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.

Kasey Keller comes up huge in the final seconds to salvage a big win for the Sounders.

By Money Mike

In a highly anticipated match between two of the hottest Western Conference teams. Most would've thought FC Dallas would come away with a win, if not a draw. The fact was, Seattle had not won a single match in the state of Texas, and the temperature at kick-off was a fucking 106 degrees. But the Seattle Sounders got through all of that, as Mauro Rosales's 15th minute goal and Kasey Keller's last second heroics prove to be the story in their 1-0 victory over FC Dallas. With the win Seattle climbs above Dallas for 2nd place in the West and remain 6 back of LA for the top spot in the West.

Here's how Seattle got their goal. Lamar Neagle wide left looked to have given the ball away, but the ball bounced away from Ugo Ihemelu and to the feet of Fredy Montero who make a good run and led a streaking Mauro Rosales down the right flank. Rosales fired a low shot from 18 yards out to beat Kevin Hartman who was making his 379th MLS appearance which is now the all-time record. Ihemelu was partnered in the center with Zach Loyd in this match because former UW Husky George John was suspended for the match. There were rumors about George John possibly leaving for England to join Blackburn Rovers in the winter. Zach Loyd had to leave the game early after colliding with Fredy Montero and possibly injuring his leg in the process. Head coach Schellas Hyndman was forced to make an early change, bringing in Jeremy Hall, who was acquired in a trade with the Portland Timbers that sent Eric Alexander the other way, to play right back and move Jackson into the center.

Zach Scott made his third straight start at defense. Getting the start at right back over James Riley with a major test, marking the always dangerous Brek Shea. And all he did was make their go-to guy look like a complete Bozo all game long. This guy hasn't been out on the pitch much since the first couple games of the 2009 season and I was expecting Seattle to cut him during the preseason, but now I think he has a spot in this team. I think he played probably his best match of his MLS career.

Jhon Kennedy Hurtado made his first MLS appearance since suffering an MCL Sprain in their match down at Portland against the Timbers on July 10th and nearly doubled Seattle's lead when he headed the ball past Kevin Hartman, but the offside flag was up.

In the 56th minute, the Sounders could've been reduced to ten men, instead, it was Dallas who were reduced to ten men. Daniel Cruz went down just outside the penalty area and it looked like Erik Friberg was going to be shown a second yellow for the challenge, but instead referee Dave Gantar booked Cruz for diving and that was his second yellow of the game so FC Dallas had to play with 10-men the rest of the game. In all honesty I think this referee has just done a horrible job with this game. I think that was a bad decision, but this is MLS. And Dallas now knows what it's like to be victimized.

Dallas desite playing a man down continued to push and in the 94th minute, they came so close to stealing a point in this game. Kasey Keller punched a free kick clear, but the ball fell straight to Bruno Guarda and Seattle looked doomed, but Kasey Keller came up with probably the biggest save of his life because not only did he save that effort, he saved the victory for the Seattle Sounders.

Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Mauro Rosales 4 (Fredy Montero 6) 15'

Misconduct summary:

FC Dallas - Daniel Cruz (caution; Reckless tackle) 3'

Seattle Sounders FC - Erik Friberg (caution; Tactical foul) 6'

FC Dallas - Ugo Ihemelu (caution; Reckless foul) 27'

FC Dallas - Daniel Cruz (caution; Simulation) 56'

FC Dallas - Daniel Cruz (ejection; Second caution) 56'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero (caution; Reckless foul) 60'

Seattle Sounders FC - Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (caution; Tactical foul) 64'

Seattle Sounders FC - Zach Scott (caution; Handball) 94'+

Lineups:

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; Zach Scott, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leonardo Gonzalez; Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Erik Friberg (Brad Evans 63'), Lamar Neagle; Mike Fucito (Pat Noonan 78'), Fredy Montero (Alvaro Fernandez 68')

FC Dallas - Kevin Hartman; Jackson (Fabian Castillo 73'), Ugo Ihemelu, Zach Loyd (Jeremy Hall 25'), Jair Benitez; Marvin Chavez, Daniel Cruz, Daniel Hernandez (Bruno Guarda 81'), Ricardo Villar, Brek Shea; Maicon Santos

Sounders pound Toronto FC 3-0. Extend unbeaten streak to 6 matches.

By Money Mike


With Steve Zakuani out, it was Brad Evans who stepped in with two goals and an assist as the Seattle Sounders shutout Toronto FC 3-0. The Sounders fans paid tribute to Zakuani by raising their #11 signs in the 11th minute and also chanting his name. The Sounders were also without O'Brian White who had blood clot surgery on his leg and Mauro Rosales was also left out of the 18-man squad. Toronto FC, coming off a win in the Canadian Championship, are now winless in 6 straight matches as they had a couple holes to fill with injuries and also with Tony Tchani suspended.

Seattle struck early in the 9th minute when Alvaro Fernandez, who replaced Zakuani at left midfield got on the end of a Brad Evans cross, unmarked, to head the ball home for his 2nd goal of the season to give the Sounders an early 1-0 lead and they never looked back.

Toronto had a chance to equalize before the break when Alan Stevanovic's ball nearly resulted in a breakaway goal for Javier Martina, but his effort was blocked at the last minute by Tyson Wahl.

In the first minute of the second half, Fernandez's cross in the box fell to Fredy Montero, and with Adrian Cann backing away, Montero tried a curler with the outside of his right boot toward the far post but Stefan Frei made a terrific diving stop to deny him. A couple minutes later, a driven ball by Nate Jaqua found the foot of Brad Evans from point blank range but Frei came up huge again as Evans went for power with his left foot. TFC still had work to do though. Alvaro Fernandez's cross was headed out of the penalty area by Dicoy Williams but the ball fell to James Riley for a thumper that just grazed the top of the crossbar.

In the 52 minute, the Sounders would find the back of the net again. Fredy Montero found Brad Evans streaking behind the defense and Evans made no mistake, he hit it first time, into the far post for his 2nd of the season and he wasn't done yet. In the 75th minute, the Sounders were awarded a penalty. Erik Friberg's corner came off the hand of Mikael Yourrasowsky and referee Ricardo Salazar pointed to the penalty spot. Brad Evans then stepped up and slotted the PK into the right corner of the net to cap off a well deserved 3-0 win for the men in Rave Green as they are now unbeaten in their last six matches since starting the year 0-2 and have also won 3 of their last 4 matches.

Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Alvaro Fernandez (Brad Evans, James Riley) 9'

Seattle Sounders FC - Brad Evans (Fredy Montero, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado) 52'

Seattle Sounders FC - Brad Evans (penalty kick) 75'

Misconduct summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Osvaldo Alonso (caution; Persistant infringement) 45'

Toronto FC - Julian de Guzman (caution; Reckless tackle) 54'

Lineups:

Toronto FC - Stefan Frei; Dan Gargan, Dicoy Williams, Adrian Cann, Danleigh Borman; Julian de Guzman (Nathan Sturgis 57'), Maicon Santos (Mikael Yourrasowsky 46'), Jacob Peterson; Javier Martina, Alan Gordon, Alen Stevanovic (Matt Gold 62')

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; James Riley, Patrick Ianni, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyson Wahl; Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Erik Friberg (Servando Carrasco 80'), Alvaro Fernandez; Nate Jaqua (Roger Levesque 72'), Fredy Montero (Michael Fucito 66')

Seattle Sounders FC vs Toronto FC preview

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders after a successful road trip return home to Qwest Field as they look to extend their unbeaten streak to 6 games. Last week, Seattle came away with a 1-0 win in Colorado over the defending champion Rapids, but also lost one of their star players to injury, and the question is, who will Sigi Schmid add to the starting-11? On the other side, Toronto FC are coming off a disappointing 1-1 draw at home to the Columbus Crew. Tony Tchani, who was acquired from Red Bull New York, put TFC up 1-0 but was immediately sent off after picking up his second yellow for his celebration, and I have no idea what he did that the referee didn't like. Did he get booked for jumping over the boards? If there was a rule about that, when did they start booking players for it? I don't know what he did, but he got sent off and it proved costly as Emilio Renteria's goal erased Toronto's lead and the victory, and also the red card meant Tchani will be suspended for this match.

Injury report:

Toronto FC - I tell you what, Toronto FC have alot of guys with adductor injuries so let's take a look at who's out and who may play, but probably won't. First up on the list is Dutch veteran, Elbekay Bouchiba, has made an appearance for Toronto FC and he will not make his debut this weekend. He is recovering from right knee surgery. Keith Makubuya has an adductor strain and that will keep him out of this match. Alen Stevanovic also has an adductor strain but he is listed as questionable. Adrian Cann has a pectoral contusion and will be listed as questionable. Alan Gordon, Nana Attakora and Gianluca Zavarise are all suffering from adductor tightness and are all listed as questionable.

Seattle Sounders FC - Well there's gonna be a few holes to fill in this match. Pat Noonan remians listed as questionable with a right quad strain. O'Brian White just had blood clot surgery on his leg so he'll be out for a while, but I see him being out for too long. And of course we all know about this guy, Steve Zakuani, a broken tibia and fibula, this is a big loss right here.

Key Matchups:

Fredy Montero vs Ty Harden - Joshua Mayers on Seattle times listed Jaqua vs Harden as a key matchup, but I think Harden is gonna focus more on the Colombian international. Most of you Washington Husky fans who watched him when he played college soccer at UW should know that Harden is a tough-minded defender.

Maicon Santos vs Jeff Parke - Jeff Parke is gonna need to keep his eyes out for him at all times, yep, another test for him. Maicon scored two goals during midweek in a 3-0 win over FC Edmonton in the Canadian Championship and he is looking to pick up where he left off this weekend.

Javier Martina vs Leo Gonzalez - Martina looks like he gonna get the start out on the wing. He came to this team in the offseason only making three professional appearances, two for Ajax and one for HFC Harleem. This season, he's made seven appearances so far and has scored two goals. This young footballer has a lot of potential, and he's gonna test Gonzalez if he get's the start on the wing.

Who does Sigi use to replace Steve Zakuani and O'Brian White?

Well it's been a tough week with two key guys gone and now who does Sigi turn to? On the wing, they have Alvaro Fernandez, I think Rosales is an option, maybe Michael Fucito, David Estrada, as a matter of fact, I think rookie Michael Tetteh should get the start on the wing until Steve Zakuani returns, but of course that's just my opinion. Up front as O'Brian White recovers from blood clot surgery, I'm expecting Nate Jaqua to partner up front with Montero, but there are other options as well. You have 19-year old Miguel Montano, Rosales is also an option to partner up front or maybe even Lamar Neagle, but I think it's gonna be Jaqua up front with Fredy Montero. Like I said, alot of holes to fill.