Clan Wars » After the tentative deal was reached

PORTLAND, Ore. -- The plan was for Clint Dempsey to go 60 minutes and see how he was feeling less than 72 hours after playing 90 minutes in a U.S. national team exhibition against Mexico. When the one-hour mark arrived, Dempsey and the Seattle Sounders were trailing rival Portland by two goals. He wasnt about to check out. Dempsey scored the first hat trick in his MLS career, including goals in the 85th and 87th minutes to help the Sounders rally late for a wild 4-4 draw with the Timbers on Saturday. "You always feel good when you are contributing, scoring goals or getting assists," Dempsey said. "Im in a good rhythm at the moment and its about continuing that form." 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 Seattles stunning late comeback to earn a point in the first Cascadia rivalry matchup of the season. Dempsey scored in the 85th minute to get Seattle within 4-3, a goal that felt was coming with the pressure the Sounders were pushing forward. Seconds later, Seattle defender DeAndre Yedlin was taken down in the penalty box by Portlands Ben Zemanski and referee Hilario Grajeda immediately pointed to the penalty spot. Yedlin said he was hoping to draw a penalty on the play and Zemanski obliged by clipping the young Seattle defender. After a brief discussion with Gonzalo Pineda, who was expecting to take the penalty kick, Dempsey stepped up. He converted the chance, beating former Seattle goalkeeper Andrew Weber to get Seattle even. "That point today felt like more than a point. It kind of felt like a win," Dempsey said. The afternoon was an advertisement for the league, even if it gave the coaches heartburn. Play was wide open and end-to-end. There were 41 shots and countless near misses. There were four goals in the first 25 minutes -- including goals from Seattles Kenny Cooper, Portland Diego Valeri and Dempsey -- along with the two late scores. And the biggest star on the field burned brightest even if he was a little tired at the end. "Hes a leader. He wants to lead this team. He wants to show that last year was not the Clint Dempsey that were going to see this year," Seattle coach Sigi Schmid said. "And he wants to show people hes ready for the World Cup. I think he did that today." Seattle walked off thrilled with the final result and knowing there were other missed chances in the final minutes to get a winner. Meanwhile, the Timbers stood stunned as the worst start in their brief history continued. The Timbers have generally been slow starters since joining the league in 2011, but now have just three points after five games, not the opening anyone in Portland expected after reaching the Western Conference finals last season. "You should never give up 4 goals, and you should never tie a game if you score 4 goals," Portland coach Caleb Porter said. Chara was the star until Dempsey took over. On his 28th birthday, Chara scored in MLS play for the first time since September 2011. Seattle defence was willing to give him space and he took advantage with two perfectly placed shots from outside the penalty box. His first goal in the ninth minute deflected off goalkeeper Stephen Freis hand but had enough force to get into the net. His second goal, and what appeared to be the winner, came from about 25 yards and Frei had no chance at the save. Both times, Seattles defenders failed to step up and defend Charas shot. "I feel good, but obviously completely not happy with the game," Chara said. "We should have won that game, so to score 2 goals, for me, is good, but Id rather see a W than me score 2 goals." Urrutis 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. Nike Scarpe Italia Outlet . PETERSBURG, Fla. Scarpe Nike Online Prezzi Bassi .com) - Coming off a pair of tough losses last week, the Syracuse Orange will try to put an end to their first losing skid of the season when they pay a visit to the Maryland Terrapins at the Comcast Center on Monday night in Atlantic Coast Conference action. http://www.nikescarpescontate.it/. Subway workers in Rio de Janeiro, meanwhile, were holding an assembly to vote on whether they would strike to demand higher wages, threatening to disrupt transportation. By late Tuesday night there was no announcement of their decision. Scarpe Nike Scontate Online . Sources tell TSN that union executives travelled to select CFL cities Monday to open dialogue with players and answer questions. After the tentative deal was reached Saturday night, several players posted messages of frustration and disappointment on social media - and that carried over into Sunday on both the web and the field. Scarpe Nike Scontate Italia . Tensions rose in the first period when Penguins defenceman Brooks Orpik hit Bruins forward Loui Eriksson with what appeared to be a clean hit.LONDON -- Roger Federer fought back Saturday to reach the semifinals in the ATP World Tour Finals. On the back of a poor season, the 17-time Grand Slam winner overcame a 3-0 deficit in the third set to beat Juan Martin del Potro 4-6, 7-6 (2), 7-5 to reach the semifinals for the 11th time. The Swiss earned a chance to prove that -- despite his aging legs, aching back and recent lack of consistency -- he can still beat rival Rafael Nadal, his semifinal opponent. "I just have to have the right mindset to give it one last go, maybe play with a little less pressure than I have in previous matches with him," Federer said. "I just feel like I need to look at it more as being an underdog a little bit because of circumstances, because of my year, because of his year. Maybe that free swinging is what I kind of need to do a little bit more tomorrow." The 32-year-old Federer has endured a tough year and the elite event is his last chance to win a big title in 2013. Federer has just four victories against top-10 opponents in 2013 and has not beaten Nadal since 2012. The top-ranked Spaniard leads 21-10 in their head-to-head series, but Federer is 4-0 on indoor hard courts, having secured all four wins at the ATP Finals. Nadal, who returned to tennis in February following a seven-month layoff due to a knee injury, clinched the year-end No. 1 spot this week in a season in which he won the French Open and the U.S. Open. In London, the Spaniard qualified from his group unbeaten. "We know each other that well. Hes going to do exactly what he needs to do, Im going to try to do what I need to do," Federer said. "Hopefully its going to match up good for me. If not, he deserves it. Hes had a wonderful season." Novak Djokovic, who beat Richard Gasquet 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-3 in his final round-robin match to extend his winning streak to 20 matches since his loss to Nadal in the U.S. Open final in September, will face Stanislas Wawrinka in the other semifinal. Federer won only the grass-court event at Halle, Germany, in June.dddddddddddd. He regularly lost to unseeded opponents and secured his qualification for the Finals at the last minute. "The goal is always to win every tournament. But I think I had to be slightly more realistic in recent weeks and months," Federer said. "I knew that sometimes just getting a few rounds into the bag was positive." Both Federer and del Potro needed a win to progress from Group B and treated the crowd to a tense and entertaining back-and-forth match. Federer trailed in all three sets. Only once in 12 appearances has Federer failed to advance to the last four at the season-ending tournament for the top eight players. He struggled to return del Potros big serve in the first set and committed seven forehand mistakes as his rival opened up a 5-1 lead. Capitalizing on more Federer errors, del Potro broke again in the third game of the second set. The Argentine looked set for an easy win but failed to build on the momentum, double-faulting as Federer levelled at 3-3. Federer then gradually took the upper hand with a brilliant display at the net and played a nearly prefect tiebreaker as del Potro crumbled. Federer clinched the set with an ace. But Federer again started sluggishly in the decider, allowing del Potro to break as he hit two consecutive weak forehands. But the blip was temporary and, once again, his rival could not take advantage of his inconsistency. At 3-1, del Potro saved a break point but fluffed a forehand on the second one, bringing Federer back into the match. Hitting more confidently toward the end, Federer broke to go up 6-5 and saved a break point in the next game before closing out the match with his 10th ace. "I think I got two chances to win the match," del Potro said. "But in the end you have to be focused and to find the winners. I made the mistakes, and he was there really focused to take the chance." The mark of the champions. ' ' '