While resting most of his club’s usual starters, Sounders FC head Coach Sigi Schmid fielded mostly a second team in New England in advance of Tuesday’s US Open Cup Championship. Seattle gave up a goal to the Revolution in the 35th thanks to a Diego Fagundez goal when the 16-year old headed a set piece past Kasey Keller.

A minute later, Fredy Montero evened the match with a masterfully placed left-footed shot after the Colombian collected an poor clearance by the New England defense.

Montero’s eventual game-winner came in the early minutes of the second half when he settle David Estrada‘s blocked shot and then toe-poked the ball in for his brace. at Gillette Stadium. Montero’s eleven goals leads the club.

Sounders FC (16-6-9, 57 points) is now 6-0-1 in their past seven road games over all competitions and have the league’s best record (6-6-3) after allowing the first goal; they remain in second place in the Western Conference with the second highest point total in MLS.

As mentioned, Sounders FC next plays on Tuesday in the final of the US Open Cup against the Chicago FIre at Century Link Field. Kickoff is slated for 7p.

Scoring Summary:
NE — Diego Fagundez 2 (Benny Feilhaber 5) 35′
SEA — Fredy Montero 10 (unassisted) 36′
SEA — Fredy Montero 11 (Nate Jaqua 6) 48′

New England Revolution– Matt Reis, Kevin Alston, Ryan Cochrane (Darrius Barnes 68), A.J. Soares, Shalrie Joseph, Benny Feilhaber, Chris Tierney, Ryan Guy, Diego Fagundez, Monsef Zerka (Pat Phelan 68), Milton Caraglio.

Substitutes Not Used: Bobby Shuttleworth, Zak Boggs, Kheli Dube, Kenny Mansally, Zack Schilawski.

TOTAL SHOTS: 23 (Milton Caraglio 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 7 (Milton Caraglio 2); FOULS: 8 (Milton Caraglio 4); OFFSIDES: 2 (Milton Caraglio 2); CORNER KICKS: 5 (Chris Tierney 3); SAVES: 1 (Matt Reis 1)

Seattle Sounders — Kasey Keller, Roger Levesque, Zach Scott, Patrick Ianni, Tyson Wahl, David Estrada, Servando Carrasco, Erik Friberg (Osvaldo Alonso 79), Alvaro Fernandez (Lamar Neagle 46), Fredy Montero (Mike Fucito 68), Nate Jaqua.

Substitutes Not Used:Josh Ford, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Jeff Parke, Sammy Ochoa.

TOTAL SHOTS: 10 (Fredy Montero 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (Fredy Montero 3); FOULS: 17 (Nate Jaqua 4, Fredy Montero 4); OFFSIDES: 3 (David Estrada 1, Fredy Montero 1, Mike Fucito 1); CORNER KICKS: 1 (Servando Carrasco 1); SAVES: 6 (Kasey Keller 6)

Misconduct Summary:
SEA — Fredy Montero (caution; reckless foul) 29
NE — Milton Caraglio (caution; reckless foul) 84

Referee: Jorge Gonzalez
Referee’s Assistants:Geoff Barkey, Claudo Badea
4th Official: Geoff Gamble
Attendance: 21,022
Time of Game: 1:50
Weather: Cloudy-and-66-degrees

Tyson Wahl celebrates his 1st MLS goal (Chris Coulter photo)

An old football proverb proclaims that to be the best you have to soundly wallop the worst. On Sunday, the Sounders (31points from 19) looked a side worthy of their recent ascent while the Revolution (15 from 17) continue to dwindle further into the abyss both on and off the field.

Happy days are here again as the sunshine seemed to suddenly put the team in attack mode, putting pressure on the Revolution all over the field while keeping another sold out crowd enthralled. It’s hard not to feel good after an eight day stretch that brought the team nine league points, a total that took seven matches and more than a month to accomplish at the start of the season.

Some positive thoughts on the match:

• Tyson Wahl can really kick a football. Those who have followed the team closely the past few years will likely remember Wahl’s brief but memorable moments of beauty from last season as well as solid contributions in USOC play. Yesterday’s extraordinary free kick, combined with his otherwise solid play this season, serves as a reminder of the importance of the Expansion Draft and player development for new franchises.
• The organization also deserves credit for imports that are starting to make a considerable impact. After understandably slow starts to their careers as Sounders, Alvaro Fernandez, Erik Friberg and Mauro Rosales are really starting to show their pedigree. It could be argued that New England’s lack of quality made things look a little rosier than they really are. But the skill, speed of thought and comprehension of the game are all readily apparent with these three. I will have my eye on the trio more than any other Sounders as perhaps our biggest test of the season now awaits: Galaxy.

Some rants on the match.

• I look forward to the day when players like Pat Phelan and Ryan Cochrane are no of the quality required to compete in MLS. You would think that after all of the terrible injuries, suspensions and fines that have occurred as a result of reckless tackles this season that these players would learn to put the brakes on at times. Yesterday both players mindlessly barged head-on into challenges that made my heart skip a beat for fear of another bad injury.
• Speaking of these goons that look like they are hockey players who just never learned how to ice skate, New England surely must be the ugliest team in the league. Have you watched the replay on TV yet? Wait until the camera zooms in on these guys. Even Benny Feilhaber featured a creepy mustache that will have mothers all over the northeast nervously wondering where their children are at dusk.
• There is extensive talk all over the web of the sorry state of our FieldTurf, and it appears that the playing surface will likely be replaced before we kick off in 2012, but man it looked like hell both in person and on TV. It seems to have really become an issue this season, although I remember the first time I ever looked at it and felt my stomach roll. It was another sunny day just like yesterday: Mother’s Day 2009 against L.A.

Around the league:

• The real derby of California featured a bizarre set of occurrences this weekend as midfielder Mike Magee played more than half the match as ‘keeper after an injury to Donovan Ricketts and red card on Josh Saunders. Magee, who admittedly had never played the position at any level before, made some big saves and held on for the shutout. ‘Quakes fans must have left Buck Shaw incensed after watching their team struggle to capitalize on a considerable advantage against their hated rival.

Around the world:

• It was pure tragedy in Buenos Aires this weekend as River Plate suffered relegation for the first time in their history at their famous stadium, El Monumental. Players and fans alike shed tears of agony and riots broke out in the stands and the streets afterward. A sad day for world football, unless you are Boca.

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12►

All images © thanks to Chris Coulter and SoundersPhotos.com

Under gloriously blue skies at CenturyLink Field, Tyson Wahl leveled the score in the 34th with a free kick from 20 yards out that was a perfect blend of accuracy, deception, and pace as he placed Seattle’s first goal in the upper left hand corner out of reach from New England’s goalkeeper, Matt Reis.

Six minutes later the Sounders got their game winner when Mauro Rosales led a counter attack and via some deft passing to Roger Levesque and on to Alvaro Fernandez, the Uruguayan placed it past Reis for the 2-1 score.

The Sounders will host the Kitsap Pumas in the third round of the US Open Cup on Tuesday at Starfire. Their next MLS action is at the LA Galaxy on the Fourth of July.

Scoring Summary:
NE — Sainey Nyassi 1 (Benny Feilhaber 2) 3
SEA — Tyson Wahl 1 (unassisted) 34
SEA — Alvaro Fernandez 4 (Roger Levesque 2, Mauro Rosales 4) 40

New England Revolution– Matt Reis, Kevin Alston, Ryan Cochrane (Zack Schilawski 81), A.J. Soares, Darrius Barnes, Sainey Nyassi (Zak Boggs 62), Pat Phelan, Shalrie Joseph, Benny Feilhaber, Ryan Guy (Kenny Mansally 62), Rajko Lekic.

Substitutes Not Used: Franco Coria, Otto Loewy, Bobby Shuttleworth.

TOTAL SHOTS: 11 (Sainey Nyassi 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (Sainey Nyassi 2); FOULS: 13 (Ryan Cochrane 3); OFFSIDES: 1 (Kenny Mansally 1); CORNER KICKS: 5 (Benny Feilhaber 5); SAVES: 1 (Matt Reis 1)

Seattle Sounders — Kasey Keller, James Riley, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Jeff Parke (Patrick Ianni 17), Tyson Wahl, Lamar Neagle, Servando Carrasco, Erik Friberg, Alvaro Fernandez (Pat Noonan 69), Mauro Rosales (Nate Jaqua 89), Roger Levesque.

Substitutes Not Used: Mike Fucito, Zach Scott, Michael Tetteh, Terry Boss.

TOTAL SHOTS: 9 (Lamar Neagle 2, Tyson Wahl 2); SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (3 tied with 1); FOULS: 7 (Servando Carrasco 2, Erik Friberg 2); OFFSIDES: 3 (Roger Levesque 2); CORNER KICKS: 3 (Mauro Rosales 2); SAVES: 2 (Kasey Keller 2)

Misconduct Summary:
NE — Pat Phelan (caution; Reckless Tackle) 23
SEA — Servando Carrasco (caution; Tactical Foul) 26
NE — Ryan Cochrane (caution; Reckless Tackle) 72
NE — Rajko Lekic (caution; Dissent) 78
SEA — Tyson Wahl (caution; Delaying a Restart) 87
NE — A.J. Soares (caution; Dissent) 90

Referee: Geoff Gamble
Referee’s Assistants:-Ian Anderson; Eric Proctor
4th Official: Silviu Petrescu
Attendance: 36,212
Time of Game: 1:53
Weather: Sunny-and-65-degrees

All Statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial

POSTGAME QUOTES: Sounders FC 2 vs. New England Revolution 1 – June 26, 2011

Sigi Schmid – Sounders FC Head Coach
(General comments…) “Basically, like we said on Thursday a little bit, we’re finding different ways to win games. Today we had to come from behind. We went down 1-0, maybe we weren’t attentive enough early in the game. We had a little bit of a mental breakdown and they scored. I felt we showed good character. Tyson Wahl getting his first ever MLS goal on a great free kick and then us picking up the second goal on a good combination between Mauro, Roger, and Alvaro. We knew in the second half that they’d be more and more direct, that there’d be more and more duels in the air. So we told our guys to be prepared for that. I thought we did okay. Winning that wasn’t going to be artistic, but we did what we needed to do. The post helped us out at the right time. Early in the season, breaks didn’t go our way, but over the course of the season, it evens out.”

(On team starting to click…) “The understanding with each other is starting to get better. More so than anything, their belief and confidence in that we’re going to find a way to win. We’re down 1-0 and we’re two or three minutes into the game, but we’re going to figure it out. We’re going to figure it out and get it done. It’s a belief that’s starting to come through. That’s important. Different guys stepped up and did what they needed to do.”

(On Sounders leading league with number of goal scorers…) “When you look over the history of the teams that I’ve coached, with exception of maybe one year in LA when Ruiz scored a ton of goals, it has always been spread out. I think when you get goals from different places, you’re a harder team to figure out. You’re a harder team to defend because you have that diversity in the attack. It’s also a situation where we’ve scored goals this year on set pieces. The service has been better, guys are practicing them more. Encouraging some guys who didn’t want to step up and do them like Tyson–’Hey you can do it, you’re a lefty and this is a ball you can hit.’ Their confidence and willingness to do that.”

(On Servando Carrasco…) “Carrasco is a slightly different player than Ozzie. He plays the position a little bit different way, but you have a guy who’s a rookie out there and he’s playing against Shalrie Joseph who’s one of the premier players in the league and I think he did pretty well. He held his own. He was solid in the middle. He defended well when he had to. Positionally, he was sound. Friberg is the one who is always going to, if you’re the defensive midfielder playing with him, you’d like to have a string on him so he doesn’t go away from you too far sometimes. He likes to get forward, but he’s always exploring and trying to make runs. I thought his activity and his running was good. I was worried about him running out of steam at about 60 to 70 [minutes], but he held through very well for us.”

(On Parke…) “I haven’t checked yet. It wasn’t a situation where it was a concussion or anything like that. He just was having trouble seeing the balls and he’s had migraines in the past and he felt like it was the onset of a migraine so they felt it was just going to get worse. It wasn’t going to get better and we decided to make the change then.”

(On Wahl’s goal scoring celebration…) “When you don’t score a lot, you don’t want to waste a lot of time thinking about that. He’ll come up with a better one next time. Has five or six years to plan that out. He should think of a good one.”

(On Mauro Rosales…) “I thought he did very well. We put him inside to play in the Montero role for us today. He interprets that role a little different than Fredy does. He’s very dynamic, he’s very determined, and he’s always exploring and trying to get behind even from that deeper position. I thought that added another dimension to our game today. He was probably our best player today.”

(On expectations of Rosales…) “You hope everybody on your team ends up being your best player when you sign them. Chris Henderson and Adrian (Hanauer) did a good job identifying him and we brought him into camp. An old coaching colleague of mine, Walter Bahr who used to coach at Penn State, said it doesn’t take you long to look at a horseshoe. It didn’t take us long in the training sessions to figure out that this guy was a good player. We were able to sign him and have him on our team. It took him awhile to get fitness, his timing, and to understand the league. Right now, you’re seeing a very fit player that understands this league. The thing that I like a lot about Mauro is that he plays with a passion. I think the fans can see that and that you guys can see that. He plays with a passion on his sleeve when he steps onto the field. He was another guy where I was concerned if he was going to get through 90 minutes, but he was there. We only made the change because we wanted to lock up the midfield.”

(On Rosales’s fitness…) “His fitness is there. Dave Tenney has done a good job and Mauro has done a good job. He does a good job of getting extra fitness in on his own. He’s very diligent that way.”

(On injuries…) “Fredy [Montero] felt his quad, felt he couldn’t really strike a ball with his right foot. He said that was the reason the other night that he pulled up on the one shot and delayed it and didn’t hit it. We felt it was better not to play him. With Brad [Evans], he’s had issues with his knee, but his knee is fine. It was a situation where he could have maybe played, but there was a risk of maybe making his hamstring injury worse if he did play. We have a window here that we could rest them a little bit and make sure that it’s completely behind us and get a full week of training.”

(On Roger Levesque…) “I thought Roger was good today. When you score two goals, you go into a game with a little more confidence when you step onto the field the next time. I thought his activity level was good. He made life difficult for their centerback. He laid on some good balls. He was dangerous at times as well. He got an assist, so Roger definitely played well. He deserved to start based on his last performance and based on what he did today, he probably deserves to get out there again.”

Tyson Wahl – Sounders FC Defender
(On the goal…) “It was sitting well for a left-footed shot. I’m not sure if [Matt] Reis was out of position but I thought it was possible to hit it that side. I just tried to keep it on frame and bend it, just like a corner kick like I have been hitting those and it went in.”

(On the goal celebration…) “I didn’t know what to do with my celebration. My celebration wasn’t quite like Roger’s but I was excited and I just kind of ran around. I didn’t really plan out goal celebrations but I’m excited to score my first goal and obviously excited that we got the win.”

(On scoring more goals…) “We’ll see. Maybe if I could score a couple goals a year would be nice. Playing games consistently will help out that stat, just being on the field helps.”

(On taking free kicks…) “I have put a lot of years in as a defender and as a center back and generally those players don’t hit free kicks. We have a lot of guys who can hit free kicks well so I was a little reluctant. It kind of started with the corner kicks, just working on them in practice and improving, and stepped up today.”

(On continuing to take free kicks…) “It’s tough to do that every time and it was my first that I’ve taken. It’s going to be a tough standard to keep and we have a lot of other guys who hit free kicks well, consistently too. I’ll have to keep working on it.”

(On winning both home games…) “I think it has helped out with our home-game confidence, making this a tougher place to play. We have had a couple wins in a row here so we are making it a more difficult place for other teams to come in and play. Obviously picking up six points in a couple days is crucial and now we are looking to the Open Cup game.”

Mauro Rosales – Sounders FC Midfielder
(On being more comfortable with teammates…) “I thought before that when I get a few games to know the players, to know how they cross the field and in which position. The last game I played I was on the right side. This game I played forward. I’m always feeling good in each position. I have to make my work. [... I try to do my best always."

(On playing with Roger Levesque...) "I think we have kind of the same quality to pass the ball, to try to run, to go hard. It was easier to hold the ball in that game where we needed because we were playing our two against five or six players of them. We did a good job."

(On the team...) "We are doing amazing work. We are working for that. All week we work very hard to have this kind of performance. The team knows that we have to win and get the three points."

Alvaro Fernandez - Sounders FC Midfielder
(On goal...) "It was a game between Mauro and Roger and I was waiting for the ball to come to me. The goalkeeper hit it but it still went in. It was a good goal."

(On coming back from down 1-0...) "It is hard to get a goal so this team has enough tools to fight back and keep calm to get the goals that we needed and get the game."

(On being tied for team lead in goals...) "I'm very happy for that but I'm more happy that the team is winning. The important thing is that the team wins. If I can contribute to that, that is great but if some other teammate makes a goal, that is great as well. We are very happy about that."

Kasey Keller - Sounders FC Goalkeeper
(On team improving...) "We've said all along we have a good squad and if we get guys to keep chipping in the way that they have. Obviously Roger coming off the bench and scoring a couple goals and having another great game today. Tyson Wahl with a great free kick to win a game. Those things are huge. It shows the character of the team. It makes no sense to make panic buys but if you can find the right guys, it's good for your team."

(On team previously approaching panic mode...) "We haven't lost a lot of games. Maybe a couple of draws that we wish we could have gotten three points out of but we're in a very solid position at the moment. We're coming off three wins in a row so that's always going to look that way but at the same time, when you can go down 2-0 then get back to 2-2 and then win the game that shows a lot of character. If you go down by a goal early on a corner it shows a lot of character to come back and win 2-1. With changes being made, with positions being swapped because of the number of games and different injuries, I think the state of the union at the moment is very good. Like I said, if the right guy's available then the right guy's available."

(On being the steeliest Sounders team...) "We were a very young team a couple years ago. We have some guys who have matured into some situations and that makes a big, big difference. You know how to get in and out of those situations because you've been in them enough. When you've never been in it, you don't know what to do. Now, the way we're seeing games out now and the way we're managing the last five minutes of a game when you have the lead didn't happen the first couple years. There's now maybe a bit more intelligence that comes with experience."

(On getting the win...) "I think we deserved it. I think both teams had good chances. We had a few that we could have snuck in but at the same time you're home you'd like to have your luck a little bit. Very rarely have I been in a game where it's a perfect situation where teams don't have chances because what do they have to lose. They lose 3-1 or they lose 2-1 it doesn't matter. They're going to put you under some pressure and it's how the team reacts to that. I think the team did very well."

Steve Nicol - New England Revolution Head Coach
(On his team's losing streak...) "We can't get a break. We had a couple of chances where we could have gotten a point but didn't. I feel disappointed we put ourselves in good position in this match. The referee made a decision that changed the game. All the credit to the guy who made the kick and scored the goal, but the decision was totally wrong and changed the game."

(On both of Seattle's goals...) "I just said he [Wahl] kicked it well. What are you going to do? He hit it in the upper corner. We shoot ourselves in the foot. Alston has half a shoe on the other one off. We give up a goal. We are just disappointed.

Pat Phelan – New England Revolution Midfielder
(General thoughts on the match….) “We started off as well as we could have hoped for. We did well to get the goal, and weather the storm in the beginning. We really didn’t give them anything until the foul on the first goal. The second goal came off our mistake, you can really look at the whole game and they didn’t create a whole lot. We made it easy for them.”

(On getting a early boast with the goal…) “Absolutely, but with the crowd and the whole organization and team is they don’t get their spirits down. It is disappointing to not to hold onto the lead. We need to look into why we didn’t and correct it.”

(On having Benny Feilhaber back in the lineup…) “It was a nice to have him in back in the lineup. I thought it was difficult for him to find the ball. We really weren’t that into a rhythm, where he could attack. He sort of was in and out of the game.”

(On Kevin Alston’s shoe problem leading to Seattle’s second goal…) “It is unfortunate; the ref said it was an equipment issue not an injury issue. It is the second time it has happened this season so he probably needs to look at that. Still, it is not why we conceded the goal.”

(On the team’s message at halftime…) “We needed to chase the game and put pressure on them. We didn’t really find a rhythm, we had some chances but overall we are disappointed.”

A.J. Soares – New England Revolution Defender
(On his overall impression of the match…) “Losing is not fun. We started the game really well and kind of got on a high. To give it away, in the first half pretty quickly is pretty tough.”

(On getting the early goal to manage the crowd…) “Of course the crowd went quiet ; we were doing just fine. Once they get the first goal the crowd got back into things. I thought we did a good job of handling everything and we played pretty good.”

The loss ended the Sounders 9-game unbeaten streak that dated back to July.

Steve Zakuani returned to the starting lineup and put the Rave Green up in the 59th thanks to assists by James Riley and Alvaro Fernandez.

The Sounders return to Qwest for a mid-week match with Real Salt Lake on Thursday the 9th.

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Scoring Summary:
SEA – Zakuani (Riley, Fernandez) 59
NE – Tierney (Joseph, Alston) 70
NE – Perovic 73
NE – Dube (Stolica, Perovic) 81

New England Revolution – Matt Reis, Kevin Alston, Emmanuel Osei, Darrius Barnes, Seth Sinovic, Kheli Dube, Pat Phelan, Shalrie Joseph, Chris Tierney, Ilija Stolica (Zack Schilawski 82), Marko Perovic.

Substitutes Not Used: Bobby Shuttleworth, Tim Murray, Khano Smith, Nico Colaluca, Edgaras Jankauskas, Roberto Linck.
TOTAL SHOTS: 16; SHOTS ON GOAL: 9; FOULS: 9; OFFSIDE: 4; CORNER KICKS: 6; SAVES: 2.

Seattle Sounders FC – Kasey Keller, James Riley, Patrick Ianni, Jeff Parke, Leo Gonzalez, Alvaro Fernandez (Nate Jaqua 73), Osvaldo Alonso, Mike Seamon (Mike Fucito 82), Steve Zakuani, Fredy Montero, Roger Levesque.

Substitutes Not Used: Terry Boss, Zach Scott, Tyrone Marshall, Tyson Wahl, David Estrada.
TOTAL SHOTS: 12; SHOTS ON GOAL: 3; FOULS: 12; OFFSIDE: 1; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 6.

Misconduct Summary:
SEA – Fredy Montero (caution; Reckless Tackle) 66
NE – Marko Perovic (caution; Reckless Tackle) 85

Referee: Silviu Petrescu
Referee’s Assistants: -Corey E. Rockwell; Gregory Barkey
4th Official: Landis Wiley
Attendance: 13,124
Time of Game: 1:50
Weather: Clear and 73 degrees

i haven’t had the time for my last haircut to grow out, but here we go again… great clips here i come as the sounders put on a first half clinic and we took down NE 3-0. not to take the luster off a great game and great result, but i am a little afraid that it was a bit more of a case of NE being really crap vs us being really good. still, you have to take advantage of those games and we did.

i am the first to admit that i have been tired of freddies moaning of late, but i also have never undervalued what he can give to this club. while none of the 3 goals scored tonight had an FL10 assist to its name, i would say he was the man of the match. he had 6 crosses tonight that could/should have resulted in a goal. no, they didn’t, but i am not going to take away from his performance. it was top notch, and i loved it. if we were losing, there were some moments that would have likely turned into a huge moan, but you could see him physically trying to avoid it, and all credit to him on that. let’s just keep winning, and freddie will keep quiet. sound like a plan? i should be a head coach, really.

oh, and if there is a person out there that thinks that evans is best used as a striker, and not a center mid, well then i say to you, with confidence, you don’t know what you are talking about. evans had a great game at CM and it is what we need from him. the experiment at striker should end and let’s all agree that evans = midfielder, not striker. he showed that again around the 80th minute again if you weren’t sure.

tactics… we (i) don’t usually talk about them b/c well, i am usually too busy yelling, drinking and just having fun to try and break down the game or notice if a 4-3-1-2 would better than a 3-4-1-1-1. but yesterday, there seemed to be a pretty clear game plan from the beginning. PLAY DOWN THE LEFT WING.  the whole game seemed to be played over there.  all three goals came from the left and freddie was often left all alone, calling for the ball, on the right. freddie, whatever your opinion of him is of late, still commands a boatload of respect, and him sitting over on the right means they have to honor him with a few defenders staying home even though most of the action is on the other side of the pitch. i am not one to notice tactics as well as others, but this, for me, was a fantastic call by sigi and was fun to watch.

ok, what else.

- jeff parke. well done son. we have given you some crap, but we have short memories and and are  quick to forget. you were all over this pitch tonight and won every header and your effort was not missed on this fan.

- leo….. was this your best game. as a sounder. yes you got the goal, but you then played like you had a rush of blood to the head the whole rest of the game, and i loved it. that goal was sick. you will never score one like that again. but i love that you will try to.

- zak… fantastic goal you took it so well.

- and the final, 3rd goal, was montero. it wasn’t the prettiest of goals, and if the keeper had just decided to lie on the ground in a costanza pose, he would have saved it, but they all count. i also saw montero run much more than normal and i applaud him for that.

- finally, while i already spoke to it, i have to go back to FL10.  i know he doesn’t play with the talent of bergkamp, henry and pires  anymore, but, if he was, he would have had 5 assists last night. maybe that is a bit of a silly way to assess how good he was, but silly stats are the best aren’t they?

it seems like he also went to great clips last week and was sporting a bald mohawk. my sister put it best… “he has a landing strip on his head”. never seen anything like it to be honest. it looked died in the back but it was only due to that being where most of the hair still grows.

oh, and did anyone else catch his water bottle toss? it was hilarious. ianni was on the ground being tended to, freddie took a gatorade bottle for some water and walked out onto the pitch. after he was done he turned around and threw it pretty hard back to the bench… his face all of a sudden went “oh sh*t” just as the bottle hit sigi in what i thought was his upper chest. but then a minute later, sigi was being tended to by the trainers, and he had a bandage on his left forearm. not sure it if was related, but it was enjoyable.

so that is it. 3 points cures a lot eh? we win on thursday, which is almost a must, we go into the WC break on a decent little run. with RSL, SJ and Houston all dropping points yesterday, we are only a few good wins out of being in the thick of the pack again. i would rather start slow and finish strong so let’s hope that is how this season is going to play out eh?

ok, off to get some more coffee and advil.

The Sounders celebrate Leo Gonzalez's goal (Getty Images)

Seattle scored 3 first half goals on Saturday Night to defeat New England. It was the Sounders first win at Qwest Field since April 17th.

Sounders FC (4-5-3, 15 pts) got on the scoreboard in the 5th minute when Leo Gonzalez scored his first MLS goal on a beautiful left-footed volley after collecting a pass from Steve Zakuani. The shot deftly bent around Revolution goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth to the back post and started the momentum for the Rave Green.

19 minutes later, Fredy Montero‘s fast throw-in to Brad Evans set up a cross to Zakuani, who launched a blast from the 15 yards out that snuck under the cross bar to put Sounders FC up 2-0. It was a play that Sounders announcer, Arlo White,  described as “Champagne Football”.

Pat Noonan almost scored his first MLS goal for the Sounders when he hit the woodwork in the 31st minute after evading two New England defenders.

Montero added his name to the scorer’s sheet in the 42nd minute when he shot the ball past Shuttleworth.

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In front of  36,344 fans (an MLS record at Qwest), the Sounders out shot New England 19-2 and recorded 10 corner kicks to the Revs’ 4 en route to Kasey Keller recording his fourth shutout on the 2010 campaign.

Seattle will host DC United on Thursday evening at Qwest Field. Kickoff is set for 7p and will be broadcast on ESPN2. [Tickets]

Following that match, Sigi Schmid’s squad will be on a 2-week World Cup Break.

Scoring Summary:
SEA — Leo Gonzalez 1 (Steve Zakuani 2) 5
SEA — Steve Zakuani 4 (Brad Evans 3, Fredy Montero 4) 24
SEA — Fredy Montero 4 (Pat Noonan 1, Leo Gonzalez 1) 42

Seattle Sounders Lineup — Kasey Keller, James Riley, Jeff Parke, Tyrone Marshall, Leo Gonzalez (Taylor Graham 90), Freddie Ljungberg (Sanna Nyassi 88), Patrick Ianni, Brad Evans, Fredy Montero, Pat Noonan (Roger Levesque 81), Steve Zakuani.
Substitutes Not Used: Nathan Sturgis, Zach Scott, Mike Seamon, Terry Boss.

TOTAL SHOTS: 19 (Steve Zakuani 4)
SHOTS ON GOAL: 8 (Brad Evans 3)
FOULS: 13 (Freddie Ljungberg 3, Fredy Montero 3)
OFFSIDES: 5 (Fredy Montero 2, Pat Noonan 2)
CORNER KICKS: 10 (Freddie Ljungberg 9)
SAVES: 1 (Kasey Keller 1)

Misconduct Summary:
NE — Cory Gibbs (caution; Reckless Tackle) 3
SEA — Leo Gonzalez (caution; Reckless Tackle) 36
NE — Joseph Niouky (caution; Reckless Foul) 64

Referee: Jorge Gonzalez
Referee’s Assistants: -Philippe Briere; Jeff Hosking
4th Official: Ramon Hernandez
Attendance: 36,344
Time of Game: 1:49
Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-67-degrees

Hopefully we will get a chance to see Nyassi v Nyassi in this game, as the twins have yet to face off in MLS play.  We are at 266 minutes played since our last goal at home (in MLS play).  All 3 wins by the Sounders have been against East teams, and the Rev’s are sitting middle of the table.  We have great control box to box, but that whole finishing thing may cause a few line up changes after the lack of play we saw last week in Colorado.

If you want to spend some time chewing the FIFA rules, as viewed by USSF, check out the hand ball write up in this week in review.  Also remember the ‘Roos are playing the USMNT in the final World Cup friendly, and ECS is celebrating their custom micro brew, Brougham Bitter.  Mariners are playing the early game, so expect traffic.

Now only if we could get to 75 degrees…

Local TV: KONG 6/16

Local Radio: 97.3 KIRO FM

Fredy Montero scored his 12th goal of the season, but the Sounders couldn't get 3 points

Despite getting an early goal from Fredy Montero, the Sounders head home from New England with zero points.

Montero launched a 35 yard shot in the 6th minute that silenced the Gillette Stadium crowd as the Sounders (9-7-11, 38) for the first half. Seattle, however, gave up 2 second half goals to the Revolution- both by Shalrie Joseph- one a penalty kick in the 51st, the second- a header in the 87th.

Scoring Summary:
SEA – Fredy Montero (unassisted) 6
NE – Shalrie Joseph (penalty kick) 51
NE – Shalrie Joseph (Jeff Larentowicz, Wells Thompson) 87

New England Revolution (4-4-2): Matt Reis (GK), Jay Heaps, Emmanuel Osei, Darrius Barnes, Kevin Alston, Wells Thompson, Shalrie Joseph, Jeff Larentowicz, Sainey Nyassi (Kenny Mansally 66), Steve Ralston © (Kheli Dube 21), Edgaras Jankauskas (Pat Phelan 69)
Substitutes Not Used: Brad Knighton (GK), Nico Colaluca, Amaechi Igwe, Chris Tierney

STATS: Shots 13; Shots on Goal 5; Saves 2; Corner Kicks 5; Offsides 1; Fouls Committed 13

Seattle Sounders FC (4-4-2): Kasey Keller (GK) ©, Leo Gonzalez (Stephen King 90), Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyrone Marshall, James Riley, Steve Zakuani (Roger Levesque 69), Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Freddie Ljungberg, Fredy Montero, Nate Jaqua
Substitutes Not Used: Terry Boss (GK), Patrick Ianni, Peter Vagenas, Tyson Wahl

STATS: Shots 5; Shots on Goal 3; Saves 2; Corner Kicks 4; Offsides 2; Fouls Committed 10

Misconduct Summary:
SEA – Nate Jaqua (caution) 92+

Referee: Steven Depiero
Referee’s Assistants: Joe Fletcher (SAR), Thomas Supple (JAR)
Fourth Official: Lee Suckle
Time of Game: 1:51
Weather: Partly Cloudy and 54 degrees
Attendance: 15,961

The Sounders (9-6-11, 38pts) are in the midst of a Playoff Race and find themselves in a tie with with the Rapids of Colorado for 3rd place in the West (5th Place overall) as they play at Gillette Stadium on Saturday.

New England, as well, find themselves with 2 games in hand and 34 points in the East- which would be the 8th, and final, Playoff spot.

This is the second time the Sounders and the Revs will meet this season. New England walked away from Qwest on August 20th with a 1-0 win over Seattle thanks to a 21st minute goal by Shalrie Joseph.

In a battle for a very important 3 Points, New England is 6-3-3 at home this season. Seattle is 3-4-5 on the road.

Head Coach Sigi Schmid will have his full compliment of players at his disposal for the match in Foxboro. The Revs are in the same position.

Team Stat Leaders

Kick off is slated for 430p.