SB Nation Seattle - Chivas USA vs. Seattle Sounders: Sounders Fight Back To Earn A Pointhttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/48997/seattle-fave.png2012-05-26T23:17:52-07:00http://seattle.sbnation.com/rss/stream/28101782012-05-26T23:17:52-07:002012-05-26T23:17:52-07:00Sounders Held To A Draw By New-Look Chivas USA
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<p><a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://delete.sbnprivate.com/">Chivas USA</a> continued an impressive run of form in holding the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.sounderatheart.com/">Seattle Sounders</a> to a scrappy 1-1 draw at the Home Depot Center. The Goats looked the better team for long stretches of the first half, and it took a goal from <span>Juan Agudelo</span> to bring the Sounders to life; just four minutes later, <span>David Estrada</span> put the game back on level terms after getting onto the end of a dangerous low cross from <span>Alex Caskey</span>. Seattle continued to apply steady pressure the rest of the way but Chivas would have none of it, and it was the Goats threatening to take three points at the end with a few desperate moments of defending from the Sounders preserving the draw.</p>
<p>Chivas' high-pressure, possession-based game threw the Sounders for a loop in the first half, and though Chivas didn't offer much in the way of a threat at goal Seattle wasn't able to test <span>Dan Kennedy</span> until the dying moments of the first half. Things opened up right from the start in the second half, and it was Chivas USA that grabbed the opener; former Sounder <span>James Riley</span> found himself in acres of space coming down the right flank on the counter, and Juan Agudelo got to the end of the fullback's inch-perfect cross to head past keeper <span>Bryan Meredith</span>. </p>
<p>That caused the Sounders to kick things up a notch, and they stayed in a higher gear well after Estrada's equalizer. But the Chivas defense (as well as Kennedy) showed why they're leading the team's revival, and with several key Sounders attacking players tiring Chivas bossed the final few minutes of the game. While a draw may not seem like the greatest of results against a team three spots and nine points lower than the Sounders, the Goats have shown flashes of brilliance at times this season and have begun to show significant signs of improvement and cohesiveness as of late. Given the players Seattle was missing due to injury and suspension, as well as an altogether strong performance from the home side, a point is a pretty decent haul from this game.</p>
<p>The focus of the next three weeks now shifts to the US Open Cup. The Atlanta Silverbacks come to town on Wednesday and a potential date with the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.stumptownfooty.com/">Portland Timbers</a> is on the docket the following week. The Sounders won't see league action until June 16th when they travel to Montreal, giving them an opportunity to do a bit of recuperating after a brutal month of May. While the Sounders form at the moment is far from red-hot, they remain well within striking distance of <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.rslsoapbox.com/">Real Salt Lake</a> in the Western Conference and are clearly in a much better place than they were at this time last season. It's been a frustrating run of late, but considering that this may be the most difficult stretch of games the Sounders will face all season, things could very easily be a whole lot worse.</p>
https://seattle.sbnation.com/seattle-sounders/2012/5/26/3046139/seattle-sounders-chivas-usa-match-recapAaron Campeau2012-05-26T07:00:57-07:002012-05-26T07:00:57-07:00Chivas USA vs. Seattle Sounders: Last Chance To Evade The Dreaded "Slump" Tag
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<p>Without a win in their past three games and fresh off a shocking home loss to the Columbus Crew, the Sounders will be desperate for a positive result at the Home Depot Center.</p> <p>Things have not been going well for the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.sounderatheart.com/">Seattle Sounders</a> as of late. After a torrid start to the season, the Sounders have gone cold, losing two out of three with a come-from-behind victory against Cascadia rivals Vancouver Whitecaps the only saving grace. The Sounders have just looked out of sorts these past few weeks, and it's clear that they're desperately in need of a confidence-building win in order to get things turned back around. The rhythm the Sounders appeared to be working into in the midst of an early-season injury crisis has abandoned them, and in its wake has left a supremely talented by completely disheveled side that for long stretches appear to have never before played together.</p>
<p>These things happen over the course of a season, and at this point there's not much reason for serious concern. MLS is a league of extreme parity after all, and it's not as though the Sounders have at any point had to retreat with their collective tail between their legs; even the embarrassing loss to the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.massivereport.com/">Columbus Crew</a> came with some genuinely compelling caveats. But the fact remains, Seattle desperately needs to turn things around. These things can snowball, and with the specter of sputtering starts these past few seasons hanging over their shoulder it would be shame if the Sounders were to waste a very impressive start and allow a swoon to set in heading into the summer months when things have had a tendency to heat up.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://delete.sbnprivate.com/">Chivas USA</a> is not as easy a win as they may have once seemed. The Sounders will be without <span>Osvaldo Alonso</span>, Adam Johannson, <span>Leo Gonzalez</span> and <span>Patrick Ianni</span>, while Chivas has ridden a recent hot streak to a completely respectable place in the table with the best seemingly yet to come. These do not seem to be the Goats of yesteryear; Chivas looks a genuinely dangerous team, with young (though frustratingly inconsistent) attacking talent all around and a newly stout defensive unit that's allowed less than a goal per game to this point in the season. Given the way the Sounders have struggled to put goals on the board to this point, that back line will be of serious concern, and with an attack that appears to be on the verge of busting out completely at any given time, that's going to make for an uneasy game unless the Sounders are able to break through early. Which, in case you haven't notices, has not exactly been a strong point this season.</p>
<p>A loss in this game would be a pretty terrible way to enter the international break, and with the opening salvo in Seattle's defense of the US Open Cup coming up this Wednesday, any added vulnerability will make for an altogether more nerve-wracking affair. But even without Alonso and roughly half of the defense, the Sounders are easily good enough to take all three points from an improving but far from complete Chivas side. It's just a matter of putting things together, and that has been the rub so far this season. Even when the Sounders were winning games and looking dominant week-in-and-week-out, they weren't often able to put things beyond doubt. Now that they look something significantly less than invincible, translating that typical dominance of the run of play to dominance of the scoreboard will be vital, in more ways than one.</p>
https://seattle.sbnation.com/seattle-sounders/2012/5/26/3044607/chivas-usa-vs-seattle-sounders-last-chance-to-evade-the-dreaded-slumpAaron Campeau