Sounders nearly snatch one late, but settle for a draw

By Money Mike


In 2011 the Sounders had the best road record in MLS. In the first road match of the season, it was an evenly played game on both sides from start to finish and in the end the Sounders came close to stealing all three points in the final second of the match, but sometimes close isn't good enough as this match ended in a goalless draw. The Sounders are now 2-1-1 on the year with still a couple games in hand with the Western Conference in this young season. The team looked better than last week with the return of a couple of key players, however they were still without Adam Johansson, Mauro Rosales and Steve Zakuani. Johansson and Rosales are expected to return to the lineup next week when the Sounders return home to face Colorado while Zakuani is expected to return within a month or two.

The Sounders didn't really test D.C. United goalkeeper Joe Willis until the 22nd minute when Fredy Montero gave it a go from about 19-yards out, but it was right into the arms of Willis. Montero has still yet to score this first goal of the season, but he's looked more lively these last couple of games and will surely break through soon.

A minute later, Seattle nearly found themselves a goal behind. Nick DeLeon made a nice cut toward the endline and sent in a low driven ball to the near post for Hamdi Salihi who had Michael Gspurning beaten, but the crossbar denied D.C. the lead and Salihi's first D.C. goal.

In the 34th minute, Seattle had probably the best chance of the match. Alvaro Fernandez took the corner which was headed out. Ozzie Alonso stepped up and volleyed it back into the area which found the head of Fredy Montero who was onside, but his header just missed wide of the far post. It didn't look like Fredy was expecting it at all.

Eddie Johnson came on in the 66th minute of the match for his MLS debut for the Rave Green and nearly made an impact. Zach Scott sent in a good cross for Johnson who got up high, but couldn't direct it on target.

With just over 15 minutes to go, D.C. came close to breaking the deadlock. Chris Pontius, who scored twice against us in one of our home matches in 2010 (not three), got around Zach Scott and worked a give and go with Maicon Santos before missing the far corner. Nick DeLeon tried to follow up, but the ball rolled out of play.

Five minutes later, Seattle failed to clear and the ball fell through to Maicon Santos who couldn't get a clear shot on target and was easily saved by Michael Gspurning. Gspurning had a great night in goal for the Sounders especially on set pieces and long throw-in's on his way to his second clean sheet of the season.

In the final minute of stoppage time, Seattle came so close to snatching a late goal. Just seconds after coming on against his old club. Marc Burch followed up on a long range effort from Ozzie Alonso, but he was denied by the crossbar.


Observations:

Neither team played like they deserved to win. Some key players like David Estrada were kept in check. Alvaro Fernandez didn't do much either. As a matter of fact, I think he had a somewhat disappointing night. Especially that one opportunity that was goal bound. A centering pass for David Estrada was an awful one and we've rarely seen that from Fernandez in the early stages of the season. Again, Seattle was still missing some key figures like Mauro Rosales. But they did get Eddie Johnson back after he missed the first three matches of the season due a hip flexor injury he suffered in the Champions League Quarterfinal against Santos Laguna. 

Dwayne De Rosario has been kept quiet all night which is something you rarely see out of him, but the backline of Seattle stood tall and shut down D.C. United's attack force. Salihi still has yet to score his first MLS goal, Maicon Santos couldn't add to his two goals he scored against FC Dallas and both Danny Cruz and Nick DeLeon didn't really do much on the wing for United.

The fact that we were missing Mauro Rosales and Adam Johansson, I think to head to D.C. and get a draw was a pretty good result for this team. It just shows that the Sounders will never back down and once their key players return, this will be a dangerous Sounders team in 2012.


Scoring summary:

NONE


Misconduct summary:

D.C. United - Maicon Santos (caution; foul) 12'

D.C. United - Dejan Jakovic (caution; foul) 30'


Lineups:

Seattle Sounders FC - Michael Gspurning; Zach Scott, Jeff Parke, Patrick Ianni, Leo Gonzalez; Roger Levesque, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Alvaro Fernandez (Marc Burch 92'+); David Estrada (Eddie Johnson 66'), Fredy Montero

D.C. United - Joe Willis; Robbie Russell (Chris Korb 74'), Dejan Jakovic, Emiliano Dudar, Daniel Woolard; Danny Cruz (Chris Pontius 59'), Perry Kitchen, Dwayne De Rosario, Nick DeLeon; Hamdi Salihi (Branko Boskovic 72'), Maicon Santos

Sounders hit the road for the first time this season as they take on D.C. United

By Money Mike


After taking six points out of nine in their first three matches of the season (all at home) the Seattle Sounders get set to play their first road match of 2012 as they invade the nations capital. The Sounders take on D.C. United today at 4:30pm. The Sounders are coming off their first loss of the season, falling 1-0 to the San Jose Earthquakes. D.C. are coming off their first win of the season, winning 4-1 at home last week against FC Dallas. Maicon Santos scored two goals in that match and Dwayne De Rosario who has yet to score this season picked up two assists. The Sounders are 4-2-1 all time against D.C. including their U.S. Open Cup final victory in 2009 which was the first of three in a row for the Men in Rave Green.


Injury report:

Seattle Sounders FC - For the Sounders, Eddie Johnson who's been dealing with a right hip strain looks like will be good to go for tomorrows match. I expect him to be on the bench to start this one. Adam Johansson missed the last two matches with a strained left hamstring. Right now there's about a 50/50 chances he'll return. I don't expect Mauro Rosales to return until next Saturday when the Sounders return home to face the Colorado Rapids. He suffered a knee injury in the season opener against Toronto FC.

D.C. United - For D.C., Ethan White is out after having surgery on his right knee. Rookie Lance Rozeboom has a torn left ACL and he is out. Bill Hamid sprained his left ankle while he was with the U.S. U-23 national team in their bid for the 2012 Olympics (which was unsuccessful). He is listed as questionable, expect Joe Willis to get the start in net. Dejan Jakovic, Kurt Morsink and Josh Wolff are all listed as probable.


Key matchup:

Danny Cruz vs Marc Burch - Well Burch will have his work cut out for him against his former team. Going up against one of D.C. United's offseason acquisitions Danny Cruz. We've seen what Danny Cruz can do with his left foot, he loves to cut inside which is where he's dangerous. It's a question of how Burch will fare against a young talented player like Cruz.

Mauro Rosales suffers a late injury as the Sounders win 3-0

By Money Mike

The Seattle Sounders are back to their winning ways as they give D.C. United an ass beating in front of 36,242 fans in attendance at CenturyLink Field. The Sounders defeated D.C. United by a score of 3-0 and remain in second place, now three points ahead of Real Salt Lake, but here's the problem, RSL have two games in hand so they're going to need lots of help to secure home field advantage in the quarterfinals. The Sounders could've clinched a playoff birth had both the Portland Timbers and the Houston Dynamo lost this week, but the Dynamo drew 2-2 at Columbus and defeated the San Jose Earthquakes 2-1 and the Timbers blinked the New England Revolution 3-0. A lot of folks are starting to get nervous in the closing stages of the season, teams fighting for the Wild Card spot, the first round bye and also for Home Field advantage in the playoffs.

The Sounders nearly broke through in the 30th minute. Tyson Wahl's inswinger from the corner found the head of Alvaro Fernandez at the near post, who flicked it back to the far post for Fredy Montero but it was just out of his reach.

The Sounders would find the breakthrough in the 35th minute. Mike Fucito took a pass from Mauro Rosales and immediately turned past Brandon McDonald to break free of rookie keeper Joe Willis. Fucito took a couple of touches and calmly found the left side of the goal with his right foot to put the Sounders up 1-0.

In the 43rd minute, D.C. United tried to answer back when Andy Najar was clean through after getting past Ozzie Alonso and Tyson Wahl, but Zach Scott was in the way of his shot that was goal bound.

In first half stoppage time, the Sounders doubled their lead to 2-0. Mauro Rosales found Alvaro Fernandez making a run behind Daniel Woolard with a sublime pass and "El Flacco" tapped it home beautifully with his right foot. Fernandez would get another in the 60th minute. Rosales was the set up man again. A majestic from the right side found Fredy Montero in stride. Joe Willis made the initial save, but Fernandez was there to pound in the Rebound for his 8th goal of the season. D.C. United were without Chris Pontius who suffered a broken leg last week at Chivas USA. In replace, head coach Ben Olsen decided to give Austin da Luz his first start in a D.C. United uniform since he was acquired in a midseason trade with the New York Red Bulls. The funny thing is, his last appearance with the Red Bulls was here in Seattle.

Well this is the last thing you want to see late in the game, just as your team is playing well. In about the 89th minute, D.C. United defender Daniel Woolard stepped on Mauro Rosales's foot and Rosales awkwardly turned something in his knee. He had to leave the game after suffering what was confirmed to be an MCL Sprain. Rosales will have an MRI on Monday to determine whether the injury is mild or moderate. And not is it referee Kevin Stott's job to ref a match, it's his job to keep the god damn players under control. If you're letting players make a bunch of dangerous challenges that could the opposing players season/career at risk, then you're doing a terrible job. Seattle keeps getting victimized by the players and the refs don't do anything but kick the Sounders players out of a game for no reason. That's pretty much the reason for the majority of their losses because Major League Soccer has so many Crappy refs and we already added last weeks referee to that list and Kevin Stott has been on that list for god only knows how long.

After the game, head coach Sigi Schmid said, "The league's got to start protecting him. The last two games teams have gone out there and kicked him, and I don't think the referees have done a good job protecting him. Today was a case in point. We're up on top of the game 3-0 and he's got the ball at his feet and it's a tackle that's just meant to get a little kick in. And who knows how long he's out now? We have a talented player in this league, a player who's a good player, who fans want to come and watch play, then we let thugs hit him and we don't protect him enough. I think that's something that's got to happen with the referees. I'm very disappointed with the last two games. The last game before this one, the first three times he touched the ball he got fouled and nothing got called. Today early on he got dumped and quite a few times he's not getting calls. I'd like to see the referee Kevin Stott stand there and let Brandon McDonald run into his back and see if he could stay on his feet. I'm very disappointed in that."

The Sounders have 5 games remaining in the regular season before the MLS Cup playoffs. They step aside MLS play on Tuesday for matchday 4 of the CONCACAF Champions League at home against C.S. Herediano. A win will surely put them through to the Champions League Quarterfinal which will take place sometime in February. After that they head North of the Border to Empire Field in Vancouver, B.C. to take on the Vancouver Whitecaps, and I believe that'll be the Whitecaps last game at Empire Field before they make BC Place (which was the host of both the Opening/Closing ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics) their new home.

The Sounders won't be back at home until October 4th when they take on the Chicago Fire in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final at CenturyLink Field. I will be attending that match as Seattle look to become the first team since Greek American Atlas Astoria to win their third straight U.S. Open Cup title.

Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Mike Fucito 2 (Mauro Rosales 11, Brad Evans 2) 35'

Seattle Sounders FC - Alvaro Fernandez 7 (Mauro Rosales 12, Fredy Montero 8) 47'+

Seattle Sounders FC - Alvaro Fernandez 8 (unassisted) 60'

Misconduct summary:

D.C. United - Joseph Ngwenya (caution; Reckless tackle) 16'

Seattle Sounders FC - Tyson Wahl (caution; Reckless foul) 41'

D.C. United - Austin da Luz (caution; Reckless foul) 63'

Lineups:

D.C. United - Joe Willis; Perry Kitchen, Ethan White (Marc Burch 78'), Brandon McDonald, Daniel Woolard; Andy Najar, Clyde Simms, Dwayne De Rosario (Josh Wolff 62'), Austin da Luz; Charlie Davies (Stephen King 64'), Joseph Ngwenya

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; James Riley, Jeff Parke, Zach Scott, Tyson Wahl; Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans (Amadou Sanyang 82'), Alvaro Fernandez; Mike Fucito (Nate Jaqua 68'), Fredy Montero (Lamar Neagle 78')

Sounders defeat Red Bulls 4-2 in front of a record crowd of 46,065

By Money Mike

In front of a record crowd for an MLS match in Seattle, the Seattle Sounders(7-4-7) did not disappoint as they defeated the New York Red Bulls(5-3-8) 4-2 as the fan favorite Roger Levesque found the back of the net twice for the Sounders. The win pushes Seattle into a tie for 2nd place with FC Dallas in the Western Conference and are 6 back of the Los Angeles Galaxy for 1st place. 3 of the Sounders 4 goals have come off set plays which Hans Backe's team has had issues defending. With Defenders Tim Ream and Rafa Marquez still on Gold Cup duty for their countries as well as 18-year old Forward Juan Agudelo, Backe went with Carlos Mendes and former USL Seattle Sounder Stephen Keel at Central Defense and with Theirry Henry suspended for this match and Luke Rodgers out injured, Backe partnered up Dwayne De Rosario with Dane Richards. But now the question for them is, should they take Goalkeeper Greg Sutton's starting job away for his error he made which lead to the forth goal? I mean really, for a guy who represented Senegal at the 2008 African Cup of Nations, I'm pretty sure Bouna Coundoul wouldn't have made that kind of mistake.

Despite a pretty shaky start, the Sounders got on the board first in the 11th minute. Mauro Rosales sent in a corner from the near hash mark to the middle of the penalty area which was headed away by Teemu Tainio but right to Erik Friberg who cut the ball to his right foot to get rid of Dane Richards who was defending and curled it into the far post. Friberg did very well to position himself for a shot on goal and all he had to do was try to curl it, which he did. And a minute later, another set play, and another goal for the Men in Rave Green...

Rosales took the corner again and again it was headed into a bad spot again and Osvaldo Alonso stepped up and volleyed a short clearance which appeared to deflect off a foot of Roy Miller and into the net for Alonso's second goal in 3 matches. Alonso has started to push forward on the attack more than what we've seen his first two season's here in Seattle.

In the 31st minute the Red Bulls pulled one back. Dane Richards had about 5 yards between him and Zach Scott. After receiving a pass from Joel Lindpere, Richards took about 2-3 touches to beat Scott and send a floater to the far post off the hand of Keller and into the goal to cut the Sounders lead down to 2-1. Zach Scott had a terrible game, giving the ball away in his own area too many times, poor defending, and also scoring an own-goal.

In the 58th minute, this was the own-goal. Right back Jan Gunnar Solli made an excellent run down the right hand side and was fed beautifully by Dwayne De Rosario. Solli sent in a low driven cross that deflected off Scott and into the net to tie the match at 2-2.

Both teams threatened with the score tied but in the 67th minute, it was Seattle scoring on a set play for the 3rd time in the match. Leonardo Gonzalez, who was playing with a heavy heart, took the corner this time, and I thought it was weak, but he found Roger Levesque lurking at the near post and Levesque knocked a glancing header over his shoulder and inside Sutton's far post. He would get another one 11 minutes later. In the 78th minute, Greg Sutton misplayed a simple back pass from Jan Gunnar Solli, allowing Levesque to pick-pocket him and tap the ball into an empty net to put the match beyond reach.

The Sounders will look to close out the month of June unbeaten as they host the New England Revolution on Sunday while the Red Bulls travel to Toyota Park in Bridgeview and take on Chicago Fire the same day.

Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Erik Friberg 1 (unassisted) 11'

Seattle Sounders FC - Osvaldo Alonso 2 (unassisted) 12'

New York Red Bulls - Dane Richards 3 (Joel Lindpere 3) 31'

New York Red Bulls - Own Goal (Zach Scott) 58'

Seattle Sounders FC - Roger Levesque 1 (Leonardo Gonzalez 1) 67'

Seattle Sounders FC - Roger Levesque 2 (unassisted) 78'

Misconduct summary:

New York Red Bulls - Teemu Tainio (caution; Reckless foul) 28'

New York Red Bulls - Austin da Luz (caution; Reckless tackle) 50'

Seattle Sounders FC - James Riley (caution; Reckless foul) 52'

Seattle Sounders FC - Osvaldo Alonso (caution; Reckless tackle) 60'

Seattle Sounders FC - Leonardo Gonzalez (caution; Delaying a Restart) 90'

New York Red Bulls - Dwayne De Rosario (caution; Reckless tackle) 93+'

Lineups:

New York Red Bulls - Greg Sutton; Jan Gunnar Solli, Carlos Mendes, Stephen Keel, Roy Miller; Mehdi Ballouchy, Teemu Tainio (Corey Hertzog 89'), Joel Lindpere, Austin da Luz (John Rooney 79'); Dane Richards, Dwayne De Rosario

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; James Riley, Jeff Parke, Zach Scott, Leonardo Gonzalez; Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Erik Friberg, Alvaro Fernandez (Servando Carrasco 72'); Fredy Montero (Nate Jaqua 81'), Mike Fucito (Roger Levesque 58')

The Atmosphere at the Stadium:

I've been asking myself the exact same question over and over and over again. "When will they increase the capacity?" Now I don't know if it's gonna stay this way from now on. But 46,000+ in attendance for an MLS soccer match is pretty legit. Well have a bigger crowd like this when Manchester United come to town for a friendly match next month. Seeing a huge crowd like this for a league match itself? Man, 36,000 fans isn't enough anymore. Will they open up the entire stadium? Not at this point, unless we host the Conference final match in the MLS Cup playoffs or maybe even the CONCACAF Champions League, if we make it that far of course.

Sounders vs Red Bulls preview

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders return home for a Thursday night matchup at "CenturyLink" Field (yeah Qwest changed their name) against the New York Red Bulls. Last week the Sounders came away with all 3 points after defeating Toronto FC 1-0 with Fredy Montero scoring a late Free Kick goal in the 90th minute. On the other side, despite a Red Card issued to Thierry Henry in stoppage time, the Red Bulls managed to get a late goal from Dwayne De Rosario from the penalty spot to complete the comeback against the Portland Timbers. The match ended 3-3. The Red Bulls have so many pieces missing with a player suspended (Thierry Henry), players still in the Gold Cup (Juan Agudelo, Tim Ream and Rafa Marquez) and players out injured.


Injury report:

New York Red Bulls - For the Red Bulls, I'm not sure Carl Robinson's right knee contusion or Chris Albright's hernia surgery are a big blow to the team. One that's definitely a blow is Luke Rodgers out with a Left foot plantar fascitits.

Seattle Sounders FC - For the Men in Rave Green. Zakuani and White, you should know about them. Brad Evans has been added to the list with a Bruised ankle. He will not be seen tomorrow.


Suspensions:

New York Red Bulls - This was sort off bullshit because this was already worked out. Thierry Henry was sent off for no reason. He went at it with Adam Moffit of the Portland Timbers, but they shook hands, which is good sportsmanship, but then referee Ricardo Salazar went to his back pocket and gave Thierry Henry a Red Card and Moffit a Yellow. That's just ridiculous, doing something like that over a thing that was already taken care of between the players... that's just starting trouble. Thierry Henry wouldn't have got the start anyway I don't think, but still, that was ridiculous.

Seattle Sounders FC - I'm not going to bring this one up again, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado. Apparently they didn't appeal his suspension so he will not be seen on Thursday.


International absences:

New York Red Bulls - Juan Agudelo and Tim Ream are still with USA in the Gold Cup. By the way, USA defeated Panama 1-0, so they're in the final. Also Rafa Marquez for Mexico, who look to be headed to the final. It looks like another USA-Mexico matchup.

Seattle Sounders FC - For Seattle uhh........... Well, they have nobody, which is a good thing especially because this team is so jacked up.


Key matchup:

Red Bulls attacking front vs Sounders back line - Looking at the reports it looks like they're going partner up Dwayne De Rosario with Dane Richards. De Rosario is used to playing as an attacking midfielder so he can get more time on the ball as well as score more goals, which has worked out very well. Dane Richards is a winger. They're gonna be under a lot of pressure from the Sounders back line.

USA opens up 2011 Gold Cup with a 2-0 win over Canada

By Money Mike


Day 3 of the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup is now officially in the books. Both the United States and Canada kicked off their Gold Cup campaign and it was the United States coming out on top 2-0 with Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey finding the back of the net for the Red, White and Blue. Panama and Guadeloupe also kicked off their campaign with Panama winning 3-2. The United States will face Panama next on Saturday at 5pm on FOX Soccer Channel.

The U.S. got on the board first in the 15th minute. Landon Donovan with a good through ball found Jozy Altidore, who made a nice turn and slotted the ball under goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld for the opening goal. It was Altidore's 11th international goal, and this dude has received a lot of criticism for his lack of confidence while in Europe. You know, the lack of playing time, lack of goals (6 total. 2 for Hull City, 3 for Villereal and 1 for Bursaspor), etc. So I don't care how lucky that was, it was nice to see him get a goal for the U.S.

The 2nd goal came in the 62nd minute. Juan Agudelo slid the ball into the danger area and as the ball rolled past Altidore, Clint Dempsey made a run at the far post and tapped it into an open net to put the United States up 2-0 and that was the final score.

Missed the match, wasn't able to catch it on TV:

OK, sorry that was all I could share to you guys. I wasn't able to see the match at all, so I had my friend send me text messages regarding the match. This is the 3rd straight time that I missed the first match. In 07', I was able to catch like, the first 10 minutes of the USA-Guatemala match in which the U.S. won 1-0 on a goal by Dempsey. In 09', I couldn't see their match against Grenada, which took place here in Seattle, because I was at my grandmothers house for the 4th of July, she didn't have FSC, and this was just after USA's 2nd Place Finish at the FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa. The United States won that match 4-0. As for the next match against Panama, I'm not sure if I'll be able to catch this one because of the Tacoma Relay for Life, but we'll see.

Alejandro Bedoya replaces Benny Feilhaber in USA's Gold Cup squad:

So, just before USA's final tune up match before the Gold Cup, the United States made a change on their Gold Cup squad. Benny Feilhaber picked up an ankle injury during New England Revolution's 1-0 to the Los Angeles Galaxy, so Alejandro Bedoya replaced him on the squad. Remember I made a complaint when I showed you guys the squad about Bedoya not being named when I think he should've. So it's nice to see him on the squad because, he left Boston College, went to Europe, and he has worked his ass off every season with Orebro SK in Sweden.

Here's the scoring summary from the match:

United States - Jozy Altidore (Landon Donovan) 15'

United States - Clint Dempsey (Juan Agudelo) 62'

Booking summary:

United States - Michael Bradley (caution) 51'

Canada - Will Johnson (caution) 52'

Lineups:

Canada: 1 - Lars Hirschfeld, 2 - Nik Ledgerwood, 4 - Kevin McKenna, 5 - Andre Hainault, 7 - Terry Dunfield (21 - Jonathan Beaulieu-Bourgault, 82'), 8 - Will Johnson (10 - Ali Gerba, 65'), 11 - Josh Simpson, 13 - Atiba Hutchinson, 14 - Dwayne De Rosario (9 - Rob Friend, 81'), 17 - Simeon Jackson, 19 - Marcel de Jong

United States: Tim Howard; Steve Cherundelo, Clarence Goodson, Tim Ream, Carlos Bocanegra; Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Jermaine Jones (Maurice Edu, 79'), Landon Donovan; Jozy Altidore (Sacha Kljestan, 74'), Juan Agudelo (Chris Wondolowski, 65')

Note: I put Canada's starting lineup in numerical order because I didn't know their exact lineup.