You could say that the Seattle Sounders' meltdown against the Portland Timbers an unlucky 13 days ago in the US Open Cup beat them again on Sunday, in the only MLS throw-down of the year at Providence Park between American soccer's greatest rivals.

In a way, you'd be right. Obafemi Martins was lost for a month due to injury in that game; Clint Dempsey, of course, will be dealing with the repercussions of his classless behavior into 2017. But when the dust settles on Portland's most euphoric moment of the last two years, something will be crystal clear: The Timbers made this 4-1 walloping all their own.

It was an unmistakably Portland win. From the swashbuckling midfield combination play, the Argentine flair, and the brace by Fanendo "The Orthodontist" Adi—all garnished with a lot of chainsaw and a brilliant, beautiful tifo from the Timbers Army—every morsel of this triumph was deserved.

Sure, the Sounders weren't at full strength. But the Timbers played their best game of the season, and if you think that Seattle's ineptitude takes anything away from Portland's joy, then you just don't understand this rivalry.

Darlington Nagbe opened it, and Rodney Wallace closed it: A demolition derby for the ages.

Outside of the goal-scorers, this was Gaston Fernandez's game. To say it was La Gata's best match for the Timbers would almost do his performance a disservice. So suave, so self-assured, and so effective in all kinds of spaces and situations was Fernandez that it looked like Portland had signed a whole new player—maybe the one they thought they were getting in Gaston a year and a half ago.

Add in the bonus of La Gata turning half the Sounders into Washington Generals with various tricks and flicks, and there is no reason to believe that Fernandez won't be a vital player for the rest of the year.

Portland's first goal was a product of good work from Fernandez, and then better work from Adi and Diego Valeri, before Darlington Nagbe belted in his, and the Timbers', first goal of the season from outside the 18-yard box.

It had been a long time coming for Nagbe, who is becoming increasingly dangerous with long-range shooting, and it was no more than the Timbers deserved as they poured on first-half pressure. But at the end of the half, Seattle drew level with what would prove to be their only shot on target of the game. It was Jorge Villafaña, who continues to be a lovely human being and athlete and a hopeless set-piece defender, who lost Lamar Neagle for the equalizer.

That made proceedings tense for a while, as did some bizarre refereeing from Jair Murrufo, but the Timbers breakthrough was clinical: A counter-attack started with a terrific tackle from Diego Chara, fueled by Nagbe—who, unshackled from his guard-dog Osvaldo Alonso, had room to run all night—and finished with remarkable panache by Fanendo Adi.

It's pathological with Adi. He only scores in twos, and so, right off the kickoff, he got another chance and lashed his second past Steven Frei.

It wasn't so much the goals that made Adi's shift one worth savoring. Battling—codeword for getting absolutely mauled—all night, Adi's holdup play and distribution were eye candy for the three attackers behind him. The fact that Adi's best game of the year came against MLS' best defender in Chad Marshall shouldn't be forgotten either.

Plenty of credit should flow Caleb Porter's way too. Porter's decision to start Fernandez alongside Valeri, who was just short of his best, and Nagbe resulted in the best football the Timbers have played since the early days of 2013. That style, along with the accompanying high-press, is how Porter made his name in MLS—and it's how the Timbers, at full strength, should strive to play every week.

For a change it was the offense, not the defense, that was the headline act. This was, by far, Portland's best attacking game of the season, and maybe it's a sign that the Timbers are simply better at playing progressive football than the regressive stuff that was embraced out of necessity at the beginning of the year.

It certainly didn't hurt that Porter's personnel moves were golden, right down to the two substitutes Maxi Urruti and Wallace combining for the fourth goal. Rodney, who is the Timbers' active leading scorer against Seattle, produced a celebration to rival Kris Boyd's in 2012, with a Gut the Fish throat slash and revving of an imaginary chainsaw.

Defensively, the Timbers were unbothered. Norberto Paparatto, who has regained much of his dignity, had a fine game in Liam Ridgewell's place. The presence of Will Johnson helped immensely, and apart from Neagle's goal, Adam Kwarasey didn't need to make a single save. The Sounders never had much of a chance, and, unsurprisingly, very little fight. For them, finishing the match with all 11 players should be victory enough.

This wasn't about Dempsey. He wasn't at Providence Park, and he didn't deserve to be. Let's not forget, much of this Sounders tailspin was self-inflicted. This game was about Fernandez playing out of his mind, Nagbe finally showing himself and the world what he's capable of, and Adi coming good with yet another brace.

The Timbers have now won five out of six in MLS, six out of seven in all competitions, and are just one point behind the Sounders for second place in the Western Conference. They're healthy, they're confident, and if this match is any indication, they're pretty damn good too.

This is what the vision was all along. When Caleb Porter texted Alexi Lalas before a derby in Seattle in October 2012 that the Timbers would no longer be inferior to the Sounders, this win is what he must have envisioned, from the dominance of the performance to the quality of the football.

Of the 14 Timbers players used, 10 were Porter-era recruits. Add in that it was Porter who revitalized Rodney Wallace's career with a position change, and Porter who is synonymous with Darlington Nagbe more than any other man in soccer, and this is a proud day. For Gavin Wilkinson and Merritt Paulson too.

Portland hasn't surpassed the Sounders. The final matchup of the season, August 30 at CenturyLink Field, will be a war. But on Sunday, the tifo was right: We all got a taste of a Timbers wonderland.