Sounders defeat LA 3-1 in the U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinal

By Money Mike

In front of 4,322 at the Starfire Sports Complex in Takwila, the Seattle Sounders faced off with the Los Angeles Galaxy in the U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinal and pretty much a replica of last years Quarterfinal matchup with LA, the Sounders come away with a win.

The Sounders, with the win, advance to the U.S. Open Cup semifinal against FC Dallas. That match will take place on August 30 at Starfire.

In the 4th minute, the Sounders struck early. After hitting the post a minute ago, Nate Jaqua was sent behind the defense off a Pat Noonan through ball and he calmly slotted it inside the far post. It was Jaqua's 8th career goal in Open Cup play (7 of them with the Sounders).

In the 25th minute, Jaqua was involved in the 2nd Sounders goal. I don't what the hell this guy was thinking. Defender A.J. DeLaGarza gave the ball right to Jaqua who quickly fed it to Fredy Montero who cut the ball to his left foot and put away his third goal in two matches to double Seattle's lead at 2-0. The Sounders could've been up 4-0 or 5-0 up to that point, but they just couldn't capitalize on their chances, most of them coming from Jaqua and in the 40th minute, LA pulled one back. Adam Cristman finished a cross from Chris Birchall at the front of the net.

On the stroke of halftime, Birchall almost came away with one for himself, but Terry Boss made the save.

In the 74th minute, the LA back line got caught off another through ball. After some work on the ball, Alvaro Fernandez sent one through for Lamar Neagle who made a diagonal run through the penalty area to score. That goal prooved to be the knock out punch for the Galaxy as the Sounders once again, win a U.S. Open Cup match.

The Sounders get back to work in MLS as they return home to face that fucker who broke Steve Zakuani's leg on purpose............ yes I'm talking about Brian Mullan. He's gonna be there along with the Colorado Rapids on Saturday. That match will be shown live on FOX Soccer Channel, if you don't have that channel, sucks for you.

Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Nate Jaqua (Pat Noonan) 4'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero (Nate Jaqua) 25'

Los Angeles Galaxy - Adam Cristman (Chris Birchall) 40'

Seattle Sounders FC - Lamar Neagle (Alvaro Fernandez) 74'

Misconduct summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Osvaldo Alonso (caution; Tactical foul) 22'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero (caution; Unsporting behavior) 54'

Seattle Sounders FC - Jeff Parke (caution; Tactical foul) 55'

Los Angeles Galaxy - Paolo Cardozo (caution; Reckless tackle) 59'

Seattle Sounders FC - Mike Fucito (caution; Delaying a restart) 90'

Lineups:

Los Angeles Galaxy - Josh Saunders; Bryan Jordan, A.J. DeLaGarza, Gregg Berhalter, Todd Dunivant; Chris Birchall, Michael Stephens, Juninho (Jovan Kirovski 78'), Landon Donovan (Hector Jimenez 75'); Paolo Cardozo (Miguel Lopez 64'), Adam Cristman

Seattle Sounders FC - Terry Boss; Zach Scott, Jeff Parke, Patrick Ianni, Leonardo Gonzalez; Pat Noonan (Erik Friberg 64'), Osvaldo Alonso, Alvaro Fernandez, Lamar Neagle; Nate Jaqua (Roger Levesque 71'), Fredy Montero (Mike Fucito 79')