifinals. Seattle will take on Santos Laguna, which eliminated the Houston Dynamo. A year ago, Santos knocked Sounders FC out of the competition 6-2 on aggregate. “I wasn’t too happy with how we played in the first half,” Schmid said. “I wasn’t too happy with some individual efforts which we sort of identified very directly. But we also said ‘this was how we’re going to play in the second half. This is what I need. I think you saw Steve Zakuani step up in the second half. Obviously DeAndre stepped up. ‘Three goals is very possible. Three goals is not impossible. We can score three goals, let’s go do it.’” Here’s the Sounders FC team: Michael Gspurning, DeAndre Yedlin, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Djimi Traore, Leo Gonzalez, Mauro Rosales (Mario Martinez 54), Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans (Andy Rose 27), Steve Zakuani (Marc Burch 83), Sammy Ochoa, Eddie Johnson.
PORTLAND TIMBERS The Portland Timbers are still looking for a first victory under new coach Caleb Porter, the Montréal Impact claiming a 21 win on Saturday evening at Jeld-Wen Field. LAST MATCH The Impact took the lead on the opening half-hour. Hassoun Camara tallied from a spectacular overhead kick after Portland had failed to clear their lines following a Montreal set piece. The visitors then doubled their lead 30 minutes later. Patrice Bernier got loose in midfield before slotting substitute Andres Romero through. Romero pulled it back to Felipe at the edge of the six-yard box, and the Brazilian made no mistake in beating Ricketts to the near post. The Timbers responded with a fury, aiming for their second comeback in two weeks. They got a breakthrough in the 80th minute when forward Ryan Johnson got goalside of Camara, heading in from close range, but could get no closer. Timbers head coach Caleb Porter made no changes to the team that came back for a 3-3 draw with the New York Red Bulls at Jeld-Wen Field PORTLAND TIMBERS (4-2-3-1): Donovan Ricketts - Ryan Miller (Jose Adolfo Valencia 68), Mikael Silvestre, Andrew Jean-Baptiste, Michael Harrington (Rodney Wallace 86) - Diego Chara, Will Johnson - Kalif Alhassan (Ben Zemanski 46), Diego Valeri, Darlington Nagbe - Ryan Johnson. TEAM NEWS Against New York, the Timbers got off 21 attempts at goal. They put six on target against Montréal, but could come away with only the single goal. “It’s not surprising we had as much of the ball as we did, we knew that would be the case,” Timbers head coach Caleb Porter said. “I’m surprised we had [19] shots and only had one goal. And I’m disappointed we gave up two goals on [nine] shots. I’m disappointed they hit us basically the two ways we prepared for them to hit us. And we didn’t do a good enough job in managing those two things.” Ryan Johnson scored his first goal with the club , acquired in the offseason after scoring seven goals with Toronto FC last year. “As time goes on – it’s still early in the season and everyone is still getting accustomed to one another – we’ll be fine, I’m not worried about it,” Johnson said. “We just need to remember in the back of our minds that we’re doing the right things.” After scoring the first goal of the season for the Timbers the week before, Diego Valeri did not put a single one of his six goal attempts on target against the Impact.
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