Sounders and Fire finish scoreless.

By Money Mike

The Seattle Sounders who continue to struggle through injuries finish scoreless with the Chicago Fire. The draw gives them 4 points out of 6 in their 2 game road trip, which is not bad after picking up only 4 points out of 12 at home against Portland, KC and Dallas. I think the story of this one was the bad call by that dumbass referee Terry Vaughn. I lost track of when the foul took place. I know it was in the second half but I lost time. Kasey Keller drop kicked the ball down the field because he saw Fredy Montero down there. Montero spun away from Logan Pause who started to lose his balance. Pause was trying to drag Montero down to the ground to stop a breakaway opportunity which would've resulted in a straight red card, but he went down easily and the referee called a foul on Montero, who didn't even touch Logan Pause. As I've said before, this league has the most fucked up referee's ever. Every Sounders match that Terry Vaughn has took charge of, he has made calls that have cost the Sounders a win, like that one play for example because not only did that cost us a big opportunity which would've resulted in a goal by a player who has been criticised for his lack of scoring, which is a poor way to judge a players performance, but it also cost us a win against a team that was on a 9 match winless streak coming into this match.

The Sounders nearly got on the board early in the match. In the 6th minute, Mauro Rosales chipped the ball to the back post and found Lamar Neagle unmarked for a header but Sean Johnson stood his ground and did very well to keep it out. The Sounders continued to test the keeper early on, Lamar Neagle again in the 9th minute from the left of the penalty area tried to curl a shot to the back post, but Johnson parried it over the crossbar as it started to dip over his head.

In the 12th minute, despite starting off strong, Seattle nearly conceded one. Bratislav Ristic found Diego Chaves at the top of the box for a low drive and those shots are most likely to find the back of the net, but this one was shot right at Kasey Keller.

A scary moment in the 23rd minute for the Seattle Sounders. Already with Steve Zakuani, O'Brian White and Alvaro Fernandez out, the last thing the Men in Rave Green want is another injury. A hard tackle from behind by Gonzalo Segares on Mauro Rosales forced play to stop for a couple minutes after Rosales was down the ground with leg pain. It was a clumsy tackle by Segares and he should've been booked for that. I mean, Terry Vaughn....... does he even know the rules? Does he have a learning disability? Or is it because he knows the rules, but all he cares about is getting paid so he decides to fuck it up for everybody? It was a dangerous tackle and Gonzalo Segares doesn't get booked?

The Sounders played with 10 men for about a minute, but Rosales did return to the match and got 66 minutes in before being replaced by Roger Levesque for the remaining 25 minutes.

In the 27th minute, midfielder Corban Bone feed Daniel Paladini, and Paladini smashed a 25-yard shot that look destined for the top left corner but Kasey Keller stretched out to punch it wide. It was a great effort by Paladini who had loads of space and he used that space very well and those are not easy for a goalkeeper to stop because of the movement of the ball and how it starts to dip over them.

Two minutes later, Bone and Paladini hooked up again as Bone sent Paladini in the space for a shot from 20-yards out that went wide to the right of Keller. Then Diego Chaves tested Keller for a one-timed shot that Keller stopped and then was able to recover just before young Cristian Nazarit could get the rebound.

In the second half, both teams were quiet with the opportunities because of poor passing, ill advised shots and also the crappy refereeing from Terry Vaughn. In the 60th minute, the Sounders failed to clear the ball out of their area and Dominic Oduro collected it and fired a low left footer that deflected off defender Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and went wide of the right post.

About six minutes later, from 29-yards out, Fredy Montero curled a free-kick around the wall and Sean Johnson looked to have been beaten, but it just went wide of the right post. That was the last best chance for either side and both teams finished empty handed.

The Sounders, now 5-4-6 on the year, return home for a Rivalry match against another expansion team, the Vancouver Whitecaps. That match will take place on Saturday. I'm gonna preview that one on Thursday because Friday I'm gonna be at the Relay for Life over at Mt. Tahoma High School. The Chicago Fire who are now winless in 10 matches now head to Kansas City who are finally making their home debut in 2011. Yes, Chicago and Kansas City will be opening up Kansas City's new Livestrong Sporting Park on Thursday.

Scoring summary:

None

Misconduct summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Mike Fucito (caution; Reckless foul) 33'

Seattle Sounders FC - Tyson Wahl (caution; Tactical foul) 36'

Chicago Fire - Diego Chaves (caution; Unsporting Behavior) 46+'

Lineups:

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; James Riley, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyson Wahl; Mauro Rosales (Roger Levesque 66'), Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Lamar Neagle; Mike Fucito (Servando Carrasco 81'), Nate Jaqua (Fredy Montero 54')

Chicago Fire - Sean Johnson; Bratislav Ristic, Yamith Cuesta, Cory Gibbs, Gonzalo Segares; Dominic Oduro, Logan Pause, Daniel Paladini, Corban Bone (Gaston Puerari 67'); Diego Chaves (Patrick Nyarko 54'), Cristian Nazarit (Orr Barouch 78')