The Sounders take a slim lead into the half of a physical, stuttering contest. The heat has clearly been a factor as neither side seems especially interested in an end-to-end affair; instead we've had brief flurries of activity interrupting a fair amount of pushing, shoving and talking-to's from referee David Gantar. Both sides have had moments of danger with Brek Shea looking particularly threatening for FC Dallas. The real surprise has been the performance of the home side's back line; they're pretty clearly missing George John and were weakened even more when Zach Lloyd had to be replaced by Jeremy Hall due to injury in the 24th minute. That's a pretty big blow for Dallas as they'll now have just two subs to burn later on in the game.
FC Dallas has had a much larger share of the possession (around 57%) but the Sounders have looked very dangerous on the counter-attack which led to the half's only goal. Fredy Montero pounced on a misplaced ball in the FC Dallas back line and sent a perfect ball through into space to Mauro Rosales who sent in a perfectly placed low shot past a diving Kevin Hartman. The Sounders looked to have added another just minutes later, but Jhon Kennedy Hurtado's headed goal from a set piece was (rightly) disallowed for offside. The Sounders back line has been quite resolute with Seattle taking a more defensive posture after the goal, but the Toros look to have a goal in them; for their part the Sounders seem fairly intent on grabbing at least one more before the night is out as well.