Overview
- Portland beat Seattle 5-1 on Thursday night at Lumen Field, with Kevin Kelsy scoring two goals and adding an assist to power a three-goal burst early in the second half.
- Jack Cassidy won his first match as interim Timbers coach, guiding Portland to a decisive victory that snapped a three-match winless run and provided a morale boost for the club.
- Seattle returned severely short-handed with multiple would-be starters out, including Cristian Roldan, Yeimar Gómez Andrade, Pedro de la Vega, Alex Roldan, Kim Kee-hee, and Nikola Petković.
- The loss extended the Sounders' recent poor form and underlined their season-long offensive struggles — just 17 goals in 13 matches before the break — increasing pressure on GM Craig Waibel to add a No. 9.
- The match reopened MLS after a roughly seven-week World Cup pause, was streamed exclusively on Apple TV+, and carried extra weight because it was a Cascadia rivalry game with immediate playoff and morale implications.