great showing for soccer, and sounders too

Posted by yamsmos on July 18, 2009 · Under News · View Comments 

wifey and i finally got home from the game…. almost 8pm. that is a pretty good day then eh?

i am tired and my memory of the game gets fuzzier as the beer  err the day continues, so let’s get this down in ones and zeros shall we…

i can’t write a coherent piece…. so bullet points it is.

- the first sign that we were in for a 67,000 fan experience was the line to get into the game. boy, that was impressive. i thought we were going to be late, but thankfully, the match was on MLS time and it started almost 15 minutes late.

- did they really hand out 50,000 thundersticks? they weren’t too much a bother were they.. however, i must say that there wasn’t anyone around me that used them, so that helped. glad that it wasn’t terrible… anyone else have a different experience?

- chelsea named almost a full strength squad, which was nice. the only person not to play that was hoped for was drogba. not sure why… injury? anyone know?

- the sounders showed up. we ran at them, we got stuck in and won a ton of 50/50 balls. although none of chelsea’s squad were at full match fit, i am sure that all of them thought at some point…. “wow, they are quite good”. maybe not, but the point is, we were not embarrassed, not by a long shot. our finishing was poor, and we didn’t have a ton of chances, but we did have a few that were solid. if we had a luckier le toux bounce, a touch better nyassi shot, or alex not diving in for a last second save… we could have had a few in the back of the net. iffa could should woulda, i know…. sure we lost, but good showing for sure.

- freddie was immense. one of my contentions about ljungberg is that he is somewhat limited by the talent around him. that is not a knock on any of our other players. but lets face it…. surround him all stars and freddie would be in his element. he doesn’t have the full game changing ability by himself… but he can play with the best still. somehow, that translated to the opposition. he seemed to take it up a notch today didn’t he? he was everywhere and i am sure he was as fast as we have ever seen. interesting seeing him have a long conversation with drogba after the match. they talked for 5 minutes at least. oh, and anyone notice that when he left the pitch as captain, he didn’t hand off the armband to anyone else? had a chuckle at that one.

- although we were 2-0 down and chelsea likely took their foot off the gas a little, during the second half, did anyone else think “crap, we look better now with our C team, playing with a few guys i have never even heard of, than during the first half with our A team”? well i will admit that i did. what a great chance for some of our players to play against that caliber of team. they will possibly never play against that type of skill again and they weren’t afraid. i was impressed with that maturity.

- somewhere around the 70th minute i was sure that belletti and the ref were going to punch each other. i have seen refs tell players to get out of their face, but never have i seen one so eager to get in the face of a player. he was up for it. would have loved to know what went on there. kudos for belletti taking the time to applaud the fans after the match, specifically signalling out the fans at the very very top of the nose bleeds. you could see he was impressed with the turnout.

- zach scott…. hmmm. i really am not a fan. yes i know that is harsh and i hate bad mouthing any of our players. i am sure he is a great guy, but he doesn’t have what it takes. he was out of his element and was made to look terrible. yes, chelsea is a great team, but how is scott the only one that was made to look like he had never played the game before?

- their goals were sloppy… sloppy by our defense. i feel good that they were against the run of play, b/c that is something that we can learn from. it wasn’t that they just ran round us and we couldn’t handle it. it was more that our positioning was poor and taken advantage of. that is something that we can learn from. you can’t really teach a guy to run faster, dribble better, jump higher, but you can teach them to move to a different position etc etc.

man of the match? F the  lampard decision, what was that about? other than his easy goal, did he even touch the ball? his tackle was classless in a friendly… oh, ok who then? well i will tell you,  terry boss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! TWO FANTASTIC SAVES. 2-0 isn’t a blowout, but 4-0 would sure feel like one. even though it was only 45 minutes, i feel very good that he is our 3rd string keeper.

ok, there are so many talking points i am sure i forgot many of them so please keep the comments coming b/c everyone is going to have something different to add on a day like this.

oh, almost forgot, while we were hosting the FA cup, (yes the actual cup, did you see it?)  the rest of the west was sucking it up. colorado lost 3-1 to DC (their run sure hit the skids), RSL lost to the crew by the same scoreline, but the best result of the day was a 1-1 draw by houston at toronto. they have clearly been feeling the results of such a hard july. the opposition mixed with the amount of travel has been too much for them. if we win our game in hand, we are only ONE point behind them for first. with colorado and RSL cooling off a tad, we might just carve our a run for the top of the table. oh, and don’t look now, but the draw happy galaxy are now nipping at our heals.

going to be a fun last half of the season eh?

COMMMMMMMMMMMME ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU SOUNDERSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

  • Ben R

    Things that stick out in my mind:
    1.  Teams of Chelsea’s caliber really make you pay for the mistakes you make on the field that you can normally get away with in the MLS.

    2.  I was amazed that every shot we were about to take resulted in a Chelsea defender coming out of nowhere and positioning himself right in front of the ball.

    3.   Montero tried to hard and needs to stop dancing as much.  He should have focused more on making good passes and getting shots off quicker. 

    4.  It became much more apparent that Ljunberg really is the best player on the team despite Montero’s recent run of goals.  He was the only one on our team that consistently knew how to deal with Chelsea’s players it seemed.

    5.  What the hell was Lampard thinking hacking Nyassi down with a slide tackle from behind like that?  In a competitive match that is a big no no, but sometimes understandable if there is frustration and what not.  In a friendly that is just a douche bag move to pull.

    6.  Overall I was proud of the Sounders.  They did well and played good possession.  It was also great to see Alonso on the pitch again.  He looked pretty good today.

  • Steve

    That size of crowd gets me excited for Portland/Vancouver even more.  The potential for the MLS is there, it just needs the excitement and rivalry that we started to see today.  Loved having the full stadium, but I almost feel the crowd is a bit crazier with the half crowd. 

    Overall Ljungberg had a great game and really showed why we got him and why clubs want him.  Montero showed he can’t compete with the EPL yet, he needs a bit more time before Europe.  Our style of game is much more exciting then theirs and that slow down pace can add to a boring game.  Our D had some great plays.  As we have all season, we can’t finish, but that is what separates us from them.  I think it is a game they should be very proud of.  They played hard and played well.  They are just a step above us, but we all knew that.

  • Giffy

    I thought we did great. I mean Chelsea is one of the, if not the top, team in England and one of the best in the world. We put some pressure on, had some great shots on goal, and put up a good defense.

    I have to say Chelsea’s defense was pretty fucking incredible. They were almost never out of position and showed some amazing skills.

    All in all we did fine. Give us another decade and hopefully we will be able to compete on par with English premier teams, but right now,  at less than a year old, we held our own and that is something to be proud of.

  • http://seattle.theoffside.com laurie

    P.S.  Je l’adore. 

  • Giffy

    I would add that I thought the thunder sticks were fine. I used mine as did many of the people around me. They make a not annoying noise unlike those damn horns that people buy.

    Not sure why people have such a problem with them.

    yamsmos Reply:
    July 18th, 2009 at 7:51 pm

    giffy, as i posted, they weren’t all that bad…. i think for me it is just a principle thing. i just don’t like artificial noise making… and that goes for horns, thundersticks, public address systems instigating “adams family” clap along sessions etc etc. so maybe it didn’t ruin the atmosphere… but we have done such a great job so far having an amazing support for our team with our voices and our hands, i just don’t want to slowly creap down the path of a thunder stick here, a horn there etc etc.

    Giffy Reply:
    July 18th, 2009 at 8:05 pm

    I am pretty much with you. I hate the PA stuff and the rest. I guess these things sound enough like clapping that they are not a problem for me. Plus as a one off thing I am fine with it.

    But yeah if it became a regular thing I would have a problem.

    soundersfcfanboy Reply:
    July 19th, 2009 at 12:38 pm

    We had a person sitting right behind us with the thundersticks and they are pretty damn loud.  Not as bad as the horns, but the thundersticks need to not ever come back.

  • seba

    1-I thought Zach Scott did pretty well, he was covering for some other people on the right side who were beaten.  It was his last line defense that saved 1 for sure and possibly another.

    2-NONE of the Africans played.  They came back to camp much later than everybody else. Chelsea made the decision about a week ago.

    yamsmos Reply:
    July 18th, 2009 at 8:46 pm

    we aren’t agreeing today seba

    1. one of the saves you are talking about was a mess that he got into. he let the ball bounce and then got disoriented…. and then finally got the ball away. good recovery, but he was to blame for the situation.

    2. mikel and kalou both played

  • jt

    Wow, where to start.  Here’s the key to the thundersticks – look at how much garbage they created post-match.  I didn’t mind them up in the 300 level seats, and I loved that the band was moved to the perch of Blue Thunder.

    Keller – great recovery early to keep the ball without using his hands.  It was good to see Boss out on the pitch, and yes he had two saves, he also came out and our D had two saves as well.  Over all, the F10 tripping, then to return the favor when it wasn’t called was fun to watch.  I like the refs – any chance we can keep them for the remaining matches?  Maybe Tuesday?? :D

    Seba taking on the ‘keeper and getting the deflection – oh it was a beauty.  Had it been a little left and gone in – craziness would have set in.

    The march was fun, and big – good thing it was on MLS time as it still seemed empty at noon.  Lots of last minute people.  I’m supprised that there was no mention of the Tuesday game, *SOLD OUT* even with added seats, or season ticket deposits.

  • Arun

    No mention of Hurtado getting caught out of position 100 times today…

    Valentine Reply:
    July 19th, 2009 at 9:41 am

    Thank You! No one mentions that Hurtado is constantly out of position. He is terrible at marking up as we see every game and definitely saw vs. Chelsea when he can’t seem to find Frank Lampard jogging 3 miles per hour in the box right in front of our goal.

    Hurtado is responsible for the header goal vs. the Galaxy that caused the tie at home and many other goals or near goals. I heard some people expressing dissapointment that he wasn’t added to the all-star team. We saw today what he does against all-star teams. He gives up a easy goal.

    yamsmos Reply:
    July 19th, 2009 at 10:09 am

    you guys are right about hurtado. i had mentioned it on my original short post, but forgot to include it when i wrote out the longer one last night. worst game he has had all year, regardless of skill of the opposition.

    Steve Reply:
    July 19th, 2009 at 10:33 am

    This is why we got gonzalez.  Our D is good because of keller, it isn’t great.  Hopefully CR loses soon so he can get here

  • Valentine

    I think the main thing this game taught us about the Sounders is that our offense can compete at a high level and our defense can’t. With Keller as our keeper we have just one shut out in our last 11 games!!!! That is not acceptable. Hopefully that Costa Rican dude we signed can help shore that up but with Marshall’s continued poor clearances (Yes his poor clearance was the reason for Chelsea’s first goal) and Hurtado’s innability to mark up, (reason for 2nd goal) I’m wondering if we don’t need to find some replacements for our centerbacks.

  • TL

    I am a little late on this post, but I had to interject one thing about our centerbacks.  No, they are not near as good as Chelsea’s.  Yes, they occasionally don’t make the right play.  Check out our total statistics though.  We may not have had too many clean sheets, but we are one of the top three defenses in the league.  They must be doing something right.  Also, from what I have seen.  Most of the goals have come from crosses and attacks on the right side, against our left backs.  More likely that side is taxing our centers and that is why we signed Gonzalez.  Very proud of our team.  Lets hope we can add another impact player before the window closes, and before Barcelona.  Can’t wait to do this all again!

  • http://www.byrner.com gonzo

    Fun match to watch and I was pleased with all the pressure the Sounders brought.  They played hard.

    Here’s somethings I saw.

    1.  We did not win a single 50-50 ball in the air all day.  Not one. 

    2. The ruthlessness of Chelsea when they got a chance.  If they smelled the goal they went for it 100%. 

    3. Chelsea’s defense was phenomenal.  There were no gaps or slots or seems or anything.  That would be my player of the match, the whole Chelsea backline.

    Anyways, fun and some good soccer.

    yamsmos Reply:
    July 20th, 2009 at 9:09 am

    i agree with you on 2 and 3, however, there was a ball that alonso won in the air over ballack. i remember it specifically b/c i immediately thought “how the hell did alonso just outjump ballack”.

    but point taken for sure

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