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.