Having never lost in Seattle, the visitors played an even match with the home team through the first 30 minutes. Then, in the 35th minute, Fucito put Seattle on the board after collecting the ball from Mauro Rosales, going shoulder to shoulder with DC defender Brandon McDonald and then beating the United goalkeeper, Joe Willis to the far post.

In first half stoppage time, Alvaro Fernandez scored his first of the night after he collected a deft pass by Rosales. The second assist brings Rosales’ season total to 12- a club record for Seattle.

Although uncredited with a statistical assist on the 3rd goal, Rosales crossed the ball to Fredy Montero whose deflected shot caromed to Fernandaez for the Uruguayan to put away Seattle’s third goal.

However, a late tackle by DC United caused an injury to Rosales. Sigi Schmid noted in the post game that the Argentinian sustained an MCL strain and will be out for the next match on Tuesday.

The win improves Seattle’s record to 14-6-9 (51pts) and solidifies the Rave Green’s second place standing in the West, 4 points behind the LA Galaxy.

The shutout is Kasey Keller‘s 9th of the season.

Sounders FC will return to action on Tuesday as they host Herediano in the CONCACAF Champions League Group Stage. Their next MLS action is the Cascadia Finale in Vancouver next Saturday.

DC got on the board in the 31st minute when Charlie Davies slipped a pass to Josh Wolff who slid the ball past Kasey Keller. The two combined for another goal in the 51st, this time with Davies as the goal scorer.

Sounders FC got one back in the 71st rom the penalty spot when Fredy Montero drew a penalty in the area.

Seattle moves to 3-3-3 (15pts) and travel to Columbus for a 430p PT match on Saturday.

Brad Evans’ second-half goal off a penalty kick was not enough for Sounders FC to fight back from a two-nil deficit as Charlie Davies and Josh Wolff each registered a goal and an assist, giving D.C. United the victory and denying Sounders FC any points at RFK Stadium on Wednesday night.

Seattle (3-3-3, 12 points) lost its first game since March 19 and saw its six-game unbeaten streak come to an end.

D.C. United (3-4-1, 10 points) beat Sounders FC in RFK Stadium for the first time after a three-game losing streak, including the 2009 U.S. Open Cup Final.

Seattle’s lone goal came in the 71st minute after Fredy Montero was taken down by Dejan Jakovic inside the penalty box. Evans fired a low shot to the left corner as D.C. United goalkeeper Bill Hamid dived the other way. Evans now has four goals this season, three in the last two games.

Sounders FC had several chances to equalize and put the pressure on D.C. United as head coach Sigi Schmid brought on Mauro Rosales as an extra attacker in the 59th minute, substituting in for defender James Riley.

In the 73rd minute, Roger Levesque fired a right-wing cross into Alvaro Fernandez at the far post. His header was tipped over the crossbar by a leaping Hamid.

Fredy Montero created an opening for himself at the top of the box in the 76th minute and curled a shot toward the top right corner but Hamid made another leaping save, sending the ball over the crossbar again.

D.C. United struck in the 31st minute when Davies found space down the right side before sending a cross to Wolff who was able to put the one-touch ball into the back of the far side of the net. That ended a 268-minue scoreless stretch for the Sounders FC defense.

Wolff returned the favor early in the second half when he made a run up the right side before firing a cross to the back post where a sliding Davies sent the ball into the back of the net in the 52nd minute. Davies moved his league-leading goals total to six.

Kasey Keller denied Davies in the 68th minute, tipping his header wide of the right post.

Nate Jaqua was issued a yellow card for Sounders FC and Ethan White and Davies both received cautions for D.C. United.

Sounders FC will play again on the road Saturday as they travel to face the Columbus Crew. The game will be televised in Seattle on KONG 6/16 and kickoff is 4:30 p.m. PT.

D.C. United (3-4-1) vs. Seattle Sounders (3-3-3)
May 4, 2011 — RFK Stadium

Scoring Summary:
D.C. — Josh Wolff (Charlie Davies, Andy Najar) 31
D.C. — Charlie Davies (Josh Wolff, Andy Najar) 52
SEA — Brad Evans (Penalty Kick) 71

D.C. United – Bill Hamid, Dejan Jakovic, Perry Kitchen, Ethan White, Daniel Woolard, Andy Najar (Fred 77), Clyde Simms (Stephen King 82), Dax McCarty, Chris Pontius (Santino Quaranta 49), Charlie Davies, Josh Wolff.

Substitutes Not Used: Blake Brettschneider, Chris Korb, Joseph Ngwenya, Steve Cronin.

TOTAL SHOTS: 11 (Chris Pontius 3, Josh Wolff 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 6 (Josh Wolff 2); FOULS: 11 (Charlie Davies 3); OFFSIDES: 1 (Charlie Davies 1); CORNER KICKS: 4 (Dax McCarthy 3); SAVES: 4 (Bill Hamid 4)

Seattle Sounders — Kasey Keller, James Riley (Mauro Rosales 59), Patrick Ianni, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyson Wahl, Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Erik Friberg, Alvaro Fernandez (Leo Gonzalez 76), Fredy Montero, Nate Jaqua (Roger Levesque 64).

Substitutes Not Used: Terry Boss, Jeff Parke, Servando Carrasco, Mike Fucito.

TOTAL SHOTS: 14 (Alvaro Fernandez 3, Fredy Montero 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 5 (Alvaro Fernandez 2, Fredy Montero 2); FOULS: 11 (4 tied with 2); OFFSIDES: 1 (Nate Jaqua 1); CORNER KICKS: 7 (Erik Friberg 3); SAVES: 4 (Kasey Keller 4)

Misconduct Summary:
DC — Ethan White (caution; Reckless Tackle) 13
DC — Charlie Davies (caution; Reckless Foul) 35
SEA — Nate Jaqua (caution; Reckless Foul) 55

Referee: Hilario Grajeda
Referee’s Assistants: -Bill Dittmar; Paul Scott
4th Official: Daniel Fitzgerald
Attendance: 11,254
Time of Game: 1:50
Weather: Partly Cloudy and 52 degrees

DC is carrying into the match 7 points on 7 matches with a 2-4-1 record. However their recent form is the inverse of Seattle’s as they have been on the losing side of their last 2 where they were out-scored 8-1. United is led by US Men’s National Teamer Charlie Davies whose 5 goals is tops in the 2011 MLS Golden Boot Race and accounts for 50% of DC United’s output. But only two of those have come from the run of play.

Brad Evans leads the Sounders with three goals scored and Argentine midfielder Mauro Rosales is tops in assists with 3.

Wednesday’s match will be the Rave Green’s fourth trip to RFK; a stadium where Seattle won their 2009 & 2010 league matches against DC as well as the 2009 US Open Cup.

Steve Zakuani and O’Brian White are out for the match and Pat Noonan is noted as “Probable”.

Hilario Grajeda will be the man in the middle for the match; he reffed Seattle’s 2-1 victory over the Chicago Fire a few weeks ago.

The match from RFK Stadium is slated to kickoff at 430p on Wednesday. It will be broadcast on KONG 6/16 with Arlo White providing the call.

However, 1 minute later, Roger Levesque energized Sounders fans across the coast when he headed home the game’s lone goal at the 89th minute off a beautiful cross from Fredy Montero.

The win is Seattle’s first in the last 5 league matches, and second in the last 8. It also improves the Sounders record to 5-8-4 (19 pts).

Kasey Keller, put in a heroic effort in goal saving a number of dangerous DC United opportunities; a few of them after he suffered a mid-foot sprain on a challenge on Andy Najar in the 65th minute.

Quick Notes: Nate Jaqua was a late scratch due to a “Groin Strain”. Jeff Parke was substituted for due to Abdominal Cramps.

Scoring Summary:
SEA – Levesque (Montero, Nyassi) 89

Seattle Sounders — Kasey Keller, James Riley, Patrick Ianni, Jeff Parke (Tyrone Marshall 62), Leo Gonzalez, Pat Noonan (Sanna Nyassi 87), Nathan Sturgis, Michael Seamon (Osvaldo Alonso 72), Steve Zakuani, Fredy Montero, Roger Levesque.

Substitutes Not Used: Terry Boss, Zach Scott, Peter Vagenas, Blaise Nkufo.

TOTAL SHOTS: 15 (Fredy Montero 6); SHOTS ON GOAL: 5 (2 players with 2); FOULS: 12 (James Riley 3); OFFSIDES: 1 (Pat Noonan 1); CORNER KICKS: 11; SAVES: 5 (Kasey Keller 5)

Misconduct Summary:
DC – Julius James (caution; Reckless Tackle) 54
SEA – Leo Gonzalez (caution; Tactical Foul) 85

Referee: Alex Prus
Referee’s Assistants: Cyril Madukanya; Brian Poeschel
4th Official: Michael Kennedy
Attendance: 13,716
Time of Game: 1:50
Weather: Cloudy and 89 degrees

Seattle is 1-4-2 on the road and look to return to winning ways in an effort of snapping a 4-match winless streak and losing 5 of the last 7 MLS matches (and a 3-match league away skid).

It’s too much for one man to solve, but many Sounders fans are hoping the official addition of Swiss International, Blaise Nkufo, will assist in the change of fortunes. Nkufo led Switzerland in scoring during their World Cup qualifying and was recently the captain of FC Twente who won the Dutch Eriedivisie this past season. He brings experience and a finisher’s mentality to the club. He is available to play, but is not expected to start.

DC will also be unveiling their new designated player, Branko Boskovic, a Montenegran midfielder who received his international clearance today. Argentinian Pablo Hernandez may also make his debut for the DC side.

Seattle lost to DC in their league match earlier in the season. United walked away from Qwest Field on June 10th, with a 3-2 victory. Chris Pontius had two goals and an assist in that match where late minute heroics by Fredy Montero and James Riley couldn’t help the Rave Green earn a point.

Kickoff is slated for 5p and will be available on ESPN2. JP Dellecamera and Kyle Martino will provide the play by play and analysis. A webcast will be available on mynorthwest.com.

Alex Prus will be the man in the middle officiating the match.

More to come…

Stats
Scoring Summary:
DC — Chris Pontius 1 (unassisted) 39
DC — Chris Pontius 2 (unassisted) 44
DC — Chris Pontius 3 (Santino Quaranta 1) 79
SEA — James Riley 1 (Nathan Sturgis 1) 90
SEA — Fredy Montero 5 (Freddie Ljungberg 3) 91+

Seattle Sounders — Kasey Keller, James Riley, Jeff Parke, Tyrone Marshall, Leo Gonzalez, Freddie Ljungberg, Brad Evans, Patrick Ianni (Nathan Sturgis 64), Steve Zakuani (Sanna Nyassi 66), Fredy Montero, Pat Noonan (Roger Levesque 75).
Substitutes Not Used: Tyson Wahl, Zach Scott, Mike Seamon, Terry Boss.

TOTAL SHOTS: 20 (Freddie Ljungberg 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 8 (Roger Levesque 2, Fredy Montero 2); FOULS: 11 (4 tied with 2); OFFSIDES: 3 (Sanna Nyassi 2); CORNER KICKS: 7 (Freddie Ljungberg 7); SAVES: 2 (Kasey Keller 2)

Misconduct Summary:
DC — Chris Pontius (caution; Reckless Foul) 24
SEA — Freddie Ljungberg (caution; Unsporting Behavior) 43
DC — Andy Najar (caution; Dissent) 62

Referee: Michael Kennedy
Referee’s Assistants: -Chris Strickland; Adam Garner
4th Official: Baldomero Toledo
Attendance: 36,146
Time of Game: 1:51
Weather: Cloudy-and-62-degrees

Against New England, the Sounders (4-5-3, 15pts) upped their total home goal total by 75% when Leo Gonzalez, Steve Zakuani, and Fredy Montero all found the back of the net for the Rave Green. The win gave Sigi Schmid’s club its first win at Qwest Field since April 17th.

The timing is right and looking prime to enter the 2-week MLS break for the Sounders. DC is bringing a 2-8-1 (7pts) record to the Emerald City. The club “Who Wins Trophies” are tied with the expansion Philadelphia Union for fewest points in the league. DC is also tied with the Revolution for the most goals allowed (20).

Curt Onalfo’s club is heading to Seattle after gaining a draw against defending MLS Cup Champions, Real Salt Lake last weekend. They are on a 4-game unbeaten streak including US Open Cup matches. They are 0-4 on the road.

Seattle will need to continue their goal-attacking mindset. DC is without two regular starters on Defense; Rodney Wallace is out with a fractured fibula and Juan Manuel Peña has a groin strain.

Michael Kennedy will be the referree for Thursday Night’s match. He has officiated only one previous match for Seattle as he was the man in the middle for last year’s Sounders 1-1 draw with Columbus. In 2010, he has reffed 4 matches averaging 4.25 yellows per game and 16 fouls.

Kickoff is slated for 7p and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2 with Glenn Davis, Kyle Martino calling the match. [Tickets]

D.C. United goalkeeper Josh Wicks, who was ejected from the U.S. Open Cup final last month for misconduct, has been suspended an additional four tournament games (five total) by the U.S. Soccer Federation.

MLS teams traditionally play a maximum of four games in the annual event, meaning, if the format does not change and United returns to the 2010 championship game, Wicks would miss the entire tournament plus one match in 2011. Early elimination next year would result in a longer ban the following year. (For example, two games in 2010 would mean three in ’11).

The sanctions have no bearing on Wicks’s eligibility in MLS or the Open Cup preliminary round, which is organized by the league, not the USSF.

Wicks received an automatic one-game penalty for the red card, which was issued midway through the second half after he stepped on Seattle goal scorer Fredy Montero. Wicks exchanged words with referee Alex Prus and berated fourth official Andrew Chapin, who apparently witnessed the incident and reported it to Prus.

The six-member USSF panel ruled that Wicks “intentionally stomped on a player in the field of play, refused to leave the field of play in a timely fashion and used highly inflammatory language to insult the fourth official.”

Wicks has until the end of business Tuesday to appeal.

Last year, the USSF suspended Chicago’s Cuauhtemoc Blanco six games or two years, whichever came first, for incidents during an Open Cup match against United at Maryland SoccerPlex. Blanco was red-carded, failed to leave the field in a timely matter and attempted to head-butt a game operations official. The Fire played only one match in this year’s tournament before being eliminated, meaning Blanco would have to sit out all of the club’s Open Cup games next year.

Do you agree with the length of Wicks’s suspension?

Fredy Montero score the game winner (foto from DCunited.com)

uh oh… i am back.

part of my compensation package at gosounders.com, other than the$250,000 per anum that i pull down with this site, i also get 6-8 weeks paid vacation per year. i ain’t going to lie, it is nice.

well i took half of it in the last month, and i feel quite rested, thank you very much. did i miss much? USOC? huh? what is that? i am not a fan, i am a customer, and i don’t know what that is.

anywho…

ok back to reality… or whatever… i went back to what works for me and drank 6 beers, no, ,not joking, during the 2 hour match, and i have to say, it was fantastic. oh, and i am talking about the 2 hour match, not the beer. ok well the beer wasn’t terrible.

so, without further adiue, the type of post match thoughts that you have come to expect from me;  half intelligent, half crap, but none of the fact checking and proofreading that you have come to expect.

the match could not have started off  any brighter… a fantastic pass from vagenas (i think) through to zak. he showed the speed he has to keep in front of the defense and, while you are going to kill me for this, got VERY lucky with a shot through the sticks of wicks. don’t let the beauty of the goal fool you, it wasn’t an amazing shot, it was a lucky one. 97x out of 100 it hits the keepers legs but 3 out of 100 happens and it happened. i am not pitching zak crap by any means… this is how it goes… and in fact, it is a bit of a theme for the rest of this post… just shoot.

zak just shot, and look what happened.

ok, queue rant. montero should “JUST SHOOT.”

i think i said this 29 times tonight. “JUST SHOOT”.

montero found himself in some fantastic positions tonight, like usual,  but he decided to massage the ball with his foot rather than put the ball on goal. here is the thing, I LIKE montero, i really do. he has sooooo much talent, but he has almost as much immaturity for the game to go with it. even though he has done the same thing 342 time this season, he has yet to learn that he can’t dribble and overstep through a defender in this league. he may learn that one of these years… but it isn’t this year. instead, he finds himself receiving passes in great areas in the box where he should just learn to turn and hammer the ball. hell, close your eyes even. i have scored many a goal with my eyes closed. that crap works!!!

yes yes i know there are a few more intelligentlyish people out there that know more about soccer fengshui than i, and they will say that montero is doing something with a purpose… but to that i say. “horse doo”. yes i just said that. that just happened.

i was a philosophy minor, so let me drop this bit of deductive reasoning on your cerebelum.

IF montero received the ball in the box.

AND montero can’t dribble past anyone

BUT he can shoot and sometimes score a goal

THEN montero should shoot.

ok i have made my point. whether you agree with me or not, doesn’t really matter. montero only proved my pulitzer emmy winning theorem in the 84th minute when he didn’t phaff around,but rather, turned on goal and SHOT. and GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL.

insert horse here and here is me beating it. .

something else? ok… sure.

random bullet point thoughts.

- how often did hurtado have to cover for riley on that wing? was that by design? likely, but it stuck out like a sore thumb.

- best game of vagenas’s sounders career by far. i think he was everywhere and make crucial stops and passes. very happy for him.

- leo has deceptive speed. you look at him run and he looks like he may lose a foot race to star jones… however, when you see that people can’t catch him… well it is very deceptive.

- colorado lost…. nice – it keeps a point between us, even though they have a game in hand, but didn’t they have 3?

- RSL drew… nice – it puts 3 points between us with equal games played.

- oh, and as i type, it is a 2-2 draw with dal v lag COME ON YOUR DALLASY GUYSSSSS

ok, this is turning from a cute drunk fans’ drivel into a david hasselhoff eating off the floor type post.

i will stop now.

go team

go sounders

COME ON YOU SOUNDERSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS