oh. where were we…  you came here for a sounders blog? right. got it.

well well well. it is becoming fun again isn’t it? winning is always fun. so let’s just keep doing this thing.. the winning thing.

- montero continues to mature. his play off the ball has been phenomenal. the way he held up that defender to maintain the ball, and then slot home the first is something i haven’t seen out of him before.  10 more games like this… and seriously, he could be the league mvp. there is no joke in that. his pass for the second goal was sick. it was great. that was also kellers first assist for the sounders.

oh, and for those that don’t follow me on twitter, and therefore already read this, (btw you should…. @yamsmos) i saw montero before the match and he as representing a full on cosby sweater. it was beauty full.

- nkufo… a little bit of the same. he still seems to be a little heavy footed. when he should have gone right, he went left. when he should trap, he flicks on. however, it isn’t all bad. he sure as hell attracts a lot of attention and montero doesn’t feel like he has to do it all on his own, and is free to roam. that is pretty obvious and it has breathed new life into him. nkufo will get his…. let’s just hope it is sooner rather than later.

- zakuani… he has going a little dark lately hasn’t he? is it our new players? are we not depending on the wing as much? not sure it is any of those things, but i wouldn’t mind him figuring it out a little b/c right now, nyassi is looking to be more like the threat.

- el flaco, or “2D” as we like to call him. boy, he really is skinny isn’t he? it is like you walked into a hall of mirrors fun house, looked into the mirror, saw your “sigi” pearshaped body in front of you only to turn around and see your el flacco stick of a bod. he was a little absent and nervous in his first ten minutes, but no matter, he took montero’s pass… tried his best to mess up his first touch, but then slotted it home. i honestly have nothing against ljungberg, and i still like him… but … err…. freddie who? right?

fred. love ya. we rode you into the playoffs last year… but if fernandez keeps averaging a goal every 20 minutes, you will be very quickly forgotten?

- the ref. i haven’t bitched about a ref in a while… but he was bad wasn’t he?  he sure seemed to think really hard about every call in that short squatty stance of his and then flipped a coin and basically got it wrong every other time. it is silly and immature to make fun of someones height, and that is why it is fun btw, but “go back into your hobbit hole” was my favorite jab that i heard last night.

- and finally. the day started off with our council meeting with the FO. Adrian, Gary and Joe were there, and it was easily the best meeting we have had to date. the formalities are gone and honest opinions are debated. i enjoyed this meeting thoroughly. i will write up what i can later this week, but a lot of interesting stuff was talked about. i can tell you that vuvuzelas, friendlies, away support, CCL, golden scarf and much much more was debated, and while i didn’t agree with all of it, the sheer fact that the FO is taking everything as serious as it can, is refreshing.

sounders are now 47% likely to get into the playoffs…. not quite there yet, but the playoff race is well and truly on.

Seattle used a 64th minute Fredy Montero goal assisted by Kasey Keller to break the scoreless tie with Houston. The nail in the coffin came 25 minutes later when Montero slid a pass to Alvaro Fernandez to put the Sounders up 2-0.

Sounders FC have now won 4 games in a row and are unbeaten in 5.

Scoring Summary
SEA — Fredy Montero 8 (Kasey Keller 1) 64
SEA — Alvaro Fernandez 1 (Fredy Montero 9, Nate Jaqua 1) 88

Seattle Sounders — Kasey Keller, James Riley, Patrick Ianni, Jeff Parke, Leo Gonzalez, Sanna Nyassi (Mike Seamon 85), Osvaldo Alonso, Nathan Sturgis, Steve Zakuani (Alvaro Fernandez 69), Fredy Montero, Blaise Nkufo (Nate Jaqua 87).

Substitutes Not Used: Roger Levesque, Tyrone Marshall, Zach Scott, Terry Boss.

TOTAL SHOTS: 14 (Osvaldo Alonso 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 9 (Osvaldo Alonso 2, Fredy Montero 2); FOULS: 13 (Nathan Sturgis 4); OFFSIDES: 1 (Sanna Nyassi 1); CORNER KICKS: 10 (Nathan Sturgis 7); SAVES: 0

Misconduct Summary
SEA — Sanna Nyassi (caution; Unsporting Behavior) 28
SEA — James Riley (caution; Reckless Foul) 32
SEA — Blaise Nkufo (caution; Unsporting Behavior) 50
HOU — Brian Mullan (caution; Reckless Tackle) 59
HOU — Mike Chabala (caution; Reckless Foul) 59
SEA — Nathan Sturgis (caution; Unsporting Behavior) 70

Referee: Michael Kennedy
Referee’s Assistants: -Chris Strickland; Jeff Hosking
4th Official: Alejandro Mariscal
Attendance: 36,111
Time of Game: 1:50
Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-67-degrees

The Sounders are 3-0-1 in their last four MLS matches and 6-1-2 in all competitions over their last nine.

Houston (5-8-5, 18pts) is going for its first victory since late May and play 6 of their next 9 on the road.

Seattle looks to continue to fire on all cylinders behind the play of Fredy Montero, the MLS Player of the Month for July. The Colombian has scored a goal or contributed an assist in each of Seattle last 8 MLS matches. A streak that includes 12 of the Rave Green’s last 15 goals.

The Sounders will also look to get the two newest players to the club involved more. Uruguayan Alvaro Fernandez is expected to make his first Qwest Field appearance and Swiss Forward, Blaise Nkufo, is nearing complete game fitness. As these two become more entwined with the club, the expectations are high.

Kickoff is slated for 8p from Qwest and can be seen on KONG 6/16. [Tickets]

LA will play the winner of Saturday’s Real Salt Lake & Chicago Fire match.

Freddie Ljungberg (SoundersFC.com)

7 of the 8 teams who start the MLS Playoffs will end their season with a loss. Sounders FC will be one of them.

The Houston Dynamo ended the inaugural season for one of the most successful expansion clubs in MLS history in a 1-0 match in the Western Conference Semifinals.

After playing 90 minutes in Seattle and then 90 in Houston without a score, the two teams went to two 15-minute periods where former USL-Sounder Brian Ching scored on a volley from 9 yards out in the 96th minute.

The Dynamo held on to the lone goal and won 1-0 after 120 minutes.

More to come…

Seattle and the Dynamo meet on Sunday in the second leg of the Western Conference Playoffs in Houston. It will be the 5th match between the two squads after two MLS regular season games, the US Open Cup semifinal, and the first leg of the playoffs. The Sounders have won 2 of the 4 games and the other two were draws. Sunday’s match will have a winner- whether it is after 90 minutes, 120 minutes, or Penalty Kicks.

The winner of this “winner take all” match will take on the winner of the LA Galaxy vs. Chivas USA match in the Western Conference Finals.

Sounders fans can look for Head Coach Sigi Schmid to start the recent lineup featuring Fredy Montero and Freddie Ljungberg up front. Then Steve Zakuani, Brad Evans, and Nate Jaqua from left to right across the midfield. Osvaldo Alonso will join Evans in the central midfield position.

The Sounders Defense is anchored with Kasey Keller in goal with Leo Gonzalez and James Riley on the left and right sides respectively. Jhon Kennedy Hurtado was a finalist for MLS Defender of the Year in the middle and he the other Central Defender will either be Tyrone Marshall if he is a game-fit 100% or Patrick Ianni who in a last minute start in the first leg had Seattle’s two best scoring chances.

The Dynamo seemingly have all of their usuals at full strength. Ricardo Clark and Designated Player, Luis Angel Landin have used the 10 days in between games to recover to a near 100%. At home at Richardson Stadium, the Dynamo are 4-1 all-time- their lone loss was last year when the New York Red Bulls defeated them.

Seattle is 4-1-1 in their last 6 matches on the road and have won the last 4 matches on grass (they are 5-0-1 overall).

If the match is tied at the end of 90 minutes, two 15 minute periods will be played. If the score remains tied after 120 minutes, the game will be decided with a shootout.

Kickoff is slated for 12p. The game will be shown on King5 in the Seattle area and on FSN in the rest of the Pacific Northwest.

now i am going to try to be a little diplomatic here b/c we all have to recognize that, the mls is nowhere near the level of support found in most outher countries around the world. and, as a result, american football lines are inevitable on the pitch in some cases. i am not saying it is ok, or we should accept it, but at least we can all understand that it is going to happen.

so.. is a “disgrace” a good word?

actually, i think it may be. given that this is an MLS playoff match, how the heck can the stadium not work around this? I have looked, but i can’t tell if there was a ‘throwball’ game in the same stadium on friday… or  today. anyone know? if there was, then why not have the playoff game on thursday so you could play on a soccer pitch? it seems that the options were there, and houston punted… literally. they decided to play on american football lines and it is a bigger priority than the day they play on.

do i have all the facts? heh… probably not, when do i ever?… but should we be pissed… sure!!!! why? b/c we are fans… and watching an mls playoff game on throwball field is disgracful.

when the MLS….. ahem, if the MLS ever gets the credit it deserves in the US as a legitamate league, it will be a beautiful day.

UPDATE:950a Don Ruiz is happy to report that the football lines have disappeared overnight.

The referee makes the correct misconduct decision by cautioning both players for unsporting behavior. The goalkeeper’s actions are not excessive force and he does not make “contact above the shoulder.” The goalkeeper merely makes strong chest-to-chest contact with the opponent. The manner in which the contact was made and the fact that the chest-to-chest contact is in no way endangering the safety of the opponent, makes the contact reckless and, thus, a cautionable offense.

Following the “punish uniformly” guideline, the referee is correct in cautioning the attacker for unsporting behavior for his actions in embellishing the contact as well as for his actions in holding defender on the original cross which initiated the conflict.

Gorilla FC will be at Fado.

ECS will be at The Atlantic Crossing, The College Inn, and Schultzy’s in Seattle. And O’Blarney’s in Lacey.

Immortal Fury is planning on being at Meconi’s in downtown Tacoma.

North End Supporters will be at The Ballard Loft.

Where do you plan on watching the game?

Gonna be near the internet? You can come back to GoSounders for our Live Blog of the match and join the banter & fun!