Pressure seemed to have gotten the best of the Portland Timbers playing Sunday night fútbol on ESPN yesterday. The struggling MLS club appeared camera shy losing 3-0 to the Seattle Sounders in front of a nationally televised audience.

Despite their dismal record and second-to-last place standing in the Western Conference, the Timbers could have been crowned Cascadia Cup champions with a victory.

66,452 fans stood cheering the home team to a win over their Pacific Northwest rivals at Century Link Field in Seattle, WA. The crowd came close to setting a Major League Soccer attendance record, falling just short of the top mark set in 1996 when the Los Angeles Galaxy packed the Rose Bowl.

Sporting their Rose City red uniforms, the Timbers aggressive play was evident at the start of the match, but fizzled quickly.

Seattle took control fast following a momentum shifting collision between Timbers defender Lovel Palmer and Sounders midfielder Christian Tiffert early in the game.

Technically the Timbers helped the ball into a goal, although they finished with a goose egg in their score column. In the 25th minute, Seattle defender Adam Johansson rocketed a cross that was deflected for an own goal by Timbers defender Mamadou Danso.

Three minutes later the Sounders cashed in again with a crafty goal for forward Eddie Johnson off a half bounce pass from midfielder Brad Evans.

Positive aspects of the Timbers performance were few and far between on Sunday. Sounders goalkeeper Michael Gspurning, who leads the MLS in the goals against average, blanked the visiting squad on his way to another shutout.

At least 1500 visiting fans made the trip up I-5 to watch their Oregon soccer club in this important game. Announcer Alexi Lalas claimed the travelling Timbers contingent to be the largest crowd to follow their team for any MLS away game.

If you are a disappointed Portland fan, take pride in the strength of numbers for your “Timbers Army.”

Portland had a few opportunities, but could not capitalize. Although they had more shots on goal, none were as accurate as the Sounders’ attempts. The closest chance at scoring occurred in the 59th minute when forward Mike Fucito rang a shot off the goalpost.

Seattle’s final dagger came in the 62nd minute when forward Fredy Montero knocked in his team’s third and final goal of the match. The kick was initially ruled an own goal, but was reversed and Montero was credited with the score.

Possession was fairly even, with the Timbers having a slight 53% advantage when the final whistle blew.

Controlling possession and failing to score is cause for concern for the Rose City football club. The Timbers can only stay in the rebuilding phase for so long.

According to interim head coach Gavin Wilkinson on mlssoccer.com, “I do think we’ve got some bright players, some bright prospects, and it’s just another sign that we’re not far away.”

They may have a young and inexperienced team, but time is of the essence with two games remaining this season. A win is urgent and necessary when they take on Vancouver in two weeks. The team currently faces completing an entire season with no road victories.

Players and coaches are hoping for a better outcome when the team travels north of the border on October 21. Wilkinson was unimpressed with his players’ performance and believes the outcome did not demonstrate his squad’s typical work ethic.

“It was 10 minutes that created the result,” he said to the Associated Press. “Take 10 minutes out of the first half when we were absolutely horrendous defensively and didn’t manage the game well at all and we were scrambling. We started to create some decent movement and created decent chances, but I think we handed it to them.”