Real Salt Lake at Seattle tonight in Thursday night MLS action. The Sounders are one of the most talented clubs in the league -- but can they defeat the reigning MLS Cup holders?
Mike Fucito sees his first chance at play at Qwest Field, coming on for Nate Jaqua with about twenty minutes left.
Just a few minutes later, Alvaro Fernandez came off and Sanna Nyassi took his place.
I guess they’re going for speed, at this point? Fucito is fast.
Jeff Parke lost his balance in the box when covering Robbie Findley. After scrambling to his feet, Parke stuck out a foot and brought down Findley in the penalty box.
Findley stepped up to the spot to take the penalty. Kasey Keller chose correctly and pushed Findley’s kick aside. Score remains at zero for everyone.
Yet another Thursday match day as the Seattle Sounders gear up for a tough section of their schedule, preparing to jet off for Costa Rica shorty after this match. Tuesday night brings the CONCACAF Champions League match against Saprissa in San Jose before flying off to Columbus for their league match against the Crew next Saturday. I'll share more about my thoughts regarding the CCL match later, but for now I will simply say that the Sounders need to not concern themselves with upcoming games and instead field their best team possible tonight.
As I mentioned in a short commentary yesterday, Blaise Nkufo continues to be troubled by his knee, and won't be available for Seattle tonight. Instead, Fredy Montero will be partnered up front by Nate Jaqua, who's only seen one MLS start since coming back from injury. But he's been a force in Open Cup play and--even more important--the position he assumes on the field is one similar to that of Nkufo, playing further forward and allowing Montero to act more as an attacking midfielder.
James Riley is also sidelined with a sprained ankle, and it is fairly certain that Zach Scott will be his replacement. RSL will be without Jamison Olave due to yellow card accumulation. According to Sounder at Heart, Olave is great at set pieces, so maybe the Sounders can just snatch him off the sidelines when the rest of the team is looking the other way. Fabian Espindola is also missing, having not even traveled with the club.
Scarves up, Seattle! Match is at 8 p.m. on ESPN2. Find more in-depth pregame coverage at Sounder at Heart, and stop by to add to the in-match chatter. As always, significant events will be posted in this stream.
Seattle Sounders Draw Against Real Salt Lake, 0-0
Chance was the name of the game here in Seattle, but neither team could actually find the back of the net. Even though ESPN told us at halftime that “someone had to score”, they were proved wrong tonight as the match finished at 0-0.
That’s not to say this was 90+ minutes of boring play. The Sounders used their wings wisely, opening up the play and feeding through plenty of balls. On the other end, Real Salt Lake was doing the same thing, and Kasey Keller made a couple great saves to earn Seattle a point. But both teams were guilty of slowing down the play in the final third, allowing the opposing defense to come in and block almost every shot at goal (well, except the shots Robbie Findley kept launching into orbit).
Osvaldo Alonso played fantastically, with at least three attempts from distance, all of them coming closer to the net than any of Findley’s closer shots. Ozzie’s been showing great form in attack recently, and it seems that at some point one—please, just one—of these shots has to go in.
One quick thing about the end of the match: the ref awarded four minutes of stoppage time, even though there had been no goals and barely any time spent agonizing over an injury, and then blew the whistle during a Seattle attack, which is far and away against the spirit of the game. I make no presumptions about a Seattle win in the last few seconds, but it’s still annoying to see that sort of ending.
Sep 09 10:11p by Kirsten Schlewitz - 0 comments