Montero and EJ power the Sounders past the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-0

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders bounced back from a difficult week and came away with a huge win against their Cascadia Cup rivals from the North. On Saturday, the Sounders defeated the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-0 in front of 55,718 fans at CenturyLink Field in Seattle. Fredy Montero continued his scoring streak as he found the net for the third straight game and has scored four goals in his last five matches. Eddie Johnson's goalscoring frenzy also continued as he picked up his team leading 11th goal of the season.

Through the first 10-15 minutes, the Whitecaps looked like they were the better side from the kickoff. In the 6th minute, Darron Mattocks tried to play a through ball to Kenny Miller who got in behind Jeff Parke and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, but Michael Gspurning came all the way out to meet it. The ball fell to Dane Richards who tried it from a long way out with Gspurning way off his line, but he missed wide. Richards was making his sixth appearance for the Whitecaps since coming over from the New York Red Bulls for former Sounder Sebastien Le Toux.

In the 19th minute of the match, the Sounders troubled goalkeeper Joe Cannon. Eddie Johnson had possession of the ball on the right hand side. Johnson cut inside to with left foot after a couple of step overs and gave it a go from outside the area and Joe Cannon just punched it over the bar, but it was close to going into his own net.

A couple minutes later, the Sounders gave the ball away in their own half and Kenny Miller played a great through ball to Darron Mattocks in the penalty area, but he pulled his shot wide of the far post. Both Miller and Mattocks combined well in this game, causing a few problems here and there.

Shortly after, the Sounders had another great opportunity. Leo Gonzalez made a nice turn to get away from Dane Richards and Lee Young-Pyo who were double teaming him. Gonzalez fed the ball to the top of the area for Mauro Rosales. Rosales pushed the ball to the right side of the area to Brad Evans just as he was being dragged to the ground by Carlyle Mitchell and I think this is where Evans should've tried to hit the ball first time with his left foot because he had a defender tracking back and cutting down the angle. Instead, Brad Evans let the ball drop to his right foot and forced a save from Joe Cannon.

In the 50th minute of the match, the Sounders gave the Whitecaps another scare. Jeff Parke chipped the ball into the Whitecaps area. Eddie Johnson chested the ball down for Ozzie Alonso for a first timed hit from a long way out and Joe Cannon got down and deflected his shot wide.

In the 64th minute, the deadlock was broken and it was Fredy Montero who opened the scoring shortly after coming off the bench. Mauro Rosales floated the ball into the box for Jeff Parke who chested the ball to Montero and the Colombian international poked the ball inside the far corner for his eight goal of the season and the Sounders took a 1-0 lead. So once again, Montero came on and answered all the unnecessary critics regarding his performance on the pitch.

With three minutes left in the contest, the Sounders put the game out of reach. Ozzie Alonso played a brilliant long ball to the near side for Brad Evans who was all alone on the right hand side. Evans made no mistake on this play as he slid the ball across and Eddie Johnson was there, making a run to the far post for an easy tap in and the Sounders put their Open Cup final defeat against Kansas City and their heartbreaking 2-1 loss on the road to San Jose behind them and get three points against their Cascadia rivals.

Now, I just want to apologize to all of you for not keeping you guys up to date on the Gold Medal run for the U.S. women's soccer team during the 2012 Olympics. I had a lot going on that was more important than this, so I just want to make sure you guys understand. Also I'm gonna be taking a break from blogging for a little while, so I'm not gonna cover the Sounders-Chivas USA game this weekend.


Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero 8 (Jeff Parke 1, Mauro Rosales 10) 64'

Seattle Sounders FC - Eddie Johnson 11 (Brad Evans 2, Osvaldo Alonso 2) 87'


Misconduct summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (caution; foul) 58'

Vancouver Whitecaps - Gershon Koffie (caution; foul) 91'+


Lineups:

Vancouver Whitecaps - Joe Cannon; Lee Young-Pyo, Andy O'Brien, Carlyle Mitchell, Alain Rochat; Dane Richards, Jun Marques Davidson (John Thorrington 89'), Gershon Koffie, Camilo Sanvezzo (Russell Teibert 74'); Kenny Miller, Darron Mattocks (Atiba Harris 89')

Seattle Sounders FC - Michael Gspurning; Adam Johansson (Zach Scott 79'), Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leonardo Gonzalez; Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Christian Tiffert, Alex Caskey (Fredy Montero 61'); Mauro Rosales (Andy Rose 88'), Eddie Johnson