6,000 More Seats for MLS Cup Released
The Beckham Experiment is in full effect; LA’s entry into MLS Cup 2009 have prompted the Sounders FC Front Office to release an additional 6,000 tickets to the November 22nd Final.
Those seats are available in the 300 level and are priced in the $25 range on Ticketmaster. Better seats are available from Season Ticket Holders.
Galaxy Heads to MLS Cup Final
The LA Galaxy defeated the Houston Galaxy 2-0 in extended time on goals from Greg Berhalter and Landon Donovan to claim the Western Conference Championship and advance to next week’s MLS Cup Final at Qwest Field. [Buy Tickets]
LA will play the winner of Saturday’s Real Salt Lake & Chicago Fire match.
Sunday’s Lead Official Under Review
Tim Weyland & Brad Evans from The Seattle Times
Tim Weyland, the head official in Sunday’s match is having his performance reviewed by the US Soccer Federation according to the Seattle Times. There is a chance that he may not manage another Sounders FC match this year.
MLS Executive VP, Todd Durbin noted that “[Weyland] didn’t have his best day.”
Weyland issued 9 cards during the Mother’s Day match between Seattle and the LA Galaxy including a red to James Riley in the 57th minute. Read more
fun game to watch, frustrating result
“heading to the hospital, going to have a baby tonight”
that was a text that i got at about 3pm friday afternoon from a friend who is about to have his first child…. more on that in a bit.
so i have an incomplete view of today’s game. given that it was mothers day, i brought my wife and had the newborn strapped to my chest for most of the match. because of this, i didn’t get to fully watch/analyze the whole match like i usually do, so let me keep it brief and will comment on the main talking points. 
our first goal… i hear people talking about it being offsides. honestly i didn’t see that, but i have not seen a replay to say one way or the other. like most people, i don’t care if my team was offsides for a goal. if we were, then ha ha ha …. he he. the pass from zak to jaqua really made the play, and le toux really won’t score an easier goal the whole season. nice to see him get on the score sheet. his hard work has paid off.
on their goal… well, i think it was hurtado (correct me if i am wrong) that gave away an VERY VERY poor ball in the midfield that started their counter. as soon as he made that ill advised, or at least, very poor pass, they streamed forward. it was one of those goals that, at least from my vantage, unfolded in slow motion. you could see exactly where the pass was going to go, and as soon as the play broke, it looked like they were going to score. it was a very good header, and i don’t think keller had a chance.
the penalty?? well, i am going to admit that i headed out for half early to get in the ‘beverage’ line for my wife (it was mothers day and all) so i only first saw it on the very small tv’sabove the concessions. it looked like an obvious penalty to me, and well, if you heard the crowd, the rest of the 29,000 people agreed with that. the ref was boo’d every time he took a breath. so fast forward 8 hours and i just got to watch it on my big screen with replays and multiple angles, and you know what? i think the ref got it right. it sure did look like jaqua was brought down hard from behind, but i truly failed to see anywhere in all the replays where the defender, who fell down behind jaqua, ever touched him. maybe you have a different view. what do you think?
the red card…. well there was a foul on riley in which berhalter grabbed the ball either b/c he thought he won the foul, or because he is a giant ass. i am putting my money on the latter. riley tried to grab the ball but asshalter grabbed it first. some handbags were thrown, and in the melee, riley took exception, and sort of grabbed the back of magees head…
let me first say this. riley CAN NEVER raise his hands to the face of any player, regardless of circumstance. even if he is gently stroking away the hair from an opposing players face or doing that wet thumb thing that your mom used to do to wipe away the left over ketchup from the corner of your mouth… nothing ever good comes from it. having said that, riley didn’t shove, punch or slap magee. he basically cupped his hands behind his head a bit. magee fell down like a box of rocks. it was pretty embarrassing how he made the most of it to be honest. in fact, i got a text from his son just afterwards that read…. “why is my dad such a nancy boy?” i said “i don’t know young man, it may have something to do with living in LA… it changes a man”, but i digress.
so when a yellow came, it felt about right. then, all of a sudden, it was the line judge that said something to the referee and that yellow turned into a red. it was completely BS and it was only one of the many decisions that the ref COMPLETELY blew.
i don’t want to go into how utter crap the ref was today b/c, well, i just don’t. but other than getting the penalty, or lack of penalty, decision right in my opinion, he pretty much sucked the rest of the game. there are games that are dirty, and the ref has no choice but to give fouls and cautions, and there are games that are hard fought, but the ref decides that he wants to put his stamp on the match and call ticky tack after ticky tack foul. well this was the latter. there was hardly a yellow card worthy today, but mr weyland somehow saw 29 fouls and 9 yellows, and a red. that, my friends, is a ref that does not know how to manage a game.
one of the funnier moments came when “bass mike”, the stadium announcer, said that landon donovan just received a yellow, which he hadn’t. donovan ran down the ref to see if he had received one, the ref had to check his card to confirm that it was a mistake. you can’t blame the announcer for getting it wrong though. who didn’t have a yellow? ok, enough about that, i am just getting mad writing about it.
regardless of the validity of the riley and montero red cards the last few games, 3 red cards in 8 games is going to raise some eyebrows in the MLS offices i feel. i don’t know the financial penalty for red cards accumulated, but i think there are some after a certain number. we are well on the way.
ok, it is time to wrap this up. but first, back to my friend who was going into the hospital friday expecting a baby. his text that he sent friday night was all i knew about it. i didn’t know if his wife had the baby, didn’t know the sex, didn’t know the name, didn’t know anything….
well i didn’t know anything until just after the match. that is when i get a text, from said friend, that reads no more and no less than the following… “total bullS%*#……. baby josh is doing great”
So then, i guess he had the baby, i guess it is a boy, and we are pretty clear his name is josh. other than that, we are quite clear how he felt about the match. gotta love how a father for the first time still finds the time to watch and comment on the match…. and then his newborn son.
god bless football…. errr and josh too.
Sounders FC 1: :1 LA Galaxy
In a game that featured 9 cards including a James Riley ejection Sounders FC drew to a 1-1 result against the LA Galaxy. Riley’s ejection, Seattle’s 3rd in 5 games, came during a melee in the 58th minute.
Sebastien LeToux put Seattle ahead in the 21st minute with his first career MLS goal. LA’s Alan Gordon equaled the score 14 minutes later.
Seattle moves to 4-2-2 (14pts) on the 2009 campaign. The Galaxy stands at 1-1-6 (9pts).
Sounders FC Head Coach Sigi Schmid noted he was “very disappointed in the ejection and I’m disappointed in the refereeing.””
Kasey Keller- Post Game Quotes
(On red cards being pulled) “If we were a dirty team running around kicking people that’s one thing. I mean guys are getting sent off for silly things, where guys are getting booted in the game and not even getting yellow cards for it. So I think there are some strange, I don’t know, where something is coming from the league, or coming from the referee association, where I just think you have to realize that look ‘try to keep guys on the field’. If a guy does something nasty and punches somebody or repeatedly is kicking people and trying to hurt people, okay send them off. But little handballs and little ticky-tacky things that’s not what the game is about.”
Nate Jaqua- Post Game Quotes
(On the red card) “I couldn’t really see it. I didn’t see what happened much. A bunch of pushes is what I saw, it’s a tough call.”
(On if yellow cards changes the way the team plays) “A little bit. This one was a bit strange this second half. I’m not quite sure a few of the stuff what was going on. You have to be careful about what you get into and go into” Read more
Freddie Ljungberg- Post Game Quotes
(On controlling possession) “I think we did that in the first half. And I think we had them all over the place and maybe we should have scored some more goals, as well as the penalty, it would have been a total different game. Of course after the red card, you’re one man down, it’s a hard game. I think we still made it even. Fortunately it’s a draw, though we would’ve liked to have won the game.” Read more
James Riley- Post Game Quotes
(On the red card penalty) “It really did happen so fast. Intent for me to strike any player in the game with my hands. I was trying to grab him. He pulled his head away. That’s why the referee has a whistle. He pulls a yellow. Tells me to back off. I do. And it just changes (to red). You just suck it up and take it on the chin.”
(On if the red card was surprising) “I was surprised. That’s how it goes. We’ll let the coaching staff handle that. Again I was disappointed.” Read more
Sigi Schmid Quotes from Sounders FC – LA Galaxy Match
Sounders FC Head Coach Sigi Schmid
General Comments: “I’m very proud of our team from the standpoint of playing a man down and still trying to go for the win. Whereas, the opponent was a man up and they were very content to tie the game take it to 90 minutes. I’m very disappointed in the ejection and I’m disappointed in the refereeing.”
(On James Riley ejection) “I need to see it on replay. It was our free kick and Gregg Berhalter picked up ball. I guess he thought it was his free kick. I don’t know. Maybe he was momentarily confused or dazed and the referee was confused and dazed. There ended up being a melee and a scrum. That’s about all I can say right now. I’ve known the referee for a long time. When I was coaching in college we were allowed to list a couple of referees who would not be put on your games. He hasn’t refereed many games that I’ve coached. The assistant referee told the referee that in his estimation it was a red or violent conduct. The other ref told him something but he chose to ignore that piece of advice. I’ll let you draw judgments on the refereeing.” Read more
-
-
Next Match
-
