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All images © thanks to Chris Coulter and SoundersPhotos.com

Osvaldo Alonso's goal put the Sounders up 2-0 (Chris Coulter photo)

In an exciting match in front of 46,065 fans at the newly named CenturyLink Stadium Sounders FC walked away with a 4-2 win over the New York Red Bulls.

With a scorching start, Seattle scored its fastest pair of goals in club history with an 11th minute curving strike from Erik Friberg and a 12th minute volley off the turf by Osvaldo Alonso, to go up 2-0.

~View Match Photo Gallery~

After a goal by Jamaican international Dane Richards cut the lead in half the Sounders took a 2-1 lead into the locker room at halftime. In the 58th minute New York equalized the match on an own goal by Zach Scott when he deflected Jan Gunnar Solli’s cross past Kasey Keller.

Following the goal Roger Levesque entered the match for a tiring Mike Fucito who was giving the Red Bull defense fits all night.

Levesque put the Sounders up in the 67th when he ran to the near post on a corner kick by Leo Gonzalez to head the ball to the back post. Levesque earned his first MLS brace eleven minutes later when he pick-pocketed a clueless Greg Sutton in net for New York and slid the ball home for Seattle’s 4th goal of the match.

Scoring Summary:

SEA — Erik Friberg 1 (unassisted) 11
SEA — Osvaldo Alonso 2 (unassisted) 12
NY — Dane Richards 3 (Joel Lindpere 3) 31
NY — own goal (Zach Scott) 58
SEA — Roger Levesque 1 (Leo Gonzalez 1) 67
SEA — Roger Levesque 2 (unassisted) 78

New York Red Bulls– Greg Sutton, Jan Gunnar Solli, Carlos Mendes, Stephen Keel, Roy Miller, Mehdi Ballouchy, Teemu Tainio (Corey Hertzog 89), Joel Lindpere, Austin Da Luz (John Rooney 79), Dane Richards, Dwayne De Rosario.

Substitutes Not Used: Sacir Hot, Mike Jones, Matt Kassel, Tyler Lassiter, Bouna Coundoul.

TOTAL SHOTS: 13 (Dwayne De Rosario 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (3 tied with 1); FOULS: 11 (3 tied with 2); OFFSIDES: 4 (4 tied with 1); CORNER KICKS: 5 (Joel Lindpere 3); SAVES: 1 (Greg Sutton 1)

Seattle Sounders — Kasey Keller, James Riley, Jeff Parke, Zach Scott, Leo Gonzalez, Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Erik Friberg, Alvaro Fernandez (Servando Carrasco 72), Fredy Montero (Nate Jaqua 81), Mike Fucito (Roger Levesque 58).

Substitutes Not Used: Patrick Ianni, Lamar Neagle, Tyson Wahl, Terry Boss.

TOTAL SHOTS: 10 (3 tied with 2); SHOTS ON GOAL: 5 (Osvaldo Alonso 2, Roger Levesque 2); FOULS: 8 (James Riley 2); OFFSIDES: 6 (Fredy Montero 2); CORNER KICKS: 4 (Mauro Rosales 3); SAVES: 2 (Kasey Keller 2)

Misconduct Summary:
NY — Teemu Tainio (caution; Reckless Foul) 28
NY — Austin Da Luz (caution; Reckless Tackle) 50
SEA — James Riley (caution; Reckless Foul) 52
SEA — Osvaldo Alonso (caution; Reckless Tackle) 60
SEA — Leo Gonzalez (caution; Delaying a Restart) 90
NY — Dwayne De Rosario (caution; Reckless Tackle) 93+

Referee: Michael Kennedy
Referee’s Assistants:-Bill Dittmar; Paul Scott
4th Official: Mark Declouet
Attendance: 46,065
Time of Game: 1:51
Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-63-degrees

All Statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial

POSTGAME QUOTES: Seattle Sounders FC vs. New York Red Bulls – June 23, 2011
Sigi Schmid – Sounders FC Head Coach
(On the team’s outing tonight…) “Obviously I think it was an exciting night for sure. All the fans here should have been excited by this game. We got three goals on corner kicks, indirectly. A couple of shots but they came on the heels of the corner kicks. One of the things that we felt was that they had given up a lot of goals on set pieces and corners and we wanted to take advantage of that a little bit, which we did. Play was spotty at times but I thought we stepped up. We did what we had to do to win, capitalized on a mistake by their goalkeeper. Being able to get three points at home is a great feeling and very important. And getting four goals as well. Erik Friberg’s first goal for the team, [Alonso] getting his second and Roger [Levesque] coming through with his first two as well.”

(On Levesque’s game off the bench…) “Obviously he’s a player who’s very good in the air and he’s good on corner kicks. When he came in we told him that he was the guy to take that near-post run. The more interesting thing is that Leo [Gonzalez] – last year I tried to talk Leo into taking corners and free kicks and he didn’t want to do it. So after he saw Tyson Wahl have some success, now he wanted to get in on the action. I didn’t have him on the board to hit the corner kicks before the game. And he said, ‘Coach, I think I can hit the corners from that side.’ And I said, ‘Okay, if you feel up to it.’ I told the team, ‘Hey, he can go over and hit it.’ So he sprinted across the field, took the ball away from Mauro [Rosales], hit a great corner and Roger makes a great run to the near post. So he did very well.”

(On Leo Gonzalez and Zach Scott in the backfield…) “I thought they did all right. New York is a difficult team to play because they play sort of a 4-5-1 and there’s a lot of place-changing and players are all over the place. I think we didn’t do a good job of bottling up number two, [Teemu] Tainio, in the first half. He’s a guy who’s a very effective player, really makes them go and sprays a lot of balls about and so forth. I thought Zach was solid and I thought Leo was solid as well. I thought defensively he was much better in the second half because he didn’t go forward quite as much. I think we locked down that side a little bit more. I think in the second half, we probably locked that down a bit better.”

(On the importance of quickly answering New York’s two goals…) “It’s obviously very important or we wouldn’t have won the game. It’s very important for our team. One of the things you want as your team develops psychologically as it moves forward is to find different ways to win games. We’ve been able to come back in some games and tie games last. We were able to win with 10-men last week. We had a lead and I think we relaxed a little bit once we had the two-goal lead. Both of their goals ended up deflecting off of our players a little bit; off Zach Scott, actually – both of them. By the same token, once it was tied now it’s a question of your character. Are you going to fold like a house of cards or are you going to stand up and get after it again? And I think we stood up and got after it.”

(On the fluidity of the offense…) “I haven’t seen the stats. I would assume that they had more possession than we did. I thought there were times that the combinations were very, very good. If anything we talked about it at halftime, which is usually the opposite. Usually we’re telling Fredy Montero to stay a little higher. We were actually telling him at halftime to drop off a little bit more and to get the ball in that hole because he stayed up too high. When he dropped in that hole, I thought that helped us connect. When him and Mauro picked the ball up in the hole, we became a much more fluid team.”

(On the crowd…) “It was a little louder. Certainly looking up and seeing the top deck uncovered was a good feeling. I don’t know. Ownership tries to put pressure on me and winning games, so I’m going to put pressure on them and say that maybe one day we can fill the whole stadium and sell it out for every game. Sort of Seahawk-like.”

(On the importance of Osvaldo Alonso picking up a yellow card…) “Well I had Leo. And then Leo picked up a yellow as well and Leo misses the next match. It is what it is. We’re going to have to deal with it and we got to move forward. Leo got his for cumulative fouls and Alonso was probably a little late on the challenge. There were certainly other challenges that were similar. It is what it is. We have a bench. Different people have to step up. We think [Brad] Evans should be ready to go Sunday, which should help us. [Servando] Carrasco got a few minutes today and he’s had a little bit of a bruise, so he’s ready to go again. I think we’ll find enough people.”

(On whether we’ll see a different lineup Sunday against the Revolution…) “I couldn’t tell you. I mean, obviously there will be some changes from today because we’ve got two guys out with yellow cards. Our plan all along was that [Brad] Evans wasn’t going to play on Thursday and was going to come back and play on Sunday. So then we gotta look at how we feel. Fredy Montero came out because he felt his quad getting a little tight. So I want to make sure that it didn’t get worse. So it’s a matter of how some guys regenerate. I think that all season long, we’ve been able to put different people out there and come up with performances.”

(On trying to put together a winning streak…) “This season for us, for some reason, we haven’t been able to put together a streak, in terms of a streak where there’s more wins than ties. I think when you eliminate the first two games of the season, I think we’re something like 7-2-7 right now. 7-2-7, if had eliminated that, would be a pretty damn good record in this league right now. So from that standpoint, I think we’ve found ways. Teams are always up for us. Teams are up when they play us here on our field because they get excited to play. I think teams respect what we can do and our ability. I think teams play better games against us sometimes. Maybe that’s made it hard for us to put together a streak. By the same token, we’re the ones responsible for that. We’re growing and we’re maturing as a group and so that’s coming.

Roger Levesque – Sounders FC Midfielder/Forward
(On how many free drinks he has coming to him tonight…) “Well, we’ve got a game Sunday, so just Gatorade and water tonight…maybe a protein shake.”

(On his two goals tonight…) “I think it was just being in the right place at the right time, just working at getting to great spots. A great ball got whipped in by Leo (Gonzalez) at the near post and we always talk about getting a guy to that near post, even if you don’t get it you’re pulling defenders or distracting the goalkeeper. I was lucky to get a touch on it. The second one I was just running and putting the goalie under pressure. He took a touch, a little extra touch, and the ball got caught up in his feet. Then I got a good bounce in behind him and hopefully I don’t miss that one.”

(On playing against Red Bulls goalkeeper Greg Sutton several times in the past and if he knew that he takes a little longer with the ball at his feet…) “No, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I have played against him, a long and storied past against that guy, had some good wins against him, so I don’t think he’s a huge fan of Seattle right now.”

(On Keller’s comment on hustle and players who pressure the goalkeeper 100-200 times before getting that result…) “Absolutely, I think that’s my mentality from day one. Maybe I’m not the most technical guy, but I always work on getting good positions and fortunately tonight was one of those nights where I got in two good spots and the ball went in. If you always find yourself in front of the goal you give yourself a chance.”

(On what his two goals do for his confidence and the confidence of the team…) “We’re going to approach Sunday exactly the same. Sigi (Schmid) always says, ‘Make home a fortress. You got to get points at home.’ It’s difficult to win and pick up points on the road, so any points we get now at this point in the season is a feather in our cap down the road. The more we can pick up is great. We’re going to go into Sunday with the same mentality. Whatever players are on the field are going to work and hopefully get the job done.”

(On his scuba dive celebration…) “That’s something Mike Fucito and I have been working on for awhile now. I didn’t really expect it to knock the wind out of me.”

(On what goes through his head as he is passing the goalie and sees nothing but him and the net…) “Just get rid of it. You hear footsteps. If it’s not the goalie, it’s somebody else trying to recover and come right through you. I think it was my 30-year-old legs and quick first-step explosion…No, I was just lucky to get a bounce and get the ball out in front of the goal.”

(On if that is the biggest crowd he’s ever played in front of…) “Yeah, I think so. Definitely for a home game. The atmosphere was awesome, it was electric. Scoring four goals as a group, getting a win, hopefully we give those people a reason to come back.”

Kasey Keller – Sounders FC Goalkeeper
(On Roger Levesque’s play tonight…) “I’m so proud of him. Nobody works harder. He’s a great team player, a great guy in the community, and you love to see good people have success, and he made a difference for us today, which was tremendous.”

(On if he has ever had the ball taken away from him for a goal, like what happened to Red Bulls goalkeeper Greg Sutton tonight…) “Oh, I’ve had everything happen to me. I had a qualifying game against Mexico in ’97, where in the first 30 minutes I get a ball, take a touch wide, slow down a little bit, hit it, and a player jumped and the ball hit him in the head and it rolled into the goal. Sometimes when it’s your day, it’s your day. If you do it long enough, something is going to happen. It’s how you recover. Just great timing for us. It’s so much nicer sitting that last 10 minutes out with that second goal. So, oh well, it happens and hopefully you learn. It bothers me sometimes when I see teams rely so much on that situation, just shoving it back there. It can be taken care of better. If you need your goalkeeper to keep possession and create for you, then you’ve got some problems.”

(On the importance of bouncing back after giving up a two goal lead…) “Yeah, but like I said, it was a weird two-goal lead – we score our second goal off a deflection and they score both goals off of deflections. Like I said, you shoot and crazy things happen. The third goal, the one that Roger (Levesque) scored, that’s just a great play. You come in and you beat the guy to the ball, a great flick header. Like I said, if you work hard you get your rewards. If you press a guy, you’ve got to press a guy maybe 250 times to get your reward. I knew those strikers in Europe that they were the first one in front of me whenever I caught a ball, just waiting for that one time that I just dropped it. Maybe you have to do that 100 or 200 times to get that one chance, but you’re not going to get it if you don’t put the effort in.”

(On if he got a piece of the Red Bulls’ first goal…) “Yeah, I got a piece. Unfortunately the deflection just took enough pace off of it where I couldn’t keep it out. I was joking that I shouldn’t have cut my fingernails before the game. Maybe I would have had just enough to claw it out. But it’s a credit to everybody. You could have crumbled, you could have folded, but you push it up and we got the two goals and had a lot of fun, especially after opening up the top (of the stadium) and having an extra 10,000 fans here going away happy.”

(On how much having a bigger crowd affected the game…) “Not much. I think it’d be different if it was 70,000 fans, but with 46,000 it was nice. You’re not focusing up above, you can only kind of see what’s around the lower bowl anyway when you’re on the field. But it was great to have them there and let’s hope in the not too distant future we can pump this attendance up to about 40- or 50- thousand, and keep going.”

Leo Gonzalez – Sounders FC Defender
(On the corner kick he delivered to Levesque…) “We’ve been talking about those things during practice, and during games we have to make decisions. Before the game the decision was (Erik) Friberg was going to be taking the corner kicks, but I volunteered to Sigi and asked him about me taking some, so I went for it.”

(On how big it was to bounce back after giving up a two goal lead…) “We were playing very solid. Even though we had the advantage of two goals and they tied us, we were playing very solid and we knew that we had a better way to take the game. We knew that eventually we were going to be able to take the lead again based on the way that we were playing.”

Hans Backe – New York Head Coach
(General comments…) “It was an even game, I think. We had plus when you talk about possession overall. Conceding three goals on corners hurt us. It’s ridiculous. You can’t win games that way. The way we defend against corners absolutely has to stop now.”

(On coming back from 2-0 deficit…) “It’s good that we bounced back from 2-0 to 2-2 and it looks like almost a possibility to win the game and then of course the new goal on a corner. Mistakes killed the game for us.”

(On beginning of game…) “It was pretty lucky. Two corners out to the rebound area and you can say the second one deflected. The first one bounced around and wasn’t the hardest strike. You feel that it was too much. We have conceded 21 goals and 13 of them have been from set plays. That has to be stopped.”

Dane Richards – New York Forward
(On goal…) “They were closing on me, so I looked up and tried to shoot it far post and beat him. We tried to get back in the game from there.”

(On defending set pieces…) “To give up three corner kicks, that’s unbelievable. To score two goals in Seattle, that should have been a win or at least get a point. It’s disappointing.”

(On momentum from tying…) “Once we got to 2-2 we had momentum and we tried to go for the win or at least get a point but we gave up a set play again. We have to put this behind us as soon as possible before the game in Chicago.”

Austin da Luz – New York Midfielder
(On game…) “I’m disappointed with the result. We showed a little fight to come back from 2-0 down to tie it up but set pieces are killing us. They’ve killed us for the past few games now so it’s definitely something we need to look at, something that we need to change as soon as possible.”

(On game atmosphere…) “It was fantastic. You can’t say enough about the city of Seattle and what these fans make the game for us. It’s unbelievable. 46,000 is excellent for the league and makes the game for the players.”

Seattle (7-4-7, 28 points) moves into second place in the Western Conference with FC Dallas and extended its unbeaten streak to five matches.

The Rave Green next take on New England on Sunday at The CLink. Kickoff is slated for 1p.

Fredy Montero has 4 career goals against NYRB (Chris Coulter photo)

The Sounders will be hosting a New York side on Thursday Night at Qwest CenturyLink Stadium in front of a national crowd for ESPN2.

The Red Bulls will be short-sided with many of their stars absent; Thierry Henry will be serving a 1-game suspension for earning a red card in last week’s match against Portland, and Rafa Marquez, Time Ream, and Juan Aguedelo are serving for their National Teams in the Gold Cup.

A 10-man Seattle is coming off a thrilling victory at Toronto thanks to a late-match heroic free-kick goal from Fredy Montero. The Rave Green are currently riding an unbeaten streak of four games and have 25 points from 17 games on the season. That is good enough to sit in third place in the Western Conference.

In five matches between the two clubs, each side has won two matches in addition to a 1-1 draw in 2009.

Kickoff is slated for 7p and will be broadcast on ESPN2- Glenn Davis and John Harkes will have the call. Expanded seating is available for this match and Sounders officials think the attendance could reach 50,000.

Diminutive-Statured Michael Kennedy, will be the lead referee.

Match Preview: vs Red Bulls from Seattle Sounders FC on Vimeo.

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All images thanks to Chris Coulter and SoundersPhotos.com

Alvaro Fernandez had some threatening chances against New York (Chris Coulter Photo)

Sounders FC headed to Harrison, NJ to take on the Red Bulls on Saturday but a loan goal by Juan Agudelo in 70th minute gave the home team a 1-0 victory.

New York had the opportunity to go up in the 7th minute. Jhon Kennedy Hurtado clipped Agudelo in the penalty box, but Kasey Keller was able to make a diving stop to his left to stop Thierry Henry. Head Coach Sigi Schmid noted, “It was tremendous. It was a great save; it kept us in the game at a very key point. Him saving that PK is what gave us the opportunity to tie or win this game.”

The goal by Agudelo an 18-year old US National Teamer beat Jeff Parke to the ball as he received a midfield pass Teemu Tainio. Agudelo then broke in and beat Leo Gonzalez for a clear shot past Keller.

Still being held scoreless in 2011, Seattle still had the best chances to score in the game despite New York’s control of the game. In injury time, Lamar Neagle found himself on the doorstep in front of the goal when Fredy Montero’s free kick rebounded of the New York goalkeeper to Neagle’s feet, but his shot went over the net.

Two Sounders made their MLS debut on Saturday. Servando Carrasco, a 2nd Round MLS Superdraft pick got the start and Argentinian Mauro Rosales entered the match in the 68th minute.

Seattle returns to Qwest Field on Friday as they take on the Houston Dynamo.

Scoring Summary:
NY – Juan Agudelo (Teemu Tainio) 70′

New York Red Bulls – Greg Sutton, Jan Gunnar Solli, Rafael Marquez, Tim Ream, Roy Miller, Dane Richards (Danleigh Borman 90′), Teemu Tainio, Mehdi Ballouchy (Tony Tchani 68′), Joel Lindpere, Juan Agudelo, Thierry Henry.

Substitutes Not Used: Bouna Coundoul, Carlos Mendes, Carl Robinson, Corey Hertzog, Luke Rodgers

Seattle Sounders FC – Kasey Keller, James Riley, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leo Gonzalez, Alvaro Fernandez (Mauro Rosales 68′), Servando Carrasco (Lamar Neagle 80′), Osvaldo Alonso, Erik Friberg, Fredy Montero, O’Brian White (Roger Levesque 73′).

Substitutes Not Used: Terry Boss, Patrick Ianni, Zach Scott, Tyson Wahl

Misconduct Summary:
SEA – Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (61′)

Referee: Jair Marrufo
Referee’s Assistants: C.J. Morgante; Corey Rockwell
4th Official: Alejandro Mariscal
Attendance: 20,982

Fredy Montero Looks for his 1st Goal of 2011 (Chris Coulter Photo)

The 2011 MLS Season will be six days old and Sounders FC will already have two matches under their belt.

Following on the heels of Tuesday’s First Kick loss to the LA Galaxy, Seattle will head across the continent to New York Jersey to take on the Red Bulls on Saturday evening from Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ.

The match will be New York’s first of 2011.

The Red Bulls look to improve on their 2010 season that saw them reach the Eastern Conference semifinals after leading the East during the regular season with 51 points. This season will be the first complete schedule the New York side will have both of their Designated Players Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez for its entirety.

In tune up for the 34-Game League Schedule, the Red Bulls ended their pre-season training with a 1-1 draw against CF Atlas from the Mexican Primera thanks to a Marquez goal in injury time.

Other new faces for New York include Norwegian International Midfielder Jan Gunnar Solli, Finnish midfielder/defender Teemu Tainio and English forward Luke Rodgers. The New York side loss Designated Player Juan Pablo Angel to Los Angeles.

Historically, Sounders FC is 2-1-1 against New York scoring 5 total goals and giving up two. Sounders Head Coach, Sigi Schmid, is 10-13-5 in 28 matches against New York.

Kickoff is slated for 430p PT on Saturday.

REFEREE: Jair Marrufo. SAR (bench): C.J. Morgante; JAR (opposite): Corey Rockwell;

Injury Report
New York: OUT: DF Chris Albright (knee surgery recovery); MF Brian Nielsen (knee surgery recovery); QUESTIONABLE: FW Luke Rodgers (L knee injury); DF Roy Miller (L hamstring strain); MF Jan Gunnar Solli (R hamstring strain)

Seattle: OUT: FW Mike Fucito (R adductor strain); FW Nate Jaqua (hip surgery recovery); FW Michael Seamon (R leg neuritis); QUESTIONABLE: MF Steve Zakuani (hip injury); PROBABLE: MF Brad Evans (R hamstring strain)

mmmmmmmmmmmmm beer. ok. right.

today, for me, this is a case of what have you done for me lately eh? the sky fell last week, we were last in the west, nkufo would be the hero, montero was lazy, alonso was out… it wasn’t exactly going… as the say… “good”.  sometimes we are quick to get pissed off, and sometimes we are quick to praise. last week may have been a little bit of the former, and this week is surely going to be a little bit of the latter. a win covers a lot of sins… and i care very little about that at this point in time. while all the problems have not vanished, that win sure as hell feels good. and you know what? we should let it. we should enjoy it. today, we are the best team around…. and i am loving it and so should you.

- “we should bench him every time”  was a text i got at the end of this match.

of course this was in reference to montero. actually, it sounds like montero wasn’t “benched” b/c of performance, but rather b/c of a stomach bug. too bad i say b/c he deserved to be benched due to performance. hopefully it still got the point… likely not, but i hope. when you put him on the pitch with only 15 minutes to run, he actually ran most of the time. be it boredom, ego, laziness whatever, montero has an issue with running for 90 minutes and maybe picking him off the bench from time to time, regardless of reason, is the way to go, especially after nkufo/kufo arrives.

- the effort was remarkable. the sounders ran their ass off. it was the effort of a team that got their asses chewed on monday morning and thank goodness. it wasn’t without flaws, to be sure, but i want to at least call this out. it obviously wasn’t all great, and we still gave the ball away too easily and far too often, especially marshall and ianni, but i don’t want to nit pick too much when i am in my happy place.

- evans…. bless him, he isn’t a striker. i have always conceded that sigi obviously knows much more than me about his players, and about the team tactics… but i have never scratched my head more than evans as a striker. i have heard from many that he is making chances and making great runs, but my brit friends have a great saying for something like that.  “it means shit fuck all if he doesn’t score”. and frankly, it doesn’t look like he will come even close. oh, and pardon my frenchiness.

- zakuani is maturing… he really is. he is starting to make the right decisions and show his maturity out there. if he keeps at it, he has a bright future.

- the ref. oh lord do i not want to talk about the ref… seriously. i am in the full “do not blame the ref camp” 99 times out of 100. but there were 2 decisions that stood out as a complete “you don’t know what you’re doing”. really. he didn’t know what he was doing.

FL10 complains a lot, but he had all the right to complain that he didn’t get that free kick just north of the 18 early in the second half. the defender got no ball, all man, and was a bit from behind. if i could pause the game, make a bet. i would have dropped $1000 that it would have been a foul, and even likely a yellow. maybe ther was an angle that i didn’t see to prove me wrong, but i haven’t seen it.

but even worse than that was the body check by Hall on Zakuani (i think). it was premeditated and cynical, and there was absolutely ZERO effort to play the ball. a dead on yellow… that that would have matched his yellow from the first half. he should have been sent off, and i would have lost $10,00o on that bet. not sure what the ref saw, or if he completely didn’t see it, which would at least make sense to me, but that was baffling.

- not sure what i think of ianni playing in the midfield… he seemed to revert back to defence only, but maybe he was providing more value than i saw.

- finally, how freaking sweat was it how we killed off the game? yes, we were all nervous as all get out, but the sounders did a full professional job with killing off that game, especially the 5 added minutes of extra time. good on you boys.

- as i already noted… everything isn’t back to hunky dory yet. we obviously need to continue with the W’s, but i am also not going to take away my joy over this win. this could be that win that helps to turn our season around and kickstart the team into the type of performance that we expect from them.  or maybe it won’t, but let’s just wait to see on that. for now, we are not in last place, and we can start to build on this momentum so things are good.

god i feel good right now

COME ON YOU SOUNDERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRS

Sounders celebrate Fredy Montero's goal. (by Andy Marlin/Getty Images )

Sounders Head Coach Sigi Schmid was trying to make a message by not starting Fredy Montero in Saturday’s match at New York. The Colombian came on as a sub in the 78th minute.

7 minutes later he scored the match’s lone goal giving Sounders FC (3-3-3, 12pts) their first road win of the 2010 campaign. Montero’s 3rd goal of the season started when Patrick Ianni (who was making the start for injured Ozzie Alonso) got fouled. Tyrone Marshall’s quick restart on the Red Bulls’ side of the half led Brad Evans’ who placed a magnificent cross to Montero in the 18. In a skillful play, #17 chested the ball down to his left thigh and then left-footed the ball past Bouna Condoul.

In holding the East Coast leaders scoreless, the Sounders defense anchored by Kasey Keller in goal posted its third clean sheet of the year.

The Sounders will host San Jose next Saturday at Qwest Field. [Tickets]

Scoring Summary:
SEA – Fredy Montero (Brad Evans) 85

Seattle Sounders FC: Kasey Keller, James Riley, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyrone Marshall, Leo Gonzalez, Brad Evans (Pat Noonan 89), Patrick Ianni, Peter Vagenas (Nathan Sturgis 65), Sanna Nyassi (Fredy Montero 78), Steve Zakuani, Freddie Ljungberg.

SHOTS: 15
SHOTS ON GOAL: 4
OFFSIDES: 4
CORNER KICKS: 6
FOULS: 8
SAVES: 1

Misconduct Summary:
NY – Jeremy Hall (caution; Reckless Tackle) 35
NY – Danleigh Borman (caution; Reckless Tackle) 39
NY – Seth Stammler (caution; Dissent) 71
SEA – Tyrone Marshall (caution; Dissent) 71
SEA – Steve Zakuani (caution; Reckless Foul) 93+

Referee: Silviu Petrescu
Referee’s Assistants: Philippe Briere; Daniel Belleau
4th Official: David Gantar
Attendance: 17,900
Time of Game: 1:51
Weather: Partly Cloudy and 72 degree

Seattle (2-3-3, 9pts) looks to erase a 4-game winless streak, as the Red Bulls (5-2-0) look to recover from their 0-4 loss at San Jose. Over the past three matches, the Sounders have been out-scored 7-1.

This will be the fourth matchup in the history of these two clubs. Colombian Fredy Montero has scored three goals in those 3 games and Seattle fans look hopefully that the skillful forward will find the back of the net; something he hasn’t done in the past 3 matches.

In 2010, fellow Colombian Juan Pablo Angel has 4 goals on the season fro New York.

The two clubs met at Qwest Field a month and a half ago when the leaders of the Eastern Conference walked away from the Emerald City with a 1-0 win thanks to a Mac Kandji goal in the 21st minute.

Nate Jaqua, Mike Fucito, and Osvaldo Alonso are out for the game due to injury.

Kickoff is slated for 430p PT. The game will be on local TV KONG 6/16 and on KIRO97.3 FM. Arlo White will be calling the match.

normally,  we have the run of play, and miss 6 fantastic chances, i get pissed. pr when we make bad pass after bad pass, i get pissed.

but then there is tonight.  yeah, we had some bad passes, but in general we were flatter than my first….. ok let’s not go there. we were flat.

nothing. nada. boring.

my buddy i go to most games with turned to me at the 76th minute and said… THE… MOST… BORING…GAME…EVER. i am trying to remember something that would help me debate him….. but i gots nothing.

their goal can be described in one word. bundle.  it was bundled over the line and they were lucky to get it for sure. but they created their own luck, so we can’t complain.

i am about to open a bottle of wine and watch crap tv to help me forget tonight, so a very few last thoughts, and then i will open it up to you lot.

- alonso, i love you, but maybe the worst passing game i have ever seen from you.

- monter0, did you touch the ball tonight? usually i bitch b/c you make a bad decision, tonight, you didn’t get the chance to make a bad decision.

- riley, not sure you were at fault for the goal itself, but you gave away the corner, if i remember correctly, (i probably don’t). regardless of that, you had an overall bad game and your rust showed.

- noonan, i thought he was lively and had potential, but obviously it was not enough to help us in the match.  so i guess i don’t have rave reviews……  but yes, i did have fun yelling ………NOOOOOONAN.   yes, i did it way too many times.

bleh,  what else can i say? the game was  bleh.

i find it hard to point out a bunch of different ways that we sucked when the ways we sucked were based mostly on our averageness. when we are so absolutely average,  it is a little painful to point out flaws on an individual

i was very bullish, no pun intended, on us winning this game as the redbulls were so absolutely shit last year.  even if they made MASSIVE strides in talent this year, they can’t have become that good overnight can they? we should ALWAYS expect to beat them at home.

but no. we found a way, and now it is time to go to bed or drink some wine. take your pick friends and be happy.