On Tuesday night, the Seattle Sounders fell to the Portland Timbers in one of the craziest US Open Cup matches ever played. Matches between these two bitter Cascadia Cup rivals are always thrilling, but Tuesday's encounter was special. Seeing multiple red cards in a game is rare, but it's hard to recall a match quite like that one.

Seattle had three players sent off and had run out of substitutes by the time Obafemi Martins was forced off in the 84th minute due to injury. So, the Sounders finished the match with seven men on the pitch, and fell by a score of 3-1.

The second and third red cards issued to the Sounders in particular were controversial. Michael Azira was issued a straight red in the 112th minute for an apparent high elbow, and Clint Dempsey was sent off for vigorously protestating the decision. 

Seattle was reduced to 10 men in the 69th minute when captain Brad Evans received a dubious second yellow. Portland were already leading 1-0 at that point, and it looked as if they would coast home to a victory. However, the Sounders pulled a goal back in the 79th minute off a corner through Martins.

Yet, he was forced off soon after and from that point on the Sounders always looked up against it. When Rodney Wallace scored in the 100th minute to put the Timbers up a goal and two men, they looked certain to win.

That was all but confirmed in the 112th minute when Azira was sent off. Replays are inconclusive as to whether or not the decision was correct, but Sounders stand-in captain Clint Dempsey was certainly unimpressed. In fact, he was so moved that he removed the referee's book from his shirt pocket and ripped it up on the field, earning himself a second yellow and leaving the Sounders with seven men on the pitch for the final eight minutes. The Timbers scored again in the 116th minute through Maximiliano Urruti to put the result out of doubt.

It was surreal to see the match end with just seven players on the pitch for Seattle, and it was even crazier to see the referees lead off the field while being protected by the police. So, it's not surprising that Portland's players and coaching staff had some interesting reactions.

"No, I can honestly say that was pretty wild,” Timbers midfielder Jack Jewsbury said when asked if he had experienced anything like that in his career. “Even at the end, I guess it was 11 vs. seven with six field players, it was pretty wild to look around and not really see too many white jerseys. It was interesting to say the least.”

Jewsbury was not the only one to go on the record about the unique situation, as Timbers manager Caleb Porter spoke about his pleasure that his players kept their heads in the fiesty atmosphere.

“We knew this was going to be an intense game – obviously this is a derby, bitter rivals, Cup game – we knew it was going to be a challenge for us,” Porter said in his postgame comments. “History said we wouldn’t win this game because they had never lost on this field in the Open Cup and they have won the Open Cup four times. I was proud of our group’s mentality. They looked like they were up for it … they were mature, they kept their heads. I was proud of that. Sometimes in this type of game you can lose your head; I thought we kept our composure really well.”

Although Portland will have to wait for Thursday's draw to see who they will play in the Round of 16, it's certain that they will not have to play a more interesting match than Tuesday's. Keep checking back with VAVEL USA for the latest coverage of the US Open Cup.

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About the author
Liam McMahon
American sports journalist based out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin who has been affiliated with VAVEL for more than a year. Co-editor of the soccer section at VAVEL USA and international football writer at VAVEL UK.