Clint Dempsey scored a hat trick, including two goals in the final five minutes of the match and Seattle Sounders staged a furious late rally to pull out a 4-4 draw with rivals Portland Timbers on Saturday.
Trailing 4-2 for most of the second half after goals from Diego Chara and Maximiliano Urruti early in the half gave Portland the advantage, Dempsey led Seattle’s stunning late comeback to earn a point in the first Cascadia derby matchup of the season.
Dempsey scored in the 85th minute to get Seattle within 4-3. Seconds later Seattle defender DeAndre Yedlin was taken down in the penalty box by Portland’s Ben Zemanski. Referee Hilario Grajeda immediately pointed to the penalty spot and Dempsey converted the chance to bring Seattle even.
Dempsey recorded the fourth hat-trick in Sounders history and upstaged a career day from Chara with two goals, his first in MLS play since 2011.
Kenny Cooper also scored in the third minute against his old club to give Seattle an early advantage and but it was Dempsey stealing the show. It was his first hat trick in any competition since January 2012 when he was playing for Fulham in the Premier League and surpassed his entire goal total since returning to the MLS last summer.
And it came less than 72 hours after Dempsey played all 90 minutes of the United States’ 2-2 exhibition draw with Mexico in Glendale, Arizona.
Seattle walked off thrilled with the final result and knowing there were other missed chances in the final minutes to get a winner. Meanwhile, Timbers stood stunned as the worst start in their brief history continued. Portland have generally been slow starters since joining the league in 2011, but now have just three points after five games, not the start anyone in Portland expected after reaching the Western Conference finals last season.
Diego Valeri also scored for Timbers during a frantic first 25 minutes that was only surpassed by the final few moments.
Chara’s last goal came in September 2011 against New England. But Seattle were willing to give him space and he took advantage with two perfectly placed shots from outside the penalty box. His first goal deflected off goalkeeper Stefan Frei’s hand but had enough force to get into the net. His second goal, and what proved to be the winner, came from about 25 yards and Frei had no chance at the save. Both times, Seattle’s defenders failed to step up and defend Chara’s shot.
Urruti’s goal in the 57th minute appeared to give Portland plenty of cushion, but Dempsey said otherwise and both sides had to settle for the draw in one of the wilder matchups of a rivalry dating to the mid-1970s.
Andrew Weber, Cooper and Portland midfielder Steve Zakuani all became the first players to have participated on both sides of the rivalry game.
In other MLS games on Saturday, Pegguy Luyindula gave and took for New York Red Bulls in a 2-2 draw with Montreal Impact. Before the end of the first helf, Luyindula netted before missing a penalty just after the start of the second half.
Mike Magee did the same for Chicago Fire, putting them up 1-0 over Philadelphia before missing an extra-time penalty that would have given them a win. Instead they had to settle for a 2-2 draw with Philadelphia Union, who saw a goal from Maurice Edu.
Michael Bradley and Issey Nakajima-Farran scored in a 2-0 win for Toronto FC over Columbus Crew and Jose Mari notched a double for Colorado Rapids in a 2-1 win over Vancouver Whitecaps.
A Jose Goncalves own goal spurred DC United to a 2-0 victory over New England Revolution and Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake played to a scoreless draw.
FC Dallas continued a hot start, as well, with a pair of goals from Je-Vaughn Wilson and a Michel penalty fueling a 4-1 away win over Houston Dynamo.
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