Sounders FC move to 9-6-11 (38pts) on the season.

More to come…

Sounders FC (9-6-10, 37pts) finds itself in the midst of a Playoff run with 5 matches remaining against The Goats from Southern California (11-9-3, 36pts) who is also in the same post-season posturing.

Head Boss for the Sounders, Sigi Schmid, should have his entire lineup at his disposal for the match with no players facing suspension or major injury.

This is the third meeting on the 2009 campaign for these two clubs. Chivas has won the two prior matches; 2-0 on April 18th and 1-0 on June 6th- both of those matches were played in Southern California.

The Sounders have not won, or scored, at Qwest since the July 11th 2-1 decision over the Houston Dynamo. Including the International Friendlies against Chelsea and Barcelona, 0-3-2.  The last Rave Green goal came in the 46th minute of that Houston match on Patrick Ianni’s bicycle kick winner- that’s 495 minutes of play with out scoring.Kickoff is slated for 12noon. [Buy Tickets Now]

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The March will depart Occidental Park located in the heart of Pioneer Square at the intersection of Main Street and Occidental Avenue South. The “March to the Match” will depart the park at 10:30 a.m. and finish just outside the Northwest Gate, where fans can enter the stadium.

Also before the match, former North American Soccer League (NASL) Sounders will be honored in a pre-game ceremony on Saturday. Sounders FC Alliance members voted online for the player, coach or team representative that best represented the Sounders on and off of the field. The recipient with the most votes will receive the team’s Golden Scarf prior to the first kick.

Chivas capitalizing on one of their few chances against Seattle (Getty)

i admit i am likely a little knee jerky right now… but honestly, if we can’t learn to take our chances and finish our games with 11 men,  our playoff chances are going to slip away game after game.

our team can’t keep re-learning how to play with one another with different players slotted to fill in game after game. but yet again, next week, we will be without jaqua due to a red, and hurtado due to 5 yellow accumulations. jaqua’s second yellow was ridiculously soft…. and was no way a yellow. very frustrating.

need to keep this short b/c i am on diaper duty right now… or diaper doodie as i like to call it. so a few points on the match…

- ianni, has to hold up his hand up for their goal. he checked out and let livingston run in on goal completely unmarked. it wasn’t just even that he didn’t see him. he was marking him, and then just decided to stop running.

- hurtado. i love you man, and no, you aren’t a striker. but boy, you have to put that header in the back of the net. i know you know it, but just a friendly reminder, b/c i know you read this every morning.

- did montero pass to ljungberg once? seriously there seems to be something between them doesn’t there? they better sort it out though b/c it is terrible to watch.

- frustration is beginning to show on the face of the players i think. the first 3 games  of the season were surreal. the next few were a little bit of a reality check and the last 5 draws kind of sucked, but we all could justify it b/c most of the games were on the road so at least we were picking up points.  but everyone was definitely getting a little PO’d towards the end of the match… and rightfully so. it has been a long time since we have won, and we need a 3…

ok, that is all… my wife is calling for help given that i have skirted my diaper doodie…

Nate Jaqua was ejected for receiving 2 yellows (Getty Images)

Chivas USA got a goal in the 38th minute by Eduardo Lillingston off a Kasey Keller rebound to defeat the Sounders 1-0 at the Home Depot Center.

In a match where Seattle dominated possession, the Sounders could not convert on multiple opportunities.

The loss drop Sounders FC to 4-3-5 (17pts) and the squad loses more ground to Chivas as they improve to 8-2-3 (27pts).

Nate Jaqua received two cautions and was ejected in the 88th minute. Jhon Kennedy Hurtado received a caution in the 82nd- it was his fifth yellow card on the season. They will both miss next week’s game against San Jose.

Seattle’s last win came on April 25th, a win over San Jose. The Sounders are 0-1-5 since then.

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Scoring Summary:

CHV – Eduardo Lillingston (unassisted) 38

Chivas USA — Zach Thornton, Mariano Trujillo, Carey Talley, Shavar Thomas (Claudio Suarez 70), Jorge Flores, Atiba Harris, Machael Lahoud, Paulo Nagamura, Justin Braun, Maykel Galindo (Alecko Eskandarian 90), Eduardo Lillingston (Sasha Victorine 68).

Substitutes Not Used: Lance Parker, Gerson Mayen, Bojan Stepanovic, Chukwudi Chijindu.

TOTAL SHOTS: 6
SHOTS ON GOAL: 3
FOULS: 19
OFFSIDES: 4
CORNER KICKS: 1
SAVES: 3

Seattle Sounders FC — Kasey Keller, James Riley, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Patrick Ianni, Tyson Wahl, Brad Evans, Freddie Ljungberg, Stephen King, Steve Zakuani (Sanna Nyassi 79), Fredy Montero (Sebastien Le Toux 65), Nate Jaqua

Substitutes Not Used: Roger Levesque, Peter Vagenas, Nathan Sturgis, Evan Brown, Ben Dragovan.

TOTAL SHOTS: 11
SHOTS ON GOAL: 3
FOULS: 12
OFFSIDES: 5
CORNER KICKS: 8
SAVES: 2

Discipline:
CHV — Eduardo Lillingston (caution; Reckless Foul) 26
SEA — Patrick Ianni (caution; Reckless Foul) 48
SEA — Nate Jaqua (caution; Reckless Tackle) 54
SEA — Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (caution; Reckless Tackle) 81
SEA — Nate Jaqua (ejection; Second Caution) 88
CHV — Mariano Trujillo (caution; Reckless Tackle) 90

Referee: Kevin Stott
Referee’s Assistants: Fabio Tovar; Jeff Hosking
4th Official: Yader Reyes
Time of Game: 90:00
Weather: Partly Cloudy -and- 65 degrees
Attendance: 13,117

Freddie Ljungberg has been fouled 22 times (from Getty)

Since you love the random numbers and facts, here they are for Saturday’s Sounders FC vs. Chivas USA match…

• Sigi Schmid is 1-4-2 against Chivas USA. 117-88-62 overall
• Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (and Tyrone Marshall) are the lone Sounders to have statistically play all 990 minutes for Sounders FC this season.
• Chivas has 3 players who have played in every minute of their 12 matches
• Hurtado is also carrying 4 yellow cards on accumulation.
• Nate Jaqua has scored 4 goals and has 1 assist against Chivas in his career. Pete Vagenas has 3 goals and an assist.

• Chivas goalkeeper Zach Thornton has 6 clean sheets on the 2009 campaign- that leads MLS. He is currently 3rd on the All-Time list, 1 shutout away from 2nd place.
• Seattle leads MLS in fouls suffered (141). Chivas USA leads MLS in fould committed (167)
• Kasey Keller leads MLS Goalkeepers with a .64 Goals Against Average.

Sounders FC Leaders
Goals: Fredy Montero (4)
Assists: Nate Jaqua (4)
Shots: Montero (30)
Shots on Goal: Montero, Zakuani (8)
Fouls Committed: Jaqua (19)
Fouls Suffered: Montero (27)

The Sounders are on a 5-game streak of ties while MLS-leading Chivas is coming off their second loss of the season and are winless in their last 3 matches.

In the first meeting on April 18th, Chivas defeated a Kasey Keller-less Sounders FC squad 2-0.

Chivas allowed only 3 goals in their first 9 matches, but in their past three they have given up 6.

Both teams will be without some of their regulars. For Seattle, Tyrone Marshall will be serving a mandatory league suspension for receiving a red card in last week’s match against Columbus. The Sounders also list central midfielder Osvaldo Alonso as “questionable” but a player has noted that Ozzie is close to playing.

For the Red & Whites… they will be without Defender Jess Marsch who, like Marshall, will be sitting out after receiving a red card last weekend. Chivas will also be missing Jonathan Bornstein and Sacha Kljestan who were recalled by US Soccer to participate in the World Cup Qualifying matches against Costa Rica and Honduras.

The Goats are led in scoring by Eduardo Lillingston and Paulo Nagamura who have each tallied 4 goals this season.

For the Sounders, Fredy Montero has reached the back of the net 4 times and Nate Jaqua has scored 3 times and added 4 assists- including having a hand in a goal in each of the last 4 matches. Seattle has some decent balance around the net though; 11 players have been oin volved in the Sounders 15 goals.

Defensively, we can look for Patrick Ianni to step in for Marshall at center back with Jhon Kennedy Hurtado.

Kickoff is slated for 730 and will be aired on KONG6/16 with Kevin Calabro doing the play by play and Craig Vanney providing analysis.

Injuries

Chivas: Out- Bobby Burling, Ante Jazic,  Dan Kennedy, Ante Razov

Seattle: Out- Taylor Graham, Chris Eylander, Zach Scott, Jarrod Smith. Questionable- Osvaldo Alonso

even though we lost last week, we could all get behind the fact that the ten men Sounders almost pulled it off, and they, for the most part, played better down a man then when it was equal. so it had a bit of a feel good warm fuzzy feeling even though the loss.

tonight…………. well…………. not so much. 

we weren’t terrible, but i tell you what, chivas were pretty much the better team, everywhere on the pitch, for most of the game. i hate the loss, but i hand it to chivas, they deserved the win. quickly looking at some of the forums, there are some people bitching about chivas’s aggressive play. there is no doubt that they were indeed coming in hard and it was part of their strategy, however, there is hard (clean) and there is hard (dirty). i didn’t think it was dirty for the most part… and to be honest, i think we need to be a little bit tougher ourselves.

GOALS/CHANCES

we had some creative passing attempts to montero, but their defence were looking for it all game  and really didn’t give him a sniff of goal. the one real chance he had was from a great pass from ljungberg but his instinctual chip of the keeper fell a few yards wide of the post.

as for their goals, well, freddie ljungberg, i love you, but you have to take most of the blame for that one. he took the ball down on his chest and tried to softly pass over to alonso, not noticing the chivas player right that who easily intercepted the ball to pass to the wing in which ultimately resulted in a riley own goal. riley will hate that result, but FL10 will know that the play started with him turning off for just a second.

the second goal was a well worked counter attack against a sounders team that was pushing and pushing to get the equalizer…  you could see it coming with the number of people we were pushing forward. the game was well and truly over then.

between goals, our best chance fell to le toux who got himself in a great position to flick on a cross. their keeper was either very lucky of VERY good b/c his hand was in the perfect place to stop it. 9 out of 10 times, that would have been a goal.

TACTICS

i will never pretend to know more about soccer tactics than sigi, but, if i had him sitting right next to me right now, i would say…. what are you thinking with letoux and evans on the wing? at least one of them needs to be nyassi or zakuani. we really really need that speed to create the width that allows us to give the quick creative passing that we have shown works for us. but you take that away, well they just sit on montero and ljungberg and we pretty much get shut down. once nyassi and zakuanicame on, we have some other creative efforts, but it was too little too late. chivas was already up 1-0 and with not that much time left on the clock, they were already in extra defensive mode…. i don’t want to say sigis tactics lost this one for us… but with one or both of those guys starting, i have a feeling we would have watched quite a different game.

THE REFEREE 

well to be honest, he frustrated me a little with the amount of tough tackles he was letting go, but, to be fair, he was consistent on both sides of the ball, and really that is all you can ask. at one point ljungberg was so frustrated with the ref not calling a pretty obvious foul on scott that he kicked the ball out in serious frustration. so not everyone thought the ref had a good game.

MOVING ON

so as much as the first 3 games were amazing to watch, todays game was the opposite. it is an earlier than desired “gut  check” for the team. these aren’t always bad, as they can look at themselves and find out what is going on. most of us would have liked to win more games before this happened, but if we can get a few things sorted b/c of it, then that is ok with me.

the team will need to respond next saturday however. to say that it is a must win this early in the season is a little silly, but we can at least say that the team (and fans) will really need a win.

It was a frustrating night for Sounders FC (by Getty Images)

Seattle had a James Riley own-goal and then Chivas USA’s Chukwudi Chijindu added a security goal in the 84th minute as the league leaders improve their record to 4-0-1 (13 points).

The loss drops Sounders FC to 3-2-0 (9 points).

It was a physical game. Chivas USA committed 18 fouls to Seattle’s 6. Sigi Schmid noted, “I thought it was a very physical game, and I thought the referee allowed it to be played physically, but they’re a good passing team, they don’t make many positional errors, and they were pretty solid defensively.”

Add your thoughts below…

Box Score

First half — 1, Chivas USA, Own goal (Riley), 32:00. Second half — 2, Chivas USA, Chijindu 1 (Stepanovic 1, Mayen 3), 84:00.LINEUPS

Seattle — Chris Eylander (GK), Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, James Riley (Sanna Nyassi, 71:00), Sebastien Le Toux (Steve Zakuani, 46:00), Freddie Ljungberg, Tyrone Marshall, Fredy Montero, Zach Scott, Nate Jaqua, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado.

Chivas USA — Zach Thornton (GK), Shavar Thomas, Alecko Eskandarian (Michael Lahoud, 70:00), Mariano Trujillo, Carey Talley, Jonathan Bornstein, Jesse Marsch, Sacha Kljestan, Atiba Harris (Gerson Mayen, 76:00), Bojan Stepanovic, Eduardo Lillingston (Chukwudi Chijindu, 56:00).

Total shots — Seattle 11, Chivas USA 6. 
Shots on goal — Seattle 2, Chivas USA 3. 
Saves — Seattle 1, Chivas USA 3. 
Fouls — Seattle 6, Chivas USA 18. 
Offsides — Seattle 2, Chivas USA 5. 
Corner kicks — Seattle 2, Chivas USA 3. 
Cautions — Seattle, Montero 17:00, Scott, 20:00. Chivas USA, Trujillo 8:00, Lillingston, 56:00.

A — 15,463 (27,000).

[Show as slideshow]

• Sigi Schmid if 1-3-2 in his career against Chivas USA.
• Brad Evans, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyrone Marshall, Osvaldo Alonso, and James Riley are the only players to play in all 360 minutes this season.
• Nate Jaqua has played against Chivas USA 8 times; he has 4 goals and 1 assist.
• Chivas USA played the USL Sounders 4 times. The MLS side took a win in 2006 and 2007 exhibitions. The USLers won in the US Open Cup in 2007 & 2008.
• Seattle Kasey Keller and Chivas USA’s Paulo Nagamura both received red cards in their squads’ last game and will not be playing this weekend.
• Sounders FC have played in front of an average of 27,618 in their first four games of 2009.

Sounders FC Leaders
Goals: Fredy Montero (3)
Assists: Alonso (3)
Shots: Montero (11)
Shots on Goal: Montero (6)
Fouls Committed: Jaqua (11)
Fouls Suffered: Montero (13)