just read these quotes from sigi on the penalty takers… as i suspected there is a chain of command, and it looks like he doesn’t want the guy that is fouled taking the shot. but what is weird is that sturgis is one of two, and it didn’t seem like he wanted it. i applaud le toux for taking charge on this.

“We had talked and it was Sturgis and Montero unless somebody gets fouled,” he said. “Sturgis really didn’t want to hit it and Montero had been fouled. Seba grabbed the ball and at that point, when players are in those discussions on the field, I think you gotta let them resolve it. If you’re resolving it for them, you’re maybe handing the ball to the guy that doesn’t want to hit it or maybe you’re handing the ball to the guy who’s now pissed off for some reason….It went in, so we don’t have to worry about anything. If it didn’t go in, then I’d be kicking somebody right now.”

**Original post below

i am as tired of talking and reading about poor refereeing as the rest of you, i really am, but boy wass it lame tonight. i will say, that it was likely equally lame. the wizard players were as unhappy as the sounders players, in fact, i think i saw two red cards to two of the wizard coaches at the end of the match.

so i won’t go as far to say as it was once sided, but boy did it suck. it was as if this guy didn’t make it in the police academy, so he turned to rent a cop, and then he didn’t make that either… so why not exert your power trip on the pitch. he seemed to fixate on the littlest thing and was calling the match as if he was on display. even the penalty that we got, which by the way was the 3rd clear penalty that we should have got, he dramatically pointed to the spot. if i was a wizards fan, that would have royally pissed me off. the best refs go unnoticed and this guy did anything but.

ok, enough of that.

the first 20 minutes we dominated and missed 3-4 great chances, and then we must have felt like it was their turn. KC missed 3-4 great chances before the endof the half. how it wasn’t 2-2 at half, i will not know. the second half turned a little sloppy with a lot of yelling at the ref, but not a lot of great chances for either team. there was at least 1, likely 2 penalties that i thought were no brainers, but the ref disagreed. just as it looked like we were going to extra time, well montero was chopped down pretty hard. it was the typical striker kicking the ball away but the keeper coming out and missing the ball and getting all of the man. i am sure montero didn’t hesitate to go down, but it is a penalty every time.

seba grabbed the ball, but montero wanted it too. there was a bit of bickering at the top of the box and both players wanted it. it was a little silly to be honest. this should be sorted out before the match. you have your first and second PK takers already decided, and there is a hard and fast rule if the man who wins the penalty is even an option. some teams it is always the man who wins the penalty, and some, never the man that wins it. either way, it isn’t a discussion b/c it is clear. well seba won the ‘argument’ and nobody will care that there was one, b/c he went low and left and beat the horribly colored bleach blond haired keeper in the 87th minute.

all in all it was a little bit of a forgettable match to be honest. there are few performances that stand out.

hurtado shut down almost everything that came his way.

zakuani had some great runs, but honestly, his last touch seemed to always be too far and he was easily pushed off the ball in the box.

king seemed to be everywhere and he really seemed to savor the role of pulling all the strings in midfield

jaqua and montero will not be happy withtheir finishing tonight. let’s chalk it up to a little bit of bad luck, but they both could have had 2 if we are being honest.

ok, so it is houston on either the 21st or 22nd. houstons travel sucks of late. they had to ogo to charlston today, and then coming to seattle this saturday, and then toronto the following saturday, and then back to seattle that tuesday or wednesday. there is no way that doesn’t affect them some. to be this close to the final, well, we have to take that game very seriously.

ok, off to bed.

COMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU SOUNDERSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSs

Fredy Montero was taken down by Hartmann in the penalty area resulting in LeToux’s PK.

The Sounders will take on the Houston Dynamo on July 21st in a US Open Cup semifinal. That match will be at Starfire as well.

From Sounders FC

TUKWILA, Wash. – Sebastien Le Toux scored on a penalty kick in the 89^th minute to send the Seattle Sounders FC into the semifinal round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup with a 1-0 win over the Kansas City Wizards on Tuesday night at before a capacity crowd of 4,352 at Starfire Sports Stadium.

Seattle will host the Houston Dynamo at Starfire on July 21. The Sounders FC also faces the Dynamo this Saturday in an MLS game on Xbox Pitch at Qwest Field. Kickoff is 1 p.m.

Houston defeated the Charleston Battery, 4-0, in another quarterfinal Open Cup game played on Tuesday night.

Le Toux scored his 11^th career Open Cup goal by beating Kansas City keeper Kevin Hartman to the lower left corner. Le Toux had entered the match in the 71^st minute as a substitute.

The penalty was called by referee Abiodun Okulaja after Sounders FC forward Fredy Montero was taken down in the box by a Wizards defender. Before being fouled, Montero had latched onto a pass by Stephen King on the left side of the box.

Seattle has now won three in a row in all competitions and is undefeated (4-0-2) in its last six games in league and cup play.

Kansas City had been the only team to defeat Seattle at home this season, handing the Sounders FC a 1-0 defeat in an MLS game on April 11.

Seattle finished with a 12-6 advantage in shots and keeper Kasey Keller made only one save in posting the shutout. The Wizards owned a 7-3 edge in corner kicks.

The Wizards finished with 10 men after Santiago Hirsig received his second yellow card during added time of the second half.

D.C. United, the defending Open Cup champion, will host the Rochester Rhinos of USL-1 in the other semifinal match.

All Statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial

Seattle Sounders FC Quotes

Head Coach Sigi Schmid

(On PK in 89th minute) “It took long enough for sure, I thought overall in the run of play we created a lot of chances in the first half, I thought we were a little unfortunate (not finishing).  I thought we created some good chances in the second half as well, Sanna Nyassi’s chance when he broke in on the right, the one that (Fredy) Montero had the left footed shot that he put wide, Steve Zakuani, the one where he cut in and put the right-footed shot over the top, those were good chances in the second half as well, but in the second half they controlled a little better the middle of the field, and gave us a little more of a fight, but they’re a good team and you always have to be prepared for that. I was happy that we hung in there, I was happy that we played tough defensively, didn’t break down, didn’t give anything away, and that allowed us to be in the position that when we were awarded the penalty we were able to take advantage and turn it into a win.”

(On seeking the Open Cup title) “It’s always about titles and you always want to win games, and all the years when I was with Columbus we never got in to the Open Cup in three years so it was a ways away and when I was with LA we got into two finals and won one of them.  So we definitely want to get back there, it’s definitely exciting and the word on the street is that it might lead to a CONCACAF Champions League spot as well so that’s important to the club.  I think our guys can for sure smell it now and taste it and obviously the next round is Houston and that’s going to be a battle, it’s going to be another tough game, but I think our team is looking forward to that.  We’re basically two steps away from trying to bring a title to Seattle.”

(On playing Houston twice in two weeks) “It’s always special to play against them. Dominic (Kinnear) is a friend, the coach, I coached Dominic (Kinnear) when he was on the world cup squad and on the national team in 1992 and ‘93 and now he’s a colleague and I’m coaching against him. But Houston certainly is a very difficult team because they have a lot of veteran players. They have a certain way of playing to get eight guys behind the ball and defend like mad.  They leave their two guys up front and look to counter and have pace and so-forth.  They’re very disciplined in their approach, they’re very confident in their approach because of their history now, they’ve won big games, they’ve won championships, they feel when they get in a tight game that somehow, some way it’s going to break for them.  But now our team, our history is not as great, we’re young and maturing but tonight was the first one where we thought we had it, thought we had it, thought we got the goal but no it didn’t come, stay in there, don’t give anything away, don’t make a mistake, and we got the goal at the end.  When we win games like that eventually we’ll build up that same character that Houston has.  It’s great to be able to play them twice in two weeks, it’s a good challenge for our team, it’s a great opportunity for our fans, to see one of the best teams in the league.”

F Steve Zakuani

(On sigh of relief with goal at the end) “Yeah I think it is – I think we had a lot of chances.  I missed one in the second half, Fredy (Montero) had one in the second half, so we knew it was kind of coming, but maybe the clock would beat us but thankfully we got a nice peek at the goal and Sebastien (Le Toux) was brave enough to step up and put the ball in the goal.”

(On chances through the game) “I think so, it’s a good sign though, when you’re creating the goals because you’re just one step away from finishing it.  If you’re not creating any goals then you’re not creating and finishing, so we came in at halftime very happy about that, considering we could keep it going in the second half we had a lot of chances, they didn’t really have much, and it was tight again and we were stressed a little bit but we got the win and now we move on to the next round.”

Fredy Montero

(On deciding who is going to take the penalty kick…) “Sebastian [Le Toux] is the official kicker in this tournament and had scored two penalty’s before. I had wanted to kick it and had asked him but ultimately the decision is up to him. It what was best for the team and we scored and that is all that counts.”

(On being frustrated on not scoring a goal despite a number of opportunities…) “Sure, I always push myself to score. I would have preferred to but what counts is we got the penalty the resulted in a score.”

Sebastian Le Toux

(On taking the penalty kick…) “I told Fredy that I would take it. I scored and we won. Coach has told it is not good to take the penalty shot when the foul is you.”

(On there being pressure to score in that situation…) “Of course there is always pressure on you. I knew I had score. I was confident and lucky the keeper did not stop it.”

(On the approach he took towards the penalty kick…) “I decided right at the start, but I was watching the goalkeeper, and watching him keep his line. I just stayed with my line and was lucky the ball went into the goal.”

(On being one match closer to the U.S. Open Cup Final…) “It is a very hard game and we have to be ready for this competition. We have to prepare for our next game which is against Houston on Saturday.”

The USL Sounders matched up with these same Wizards last year in the Quarterfinals of the USOC at Qwest Field- a match that Seattle won in Penalty Kicks.

Kansas City needed Penalty Kicks to defeat the Minnesota Thunder94-3)  in the Third Round last week. Seattle defeated Portland 2-1.

These two clubs met in April when the Wiz defeated Seattle 1-0 at Qwest Field, giving the Sounders their first MLS loss. Captain and Goalkeeper, Kasey Keller, was sent off for an intentional handball in the 30th minute.

As a reminder, teams participating in the US Open Cup may only use 5 international players (as opposed to the 7 in MLS play). It is likely that those five will be Seba LeToux, Sanna Nyassi, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Steve Zakuani, and probably Fredy Montero.

The Sounders will be without Tyrone Marshall (Jamaica) and Brad Evans (US) who are competing in the Gold Cup. The Wizards will be without Jimmy Conrad or Davy Arnaud (USA) and Roger Espinoza (Honduras).

This is the Wizards’ fifth match in two weeks.

Kickoff is slated for 7p from Starfire Sports Complex in Tukwila. A live audio broadcast will be available on SoundersFC.com.

If the Sounders win, they will host the Semifinal match on July 21 at Starfire against the winner of the Charleston Battery-Houston Dynamo match.

The game will be held at Starfire Sports in Tukwila on July 7th. Kickoff is set for 7p.

If the Sounders win, they will host the Semifinal match on July 21 at Starfire against the winner of the Charleston Battery-Houston Dynamo winner.

Playing with only 10 players for the final 60 minutes following a red card issued to Kasey Keller for an intentional handball, the Sounders maintained an offensive pressure through out the game.

Monroe native and Western Washington alumn, Ben Dragavon, an MLS hardship pool goalie replaced Keller.

However KC’s Davy Arnault was able to get a 35 yard blast past third string goalkeeper in the 80th minute.

Seattle drops to (3-1-0) and Kansas City moves to (2-2-0) on the young season.Seattle will head to Carson, CA next week to take on the Western Conference leaders, Chivas USA.

Sounders FC Lineup: Kasey Keller (x 31), James Riley, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyrone Marshall, Zach Scott (Sanna Nyassi 86), Sebastien Le Toux (Ben Dragavon 31), Osvaldo Alonso, Freddie Ljungberg (Steve Zakuani 81), Brad Evans, Fredy Montero, Nate Jaqua.

Other Recaps

• Seattle Times
• Prost America

[Show as slideshow]

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lets go to the bullet points shall we?

first half

- KC dominated the first 30 minutes. they were very dangerous down the right half and opened us up on many occasions. luckily for us, they never seemed to have the final pass/shot that would worry us.

- conversely, we were very poor. there wasn’t one thing that stuck out, but we just were not cohesive like we have been in the previous games. passes went everywhere but where they should.

- now onto the sending off. first of all, i don’t blame keller for coming out. but, his arms were up, the shot hit of his hand…. and it is a straight red every time. i appreciate kellers attempt to roll over in pain as if it was a very hard shot into his tummy, but replay after replay showed that he played that one up, and the referee got it right.

- le toux was sacrificed to bring in our 3rd string keeper, dragavon. if you know anything about dragovan, well then good on you. i don’t. i have never heard of him, and i don’t think many other people have either. heck, on the soundersfc official website, he doesn’t even have a profile…. 

- dragavon was immediately called into action and did well to snuff out a dangerous cross.

- the rest of the first half was actually a snore fest. KC was willing to look for the perfect opportunity, which really didn’t arise, and the sounders were more than willing to go into half time 0-0 given the circumstance… and indeed we did.

- whatever sigi said at half time… we need more of that. we DOMINATED them the second half. you would have absolutely thought  KC was the team with the man down. we had 3 very good chances in the half. Fredy hit the cross bar from a free kick. he then hit it into a defender when you thought he would have buried it in a play that jaqua did really well to keep the ball alive. jaqua then had a free header which he put a few feet wide of the post.

- KC pretty much did nothing the whole half other than give the sounders haters something to cheer about in the 80th minute. davy arnaud had all the time in the world to size up the goal, move the ball into an even better position, and then hit a very good strike into the side netting. not sure if a better keeper would have saved it, but the fault must come down to the defense giving him that much time on the ball. if you were in a quiet room at the time, you could hear all the sounders fans hearts sink collectively.

- we clawed and scratched after that to try and get a meaningful attack going, but not much happened… game over, there goes our perfect start to the season.

overall, it was a bit of a cruel ending to the match given the hard work rate that our team put in a man down… but hanging on for a draw with only 1o men for 60+ minutes is a huge task for any team. over all, i am not as bummed at the result as i am sure some others are.  we all knew that this day would come, but obviously we hoped it would be a few more weeks/months later. in a way, i am glad this happened. lets live and learn, stop talking about all this MLS Cup crap so dang early into the season, and keep on keeping on without the distractions of being a great expansion team. i just want to play great footy and continue to pick up 3 points as often as possible.

finally, i thought the ref had a TERRIBLE game. funny enough, i think the sending off was about the only big decision he got right. i love fred and fred, but they are quick to go down under some challenges i think, and the ref was buying all of it. if i was a wizards supporter, i would have lost my voice yelling at those two. on the other side of the ball, i felt that jewsbury was lucky to stay on the pitch. he had bad tackle after bad tackle. 

oh and finally, this just in… the sky hasn’t fallen.

COME ON YOU SOUNDERSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

This week, Seattle hosts Kansas City (1-0-2, 3 points) to a sold out Qwest Field.

The Wizards bounced back from a Week 2 defeat and blanked the Earthquakes at home, 2-0, behind goals from Argentinian Claudio Lopez and Aaron Hohlbein. Throw in forward and US National Teamer Josh Wolff, the Wizards have been effective and dangerous on offense. They are averaging 5 shots a game and have netted five goals.

Many have focused on the Sounders’ offense. But with three blank sheets recorded in three outings, one could argue that their success starts from the back.  The CenterBacks Tyrone Marshall and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado have been physical with NY, Salt Lake, and TFC’s forwards. They are simple, but very effective in eliminating most danger in the middle of the field. The Wing Backs James Riley and Zach Scott have provided solid defense and have been practically quiet in their play- as well as their opponents’.

These 4 are able to secure the defense because of two other reasons- Kasey Keller in goal. Besides his keen ability at still making saves, he has been able to use his knowledge and experience in getting the new defensive group to play as a single unit. The other, Defensive Midfielder- Osvaldo Alonso. The former USL Player of the Year has a motor that doesn’t quit and is continuously in the midst of any attack that an opponent has started to create.

In short, the back line for Sounders FC plays a team defense. Sigi Schmid noted, “Defending is an attitude and they have a good attitude with them.”

But defense is a complete team strategy- as all 11 players are obliged to play defense. And that defense has yet to give up a goal.

Seattle has a chance to increase their record shutout streak for an expansion team and could get closer to New York’s shutout streak to start the 2007 season (MLS record 420 minutes).

Seattle Injury Report

• GK Chris Eylander (right knee PCL sprain) is Out
• DF Taylor Graham (left sesamoid fracture) is Out
• MF Peter Vagenas (knee surgery) is Out
• FW Jarrod Smith (quadriceps strain) is Out
• MF Freddie Ljungberg (L knee hyperextension) is Probable

Other Previews

• Sounder at Heart
• Prost Amerika

Kick off is slated for 730p. Tickets are available on StubHub.com.

As a note, fewer than 1,000 tickets remain for the Sounders FC games on April 25 against the San Jose Earthquakes and May 10 against the Los Angeles Galaxy.