Sounders Humbled in 4-0 Loss to Barcelona
Osvaldo Alonso in action against Barcelona (Daniel Houghton- Seattle Times photo)
From Sounders FC…
Lionel Messi scored two first-half goals to lead FC Barcelona to a 4-0 win over the Seattle Sounders FC in a friendly match played before a record crowd of 66,848 on the Xbox Pitch at Qwest Field on Wednesday night.
The attendance was also the largest for a professional soccer match played in Seattle. The previous mark was 66,830 for a 2006 friendly between Real Madrid and D.C. United.
Jeffren Suarez and Pedro Rodriguez scored in the second half for Barcelona, which completes its U.S. tour against Mexico’s CD Guadalajara on Saturday in San Francisco.
Messi, a 22-year-old Argentine midfielder, opened the scoring in the 21st minute of the match with a composed, curling 25-yard shot past Kasey Keller following a pass by Xavi Hernandez.
Xavi also assisted on Messi’s second goal. Messi brought down the ball inside the 6-yard box and quickly poked it left-footed under Keller.
It was the second match for FC Barcelona in the 2009 U.S. Tour. It defeated the L.A. Galaxy 2-1 at the Rose Bowl last Saturday.
Freddie Ljungberg produced Seattle’s best scoring chance in the first half. Barcelona keeper Jose Manuel Pinto’s weak clearance was taken by Ljungberg but his 18-yard drive went wide left.
Defender Leo Gonzalez played his first match for the Sounders FC after signing July 2nd but missing training and league play with the Costa Rican National Team for the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Both Seattle and Barcelona substituted freely at halftime with only Sounders FC defender James Riley remaining on the pitch from the starting 22. He was replaced in the 61st minute.
A Rodriguez cross set up Jeffren Suarez at the far post in the 75th minute and Rodriguez converted a rebound from a Suarez shot past Seattle goalkeeper Terry Boss in the 89th.
Seattle resumes MLS play on Saturday night in Sandy, Utah against Real Salt Lake at 6:00 p.m. PT.
Scoring Summary
| FC Barcelona vs. Seattle Sounders FC |
| August 05, 2009 — Qwest Field |
| Goals by Period |
1 |
2 |
Tot |
| FC Barcelona |
2 |
2 |
4 |
| Seattle Sounders FC |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Scoring Summary: |
| FCB — Lionel Messi (Xavi Hernandez, Eric Abidal) 21 |
| FCB — Lionel Messi (Xavi Hernandez, Thierry Henry) 41 |
| FCB — Jeffren Suarez (Pedro Rodriguez) 75 |
| FCB — Pedro Rodriguez (unassisted) 89 |
| FC Barcelona — Jose Manuel Pinto (Albert Jorquera 46), Victor Sanchez (Adriano Henrique 46), Carlos Puyol (Maxwell Andrade 46), Eric Abidal (Marc Muniesa 46), Daniel Alves (Gerard Pique 46), Sergio Busquets (Yaya Toure 46), Andreu Fontas (Jonathan Dos Santos 46), Xavi Hernandez (Seydou Keita 46), Thierry Henry (Pedro Rodriguez 46), Bojan Krkic (Jeffren Suarez 46), Lionel Messi (Eidur Gudjohnsen 46).
Substitutes Not Used: TOTAL SHOTS: 25 (Lionel Messi 6); SHOTS ON GOAL: 11 (Lionel Messi 3); FOULS: 6 (Sergio Busquets 2, Eric Abidal 2); OFFSIDES: 3 (3 tied with 1); CORNER KICKS: 5 (Xavi Hernandez 3); SAVES: 1 (Jose Manuel Pinto 1) Seattle Sounders FC — Kasey Keller (Terry Boss 46), James Riley (Tyson Wahl 61), Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (Nathan Sturgis 46), Tyrone Marshall (Evan Brown 46) (Michael Fucita 80), Leonardo Gonzalez (Zach Scott 46), Brad Evans (Patrick Ianni 46), Osvaldo Alonso (Peter Vagenas 46), Freddie Ljungberg (Sanna Nyassi 46), Steve Zakuani (Taylor Graham 46), Fredy Montero (Lamar Neagle 46), Nate Jaqua (Roger Levesque 46). Substitutes Not Used: TOTAL SHOTS: 4 (4 tied with 1); SHOTS ON GOAL: 1 (Nate Jaqua 1); FOULS: 8 (8 tied with 1); OFFSIDES: 3 (Michael Fucita 2); CORNER KICKS: 3 (Freddie Ljungberg 2); SAVES: 7 (Kasey Keller 5) |
| Misconduct Summary: |
| FCB — Sergio Busquets (caution; Reckless Tackle) 31 |
| SEA — Michael Fucita (caution; Reckless Tackle) 83 |
| Referee: Mark Geiger |
| Referee’s Assistants: -George Gansner; Paul Scott |
| 4th Official: Alejandro Mariscal |
| Attendance: 66,848 |
| Time of Game: 1:51 |
