Fredy Montero was threatening but unable to score against Real Salt Lake (Chis Coulter Photo).

After finding themselves in a 0-3 hole walking into the second leg of the Home & Home aggregate MLS Conference Semifinals, Sounders FC found themselves up against an improbable mission; but one they were up to the task on. Ultimately, Seattle’s two second half goals and 26 shots weren’t enough as the 2011 MLS Campaign ends for the Rave Green.

~~View Chris Coulter’s Photos from the Match~~

Here’s the Club’s Report…

A second-half surge fueled by goals from Osvaldo Alonso and Lamar Neagle provided Seattle Sounders FC with a 2-0 win over Real Salt Lake yet it wasn’t enough to overcome a deficit from the first leg of their MLS Western Conference Semifinal series. Real Salt Lake won, 3-2, on aggregate and advances to face either the L.A. Galaxy or New York Red Bulls on Sunday.

Seattle’s win, before 36,021 on the Xbox Pitch at CenturyLink Field, was its first in the MLS Cup Playoffs after also qualifying in 2009 and 2010. It was the eighth-largest crowd in MLS postseason history.

Kasey Keller was required to make only one save in posting a shutout in his final professional match. Keller, 41, retires following 20 professional seasons in Europe and, for the past three years, with Sounders FC.

Seattle needed to outscore RSL by four goals to win the series after falling, 3-0, in Utah last Saturday.

Pressuring the visitors’ goal from the outset Sounders FC were denied until the 56th minute when they earned at penalty kick.

RSL defender Tony Beltran was whistled for a foul and issued a yellow card after pulling down Mike Fucito from behind inside the box. Alonso’s ensuing penalty kick went low and down the middle of the net, past keeper Nick Rimando.

Seattle made it 2-0 just five minutes later when Fredy Montero found Lamar Neagle going hard up the left side. Neagle caught Rimando leaning the wrong way and finished with a left-footed strike inside the right post from 15-yards in the 61st minute. Alonso was also credited with an assist.

The best opportunity for Sounders FC to tie the aggregate score came from Neagle in the 69th minute. He drove a curling shot from the top of the box that Rimando saved near the upper right corner.

The Rave Green finished with 26 shots-tying their regular season record set earlier in the season versus Houston. Nine of the attempts were on goal, led by Neagle’s three.Real Salt Lake managed only four shots, one on goal.

Despite a scoreless first half, Seattle dominated. They out-shot RSL 15-1 (including 4-0 on goal), and set a franchise record for corner kicks in a half with 10.

Injuries plagued Sounders FC early on as No. 2 scorer Alvaro Fernandez left the game in the 14th minute with a left hamstring injury and Brad Evans was taken off in the 21st after injuring his right ankle. They were replaced by Neagle and Roger Levesque, respectively. Mauro Rosales, who led the team with 13 assists this season, missed the entire series with an MCL sprain.

Seattle almost got on the board in the seventh minute when Erik Friberg’s free kick was headed by Fernandez to Montero behind the defense, but Montero’s open shot went wide right.

A long, relentless attack at the end of the first half by Seattle started in the 35th minute and created multiple opportunities, the best of which came in the 39th when, with Rimando out of position, Jeff Parke volleyed toward an open net from 18-yards only to have Beltran clear the shot with a leaping header over the crossbar.

Keller kept Seattle in aggregate contention late. In the 79th minute, Fabian Espindola got behind the defense and had Keller one-on-one, but Keller made a point-blank save.

With a total of 27 wins in the regular season, playoffs, Open Cup and CONCACAF Champions League, Sounders FC eclipsed the standard of 26 outright (non-tiebreaker) wins by the Chicago Fire in 2000.

Real Salt Lake (1-1-0) vs. Seattle Sounders (1-1-0)
Conference Semifinal
November 02, 2011 — CenturyLink Field

Scoring Summary:
SEA — Osvaldo Alonso 1 (penalty kick) 56
SEA — Lamar Neagle 1 (Fredy Montero 1, Osvaldo Alonso 1) 61

Real Salt Lake — Nick Rimando, Robbie Russell, Chris Schuler, Chris Wingert, Tony Beltran, Kyle Beckerman, Will Johnson, Andy Williams (Ned Grabavoy 57), Javier Morales (Luis Gil 89), Alvaro Saborio (Yordany Alvarez 76), Fabian Espindola.

Substitutes Not Used: Paulo Araujo Jr., Rauwshan McKenzie, Collen Warner, Kyle Reynish.

TOTAL SHOTS: 4 (4 tied with 1); SHOTS ON GOAL: 1 (Fabian Espindola 1); FOULS: 16 (Kyle Beckerman 3, Fabian Espindola 3); OFFSIDES: 3 (Fabian Espindola 3); CORNER KICKS: 2 (Javier Morales 2); SAVES: 6 (Nick Rimando 6)

Seattle Sounders — Kasey Keller, Zach Scott, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leo Gonzalez, Brad Evans (Roger Levesque 21), Osvaldo Alonso, Erik Friberg, Alvaro Fernandez (Lamar Neagle 14), Mike Fucito (Sammy Ochoa 76), Fredy Montero.

Substitutes Not Used: Nate Jaqua, James Riley, Tyson Wahl, Bryan Meredith.

TOTAL SHOTS: 26 (Osvaldo Alonso 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 9 (Lamar Neagle 3); FOULS: 17 (Leo Gonzalez 4, Fredy Montero 4); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 10 (Mike Fucito 6); SAVES: 1 (Kasey Keller 1)

Misconduct Summary:
RSL — Tony Beltran (caution; Tactical Foul) 55
RSL — Nick Rimando (caution; Delaying a Restart) 56
SEA — Roger Levesque (caution; Reckless Tackle) 62
SEA — Leo Gonzalez (caution; Reckless Tackle) 92+

Referee: Jair Marrufo
Referee’s Assistants:-Corey Rockwell; C.J. Morgante
4th Official: Jasen Anno
Attendance: 36,021
Time of Game: 1:58
Weather: Rain-and-49-degrees

All Statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial

POSTGAME QUOTES: Sounders FC vs. Real Salt Lake, 11/2/11

Sigi Schmid – Sounders FC Head Coach
(Opening comments…) “Obviously it was disappointing that we didn’t get the third goal tonight to send it in to overtime. I was proud of the way we played. I thought our effort looked good. I thought our desire was good. I thought our soccer was good. We had four or five really good looks in the first half and we couldn’t get one in. [Fredy] Montero had that chance early after he had got abused pretty good on a couple of tackles and maybe if he hadn’t been feeling the effects of that injury he sticks that away. They save a couple off the line in the first half, as well, so if we could have snuck one in…It shows the importance of that late goal for them in Salt Lake. But tonight I can’t fault our team for our effort, our desire. I think we showed our fans our character tonight. I know last year at the end of the playoffs I said about some people that the occasion was too big for them. I think tonight we finally figured out how to play in the playoffs and we got our first playoff win, but we figured it out one game too late. If we would have played with 60 percent of this intensity in Salt Lake I think we would have been good, but hopefully it will make us a better team. It was still a great season for us. We accomplished a lot of things – we got more points, we won another U.S. Open Cup, we moved on to the next round of the CCL. All those things are showing our continued growth as a team, but obviously we’re disappointed with the result tonight.”

(On what the attitude was at halftime…) “Our attitude was good. It was a little bit frustrating, but it was good. We had talked about and we had prepared the team to move into a 3-5-2 formation if we weren’t having success because obviously we normally play a 4-4-2 and we didn’t have success in Salt Lake. I didn’t feel there was a need to change because we were dominating the game and creating chances, so we continued to push out of that formation. We told them they had been a little bit fortunate with the balls they saved off the line and if you keep doing what you’re doing the goals will come, and we ended up getting two goals. The injuries in the first half hurt us because what ends up happening then is when you get with 20 minutes to go in the game, you could use some fresh legs and we couldn’t bring in any fresh legs anymore. Like Erik Friberg was pretty dead tired. Generally [Brad] Evans is a little fitter than him, so we would have been able to slide that around. There are certain things that we could have done without those injuries.”

(On Tony Beltran’s header save in the first half…) “It was huge because if we get a goal in the first half then…you saw what happened when we got the first goal and they started to teeter a little bit and if we would have got that goal in the first half this place would have been even louder and just given us more time to get the third one.”

(On Kasey Keller’s save in the second half…) “Yeah, it kept us in the game because at that point we’ve obviously got to fill bodies forward and so they got in. The linesman I thought missed two or three offside calls prior to that, so that was a little bit frustrating. He comes up big on that save, but we thought it should have been offside anyway.”

(On dominating the midfield game today…) “It was just our aggression level. I thought in the last game we were very passive and today we were more aggressive. We talked to our center backs and said it’s going to be man against man. You’ve got to win your duels. You’ve got to be better than [Alvaro] Saborio. You’ve got to be better than [Fabian] Espindola and what-not. Look for help. So we zoned less. We got on to people. We got closer and as a result of that we were able to regain the ball much quicker and as we got the ball back much quicker we also connected our first two or three passes most times and that allowed us to get a hold of the game.”

(On what Kasey Keller has meant to the franchise…) “Obviously, Kasey Keller has meant a great deal to this franchise and there’s nothing I would have rather done or this team would have rather done than to take him out with an MLS Cup. We were able to give him three U.S. Open Cup’s and give him three years in the playoffs, so that’s the extent of our gift to him. But he’s still a goalkeeper who’s one of the best goalkeepers, if not the best goalkeeper in our league. He’s played at a high level. It’s great to see somebody be able to finish their career at home in front of friends and family. It’s been a great situation. We’re going to miss him, for sure, but I’m sure he’ll be around. Kasey will still be talking to you guys, I’m sure.”

(On how they will go about the offseason…) “We’ll be around. We’ll do things until Thanksgiving. We’ve got things to do, meetings to do and things like that and get offseason programs organized. We have an early start to our program next year because we’re in the Champions League, so we’ve got to be prepared for that. We’ve got some guys…[Brad] Evans’ ankle is about four times the size of this microphone right now on a non-foul, so there’s some guys that got beat up tonight.”

(On the play of Lamar Neagle…) “I think he would have had the same impact if we would have brought him on with 20 minutes to go, or 25 minutes to go – which was the plan. He’s another one. He’s a young player in terms of experience and he’s learning every time he gets out there. Yeah, I do think in Salt Lake it was probably too big a game for him even in the first half. He really didn’t come into the game until the second half. We talked about it and I think he grew up today a little bit in terms of being a little stronger, a little tougher. Then obviously he scored a good goal and was involved in a lot of our offensive actions and almost beat [Nick] Rimando on another one that he tried to bend to the far post like the one he scored in Salt Lake during the regular season. He continues to grow and improve.”

(On what the taste in their mouth is right now after tonight’s result…) “I don’t know if it’s in our mouths. It’s definitely a very empty, hallow feeling in our stomachs at this stage. As I told the team, I’m happy we got our first playoff win. We won a playoff game so we got our first playoff win tonight. We had to overcome a lot of obstacles tonight but we still have an empty feeling from the standpoint that we know we should have done better in Salt Lake. We know we should be going on to the next round if we had done better and so that’s disappointing. But we’re also proud of the fact that we showed our character and we showed our true colors today.”

(On how they add Steve Zakuani, O’Brian White and others back into the mix…) “I’ve got no problem adding those guys. I’ve got no problem adding Mauro Rosales as well. I think the more quality players you have the better it is and you just have more options. Eventually they compete against each other and the strong survive and become better and your team becomes better overall.”

Kasey Keller – Sounders FC Goalkeeper
(On the loss…) “It’s over. It’s been a helluva three years. Obviously an honor to be able to come home and play for something as cool as the Sounders have become and were from the first minute. You couldn’t have asked for a better end of my career. Yeah, of course, holding up a MLS Cup in a couple weeks would have been tremendous, but you can’t fault anybody. We had one of those bad days a couple days ago and came back here and restored a ton of pride. We just came up a tiny bit short.”

(On the third goal RSL scored on Saturday night…) “Two-nil is such a tenuous scoreline in soccer. It gives you that little bit false sense of security and knowing that it’s so obtainable can bite you in the ass. So that’s why that third one was a monster, and it ended up being just that. Huge credit to the guys. We came in here and gave everything we had. We sure as hell made it entertaining for everyone to watch, both here and on TV. We came up a little bit short, but it was an honor. The guys did tremendous and I’m proud of each one of them.”

(On if he ever thought they were out of it…) “No, not at all. We scored plenty of goals this year in games. I never thought at any time, as long as I knew we kept it tight, that we’d give ourselves a chance down to the end. You have to give them some credit-that clearance off the line from Jeff Parke off the corner was insane…Fredy [Montero] had a great chance and it just skidded away from him right at the very beginning, and that could have been very interesting. But nobody got their head down. We kept battling and battling and battling, got the penalty, then Lamar [Neagle] pops up, great pass from Fredy and knocks it in. And then you think, ‘All right, game on.’ We battled, they really threw their body on the line, and we just came up a little bit short.”

Lamar Neagle – Sounders FC Midfielder
(On his goal…) “Fredy just played a good ball. They really kind of converged on him and I was wide open…We can score goals and we put enough pressure on them the whole game, especially because it was around the 70th minute when I scored, so we knew we had a lot of time and we definitely thought we could put another one away.”

(On if the goal boosted his confidence…) “Yeah. You can say it’s always difficult to get into the game when you’re a sub. I think it was 13 minutes in I went in so not quite the best warm up I could get before going in, but I actually did the same thing against Salt Lake my first goal. It’s just something that happens. I was definitely more into the flow of the game in the second half, so I was able to go out and do a lot better in the second half.”

(On out-shooting RSL 26-4 and not getting the third goal…) “That’s the way it goes sometimes. Like I said, we know we can score goals, so we were definitely going to go at them. With us going at them that hard they were backing off, so we felt we that we could get three but it just didn’t fall that way.”

(On if they felt they had something to prove…) “Definitely. Going to Salt Lake and losing like that it’s not something we wanted and planned, so we definitely had something to prove to ourselves. And for our fans we wanted to show them that we were a different team and I think we a good job of that. We put a good effort out. We were unlucky that we didn’t get a third to fall. They were saving balls off the line. You can’t knock them. They did a good job.”

Fredy Montero – Sounders FC Forward
(On the injuries early on…) “That always is going to change the game but the important thing for us was our effort. We did a great job tonight and we are so proud because we played a very hard game. They were a really tough team but we didn’t care. We just wanted to score three goals…but the third doesn’t come.”

(On if the positives this season outweigh the negatives…) “Yeah. I think when that kind of thing happens, when your team is losing and you never give up. It’s going to be good for us for the next season. We are more mature. We know how to play playoffs right now and we are really sad because it was too late, but we need to focus for the next season.”

(On the end of Kasey Keller’s career…) “It means a lot. I think we lose a great part of the team. He’s our captain. He’s a very good friend but this is soccer. He has to leave but we have the rest of the team looking forward to playing and giving 100% of everything we have.”

Mike Fucito – Sounders FC Forward
(On dominating the game…) “I don’t think we could have dominated any more. Our shot that gets cleared off the line, I just think sometimes you need a little luck…I think the fact we scored early in the second half and still had 25 minutes, we still put them under tons and tons of pressure…We were able to do that from minute zero through minute 95.”

Jason Kreis – Real Salt Lake Head Coach
(On if he expected the game to go as it did…) “Yeah, I knew that at some point it was going to be like them wave after wave, serving balls into our box and seeing how we dealt with them. I expected – I really did expect us to be better with the ball than we were tonight. I felt like we were really hurried. We got in a lot of good spots early in the game to win the ball and then just gave it right back. So we never were able to gain any ground or get out of our half or keep things in their end for long stretches and it was a choppy game, which doesn’t help us to gain any kind of rhythm. It felt like any time a Seattle player fell in the first half, there was a whistle right behind it and a free kick against us. That made things difficult and they just kept serving it into our box and the entire night was a difficult night. Credit to Seattle and credit to their crowd for creating that atmosphere and credit to the team for putting us under that kind of pressure and I think that what you saw was that this is a very, very good team that went out in the first round of the playoffs which is, I think, disappointing.”

(On missing two of his starting center-backs…) “Yeah, obviously our choices were one of three: we could pull [Robbie] Russell into the middle, we could pull [Chris] Wingert into the middle, or we could play Rauwshan McKenzie. And the choice was, obviously, when you get to the playoffs, you’re looking for guys that have enough experience and have been there and done that before, so that left us with Russell and Wingert and on talking to both of them, Wingert felt like he wanted to do it. He felt more comfortable doing it. He’s a little bit more of a vocal player so it felt like the right choice to me. It wasn’t perfect, certainly. To be fair, it was a night that our center-backs were going to be very busy. With the amount of balls that were served into their forwards, they forced a lot of mistakes. But we need to take the next couple of days and really review the video critically with those two players because if they’re going to be in there again, we’re going to need improved performance.”

(On the foul resulting in a penalty kick that Osvaldo Alonso was able to convert…) “I thought it was a travesty, an absolute travesty. Our player got pulled down and for some – I don’t know what happened, if he just got color-blind at that moment or what, but that was ridiculous.”

(On what it means to him for his players to come up to Seattle and hang onto the lead and move on to the next round…) “It’s important. I think that it’s funny. I’m sitting there going, ‘Isn’t this our year?’ Watching the series actually, isn’t this our year? Four days ago we’re just completely dominant and tonight we’re back on our heels and being dominated. In the span of four days, sometimes that can be difficult to figure out but our guys battled through and believed in each other and kept at it and kept their nose down through some very, very difficult play, difficult decisions by the referee and a difficult atmosphere. But we move on and we’ll look for a better performance in the next round.”

(On if he was worried after Seattle’s second goal and the ensuing swarming attack…) “Of course. I’m not going to sit here and say, ‘Oh, for sure, I thought we were going to be fine.’ No, I was very, very concerned. But again, our guys fought through and kept battling and ended up making some good plays at the end of that game to move us on.”

(On the decision to pull Alvaro Saborio for Yordany Alvarez in the 76th minute…) “The Sabo decision was to change shape and to give us another holding midfielder in front of our back four. It felt like their central pair was getting a little bit too much time in space, especially at the top of our box. I think that was a really good decision because Yordany ended up being critical on a couple of plays. And then [Javier] Morales, he wouldn’t have come out but he had gotten really fatigued. This is going to be a challenging situation, let’s face it. Javi hasn’t played matches in a very long time so to ask him to play three matches in a week may be difficult.”

(On if there’s a way to turn the negatives from tonight into positives…) “Absolutely. I think that in some ways it may have been good that we didn’t play that well tonight, to get our feet back on the ground and to say to a team that won the game 3-0 that that was probably the peak of our peak, and this may be the low of our low. So we need to perform somewhere in the middle this weekend.”

Chris Wingert – Real Salt Lake Defender
(On the crazy night of playing in the middle…) “I don’t think it was being in the middle as it was that we were just under. Those games, they’re kind of… they’re not very fun. I hate to say it but you almost know it’s going to be like that. You want to say that hopefully we can possess the ball and create some chances and get in their end but I don’t know what it is. It’s just the nature of the game. It tends to be like that. Naturally it was and credit to the guys. It was an unbelievable battle from everybody the whole game, but especially the first half. And then for them to get two early ones in the second half, it’s just like, ‘Oh, man. We’re going to have to outlast this for whatever it was, 25 or 30 minutes.’ But it worked so… I’m just excited to go back to being in a game where hopefully we can possess the ball and play and it’ll be a lot more fun.”

(On if he was ever worried that the series was going the wrong direction…) “A little bit, yeah, especially when we had a penalty kick in the first few minutes of the second half and then we know that that’s going to give them a little momentum and naturally, maybe it puts us on our heels a little bit. But that’s the way it goes. And then they bury the second one. We just kind of kept looking at each other saying, ‘Keep battling, keep fighting.’ What else can you do? The tough part is that when you’re playing like that for 60 minutes and they’re pumping balls in and coming at you, coming at you, and you’re defending, it’s hard to just flip the switch and say, ‘Okay, now it’s a close game so let’s go forward and knock it around.’ It usually doesn’t happen like that unless you have your best run or something like that. It certainly wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t ideal, but at the same time, I don’t think anybody really cares at this point. Onto the next one and time to focus on this weekend.”

(On how much the conditions contributed to their ability to possess the ball…) “It was tough, even in the back. I had a few backups where I did a terrible job of clearing and you’re in a little bit of panic mode to make a touch, just because you know that they’re stepping up and pressing and you don’t want the ball to skip away from you on the turf, which happens sometimes. You can’t take a chance in the back, which was happening in the midfield. So it certainly played into it a bit but you just got to deal with the conditions and do the best you can. I can’t say enough about the effort from our guys. It was amazing. Guys were diving and blocking shots and throwing their bodies around and just sacrificing everything they had. In the end it worked for us.”

Nick Rimando – Real Salt Lake Goalkeeper
(On withstanding Seattle’s offensive attack…) “Yeah, it was tough. It felt like we were down the whole game. But we battled. It was one of those games where we had to battle and stick in there to the end through a lot of adversity. Take that any way you guys want to take it but I think we stuck in there and we advanced. This loss feels like a win for sure because we got to advance and we get to play the winner of L.A. – New York. So the guys fought hard and, all in all, we did what we had to do, even if it was a loss.”

(On what he thought when Seattle was awarded the penalty kick…) “I was actually going to take the free kick. I thought it was ours and I think everybody in the stadium thought it was theirs. But it’s the ref’s decision and we can’t spite that at all. So Alonso stepped up and buried one down the middle and they ended up getting another one and it became a game. I think that’s what the fans wanted and they got it.”

(On his defenders…) “I thought our defenders did great. Having Wingert go inside where he doesn’t normally play and to come into a place like this and to fight and to battle and to play against Montero and Fucito, I thought we handled them great. I think in the second half, they didn’t have anything and then they get the PK, get the momentum. They fed their guys forward. They’re going to get chances when they throw the whole house at you. I thought everybody played well in front of me and defended to the end and that’s what we expected.”

Tony Beltran – Real Salt Lake Defender
(On his clearance in the first half, heading the shot away from the goal…) “I’m not really sure what happened, it happened so fast. But I think it was a cross-in and just kind of a half clearance and when Nick [Rimando] came out I made sure when he did that I was getting back in the goal just in case there was a rebound. Whoever struck it, struck it really well and I was able to make a good reaction and clear it of the goal.”

(On his clearance in the first half that Sigi Schmid said could have been a game-changer…) “Yeah, it would have definitely made things much harder on us. Although, even if that goes in, they’d have the advantage at that point but we could have managed the game from there. But yeah, it was definitely a boost to go in at halftime 0-0.”

(On the foul called, awarding Seattle a PK…) “I’m going to have to look at it again before I comment on it, but all I know is I took an elbow to the face, probably the hardest elbow I think I’ve ever had, probably almost broke my nose, so I’m not really sure where the foul was. But maybe when I see it again, I can recognize it.”

Here’s the report from the club…
Two goals from Alvaro Saborio led a strong offensive effort as Real Salt Lake edged Sounders FC 3-0 in the first leg of the Western Conference Semifinals at Rio Tinto Stadium. Seattle will now look to make up a three goal deficit at home on Wednesday in the second leg of the two-game aggregate goal series.

RSL got on the board first in the 42nd minute when Chris Wingert played the ball to the left side, sent a short cross near the mouth of the goal, and Saborio poked it in for an easy score.

Seattle had a good chance to equalize in first half stoppage when Leo Gonzalez’s cross found Alvaro Fernandez in front of the goal, but his header went wide.

Saborio picked up his second goal in the 53rd when he knocked a cross from Javier Morales with his back heel inside the far post, giving RSL a 2-0 lead.

RSL dominated on the offensive end, out-shooting Seattle 19-10, including a 12-0 shot on goal advantage. The only other time in club history Sounders FC has failed to record a shot on goal was a 1-0 loss to New England on August 20, 2009.

Despite giving up three goals, Keller was in top form, notching a season-high nine saves.

As Seattle attacked late in the second half, RSL moved more and more people behind the ball on defense stifling each Sounders FC opportunity.

RSL made it 3-0 in the 88th minute. After a Seattle defender cleared a cross from the right side, Ned Grabavoy quickly intercepted the ball and drilled a shot through the Seattle defense and past Kasey Keller. Grabavoy subbed in for Morales in the 79th minute.

Seattle is looking to advance in the playoffs for the first time in club history. They have made the playoffs each of their three years of existence.

Sammy Ochoa got his first start in a MLS match. After being acquired on August 26, Ochoa made four MLS appearances as a substitute, scoring goals in each of Seattle’s last two regular season games.

The second leg of the Western Conference semifinals will take place Wednesday evening on the Xbox Pitch at CenturyLink Field. Whoever advances will take on the winner of LA Galaxy and NY Red Bulls in the Western Conference Finals.

Seattle Sounders FC at Real Salt Lake
October 29, 2011 – Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, Utah

Scoring Summary:
RSL – Alvaro Saborio (Chris Wingert) 41′
RSL – Alvaro Saborio (Javier Morales) 53′
RSL – Ned Grabavoy 88′

Real Salt Lake -Nick Rimando, Robbie Russell, Nat Borchers (Luis Gil 84), Jamison Olave (Chris Schuler 32), Chris Wingert, Kyle Beckerman, Andy Williams, Will Johnson, Javier Morales (Ned Grabovoy 79), Fabian Espindola, Alvaro Saborio.

Substitutes Not Used: Kyle Reynish, Arturo Alvarez, Collen Warner, Paulo Jr.

TOTAL SHOTS: 19 (Saborio 6); SHOTS ON GOAL: 12 (Saborio 3); FOULS: 11 (Olave, Russell, Williams, Saborio 2); OFFSIDES: 4 (Saborio, Espinolda 2); CORNER KICKS: 5 (Morales 4); SAVES: 0.

Seattle Sounders FC – Kasey Keller, James Riley, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kenedy Hurtado, Leo Gonzalez, Lamar Neagle (Erik Friberg 60), Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Alvaro Fernandez (Roger Levesque 77) Sammy Ochoa (Mike Fucito 63), Fredy Montero.

Substitutes Not Used: Bryan Meredith, Zach Scott, Tyson Wahl, Nate Jaqua.

TOTAL SHOTS: 10 (Fernandez 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 0; FOULS: 11 (Gonzalez 3); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 7 (Fernandez, Friberg 3); SAVES: 9 (Keller 9).

Misconduct Summary:
RSL — Fabian Espinolda (caution) 30′
SEA — Osvaldo Alonso (caution) 54′
SEA — Fredy Montero (caution) 90′
SEA — Erik Friberg (caution) 93′

Referee: Mark Geiger
Referee’s Assistants: Joe Fletcher, Steven Taylor
4th Official: Silviu Petrescu
Attendance: 17,067
Time of Game: 1:50
Weather: Clear and 50 degrees

Two of Neagle’s goals are also up for MLS Goal of the Week.

Release
Seattle Sounders FC midfielder Lamar Neagle was voted Major League Soccer Player of the Week by the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) for Week 24 of the 2011 MLS season. Neagle scored three goals-only the second hat trick in club history– in Seattle’s 6-2 victory over the Columbus Crew on Saturday on the Xbox Pitch at CenturyLink Field.

Neagle became the fourth Sounder to win Player of the Week this season. Mauro Rosales won the award for Week 18, Fredy Montero for Week 17 and Jeff Parke won it in Week 10.

Saturday’s win tied the MLS team record for goals scored in a first half (4) and established a Sounders FC standard for total goal scored. Neagle, 24, tied club records for earliest goal (4th minute) and goals in a match. Blaise Nkufo got the first Seattle hat trick in a 4-0 win at Columbus in 2010.

Sounders FC are unbeaten in their last four MLS games and have won four straight and are unbeaten in seven games across all competitions. They host FC Dallas in a Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinal game on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. PT at Starfire Sports Stadium in Tukwila, Wash.

Rosales, FC Dallas midfielder Brek Shea and Columbus forward Jeff Cunningham, who broke the all-time MLS scoring record in the same match, also received first-place votes.

Major League Soccer (MLS) and the NBC Sports Group today announced a three-year media rights agreement, which commences at the start of the 2012 MLS season. The partnership calls for 45 MLS games and four U.S. Men’s National Team contests to be televised live across both NBC and NBC Sports Network each season. This marks the first rights deal for the newly-named cable channel that will be re-branded from VERSUS on January 2, 2012. The announcement was made today by MLS Commissioner and Soccer United Marketing CEO Don Garber and Mark Lazarus, Chairman, NBC Sports Group.

“Everyone at the NBC Sports Group is thrilled to begin this partnership with Major League Soccer,” said Lazarus. “MLS is a perfect fit for our new group, and we are uniquely positioned to help grow soccer in the United States with extensive coverage on NBC Sports Network, significant programming on the broadcast network and our growing digital platforms. Additionally, this agreement complements the partnerships that five of our regional sports networks have with their local MLS teams.”

Each season, NBC will broadcast two regular-season MLS games, two playoff games and two appearances by the U.S. Men’s National Team, marking the first time four MLS matches will be broadcast on English-language network television since 2002. The NBC Sports Network will televise 38 regular-season games, three playoff games and two U.S. Men’s National Team matches. All telecasts on NBC and NBC Sports Network will consist of pre-game and post-game coverage. According to the agreement, the NBC Sports Group obtains digital rights across all platforms and devices for the games it televises.

“Our new partnership with the NBC Sports Group is a significant step forward for Major League Soccer and U.S. Soccer,” said MLS Commissioner and Soccer United Marketing CEO Don Garber. “The NBC Sports Group is world-renowned for its award-winning coverage, superb broadcast quality and promotional expertise. We are excited to be part of NBC’s ambitious plans for soccer, and look forward to reaching a considerable audience on multiple platforms.”

Featuring an exciting mix of players, including world-class stars such as Landon Donovan, David Beckham and Thierry Henry, MLS is one of the nation’s fastest growing sports properties. It has seen considerable growth across many metrics, including number of teams (10 clubs in 2004 to 19 in 2012) and new stadiums (two soccer stadiums in 2004 to having 15 of 19 clubs playing in venues built with soccer in mind, including new soccer stadiums in Houston and Montreal next year). This season, the League is enjoying the highest average attendance and largest number of corporate sponsors in its 16-year history.

Along with already-established MLS partnerships with five Comcast SportsNets (California, Chicago, Mid-Atlantic, New England and Philadelphia), this agreement provides the league with coverage across the NBC Sports Group’s unique four-tier portfolio of assets: broadcast network, national cable, regional sports networks and digital platforms.

Osvaldo Alonso will be an inactive All-Star.

Sounder midfielder, Osvaldo Alonso, a fan-favorite, has been named to the MLS All-Star game as an inactive player.

He was added to the roster after voting by his fellow players along with Dwayne De Rosario (D.C. United), Eric Hassli (Vancouver Whitecaps FC), Juninho (L.A. Galaxy), Joel Lindpere (New York Red Bulls) and Nick Rimando (Real Salt Lake).

Alonso has played 90 minutes in all 21 appearances this season and has already scored a career-high three goals with two assists.

He will be missing the match due to the Sounders’ participation in the CONCACAF Champions League. Seattle will be playing Panama’s San Francisco FC in a preliminary round match on Tuesday. First kick is set for 5p and will be shown on Fox Soccer.

A Glance by Fredy Montero w/ Racing Stripes (Chris Coulter photo)

MLS named Sounders Designated Player, Fredy Montero, the MLS Humanitarian of the Month for March… for what he did in December.

Full Release:

Major League Soccer and the Seattle Sounders FC today announced forward Fredy Montero was selected as the MLS W.O.R.K.S. “Humanitarian of the Month” for March. The award recognizes Montero’s efforts to raise funds and awareness for the massive floods and devastation throughout his native country of Colombia.

Back in December, heavy rains caused flooding and mudslides in Montero’s hometown of Campo de la Cruz, Colombia. While the Sounders and their supporters responded with fundraisers in Seattle, Montero flew to Colombia to support his family and neighbors. More than two million Colombians have been affected by the disaster.

Mercy Corps, Sounders FC, Emerald City Supporters, Gorilla FC and the North End Faithful in addition to Sounders FC fans throughout the country joined to raise more than $29,000 to help flood relief efforts.

Three of the Sounders FC players hail from Colombia (Montero, Miguel Montaño, and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado), where Mercy Corps has worked since 2007 to help survivors of Latin America’s longest-running conflict. They’re working with the most vulnerable residents – landmine survivors, displaced families, at-risk children – in the areas most affected by violence.

Meanwhile, Montero continues to contribute to the efforts.
“I tried to give my best because too many people are in need of help. It’s very sad because your family has the problem,” said Montero. “I’m going to help for as long as they need. Nothing is done yet. We have to keep helping until it’s better.”

MLS W.O.R.K.S. is Major League Soccer’s community outreach initiative dedicated to addressing important social issues affecting young people and serves as a platform for both League and club philanthropic programs. MLS W.O.R.K.S. seeks to establish Major League Soccer as a leader for improving the lives of people through sport.

Ten clubs will qualify for the 2011 MLS Cup Playoffs:

* The top three finishers in each conference, based on regular season points (six automatic berths)
* The next best four clubs based on regular season points, irrespective of conference (four wild cards)

• The four wild cards will play single elimination games against each other, with higher seeds hosting (1 vs. 4; 2 vs. 3). These play-in games are part of the MLS Cup Playoffs.
• After the two play-in games conclude, the lowest remaining seed will face the Supporters’ Shield winner in the Conference Semifinals; the other will face the No. 1 seed in the opposite conference from the Supporters’ Shield winner.

The four Conference Semifinals will be decided by two-game aggregate series, with each club hosting one game. The two Conference Championships will be single games hosted by the higher seed. MLS Cup will again be a single championship match hosted at a predetermined site to be announced at a later date.

MLS Cup will again be a single championship match hosted at a predetermined site to be announced at a later date.

The 2011 MLS regular season concludes Oct. 23. The dates for the MLS Cup Playoffs and MLS Cup will be announced at a later date.

Being in the far upper-left of the US for the past two seasons, the Rave Green’s closest opponent in MLS was 689 miles* away at Rio Tinto Stadium in Utah. Every other MLS club had at least two teams closer than Seattle’s distance with Real Salt Lake.

Forced with once-a-season cross country trips to New England, New York Jersey, DC, and the addition of Philadelphia in 2010, the Sounders racked up their frequent flyer accounts. Even when Seattle stayed on the West Coast, its nearest opponent in San Jose was 697 miles away; Columbus has seven opponents closer, and Philadelphia has 6.

Assuming single game roadtrips, the Sounders traveled nearly 50,000 miles in 2010- for MLS action only.

Throw in trips to El Salvaor, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Mexico for the CONCACAF Champions League and the Sounders were on a plane, a lot.

Columbus and Kansas City traveled under 30,000 round-trip miles in 2010.

While looking at the roadtrips and their win/loss record, through various views, nothing concrete can be said about Seattle’s on-the-field performance due to the travel. It was just more time on the road than other clubs.

The addition of Vancouver and Portland change the landscape of MLS travel. Teams will now require 3 trips to the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia as opposed to one. On the flip-side, Seattle will now have two opponents less than 150 miles away. Besides Chivas USA and LA Galaxy sharing the same stadium, only Philadelphia is luckier when they hit the road for New York and DC.

How does the picture change in 2011? Vancouver’s relative position being the farthest north and the farthest to the west puts the Whitecaps in the unenviable position of the club who will travel the farthest in 2011. However, the second spot may come as a surprise as the New England Revolution will take that spot, from being #5 in 2010.

The two trips to Cascadia will also effect the Earthquakes from San Jose, who will jump over Seattle and move into the #3 spot as the Sounders assume the fourth position.

In 2010, Sounders FC (the most traveled team) traveled 72% more than the least- Kansas City. In 2011 that variance between Vancouver and Kansas City decreases to 51%.

Seattle will still be one of the clubs logging the most miles in 2011, but the entire league’s travel schedule is approaching parity. Well, as much as it can for a continental league.

Here is a comparison and ranking on flight miles for 2010 and 2011.

MLS Clubs’ Flight Maps

[Show as slideshow]

*Assumptions

• Distances in chart reflect hypothetical 1-way, Direct-Non-Stop flights
• Flights noted as direct via the following airports Chicago (ORD), Columbus (CMH), DC (DCA), Houston (IAH), New York (EWR), New England (PVD), Philadelphia (PHL), Kansas City (MCI), Toronto (YYZ), Chivas USA (SNA), Colorado (DEN), FC Dallas (DFW), LA (SNA), Salt Lake (SLC), San Jose (SJC), Seattle (SEA), Portland (PDX), Vancouver (YVR).
• Miles are in nautical miles and calculated using the Great Circle Mapper (http://www.gcmap.com/).
• Total Distance Numbers reflect and assume Round Trips and not Open Jaws.

Additionally, the league updated and formalized its roster rules for 2011. Here are the highlights.

• Roster of 30 players
• Spots 1-20 are now “Salary Budget Players” and they count against the $2.675m salary budget
• Players occupying roster spots 1-24 will earn at least $42,000 in 2011. Other will earn at least $32,600 in 2011 (fka “Developmental”). If a player is making $32,600 or under, they have to be under the age of 25
• Clubs begin with 8 International spots- but they are tradeable
• Additional Allocation Money is available to clubs participating in the CONCACAF Champions League

Sounders FC has the 9th pick, and they chose to own the rights to former Philadelphia Union goalkeeper, Chris Seitz.

The 23-year old was selected by the Union in the 2009 Expansion Draft from Real Salt Lake. He made 23 starts for Philly in their inaugural year.

Head Coach for the Union, Peter Nowack, noted, “We invested a lot of time and patience [in Seitz], and we believed that at the end of the day he would stay with us.”

The Sounders have signed Seitz and he will be added to Seattle Sounders FC’s roster.

Tyrone Marshall was picked up by the Colorado Rapids.

More to come….