so i only watched 2/3rds of the game last night as i had to leave for a yummy dinner at palisades. over priced heck yeah, but yummy none the less. at the time of my departure, it was 1-1, so with the dvr doing it’s thing, i knew i what i would be doing when i got home.

now i am usually pretty careful to not  answer calls or look at texts/twitter etc when there is a recorded game to watch, but i answered a call from my dad, just as we are walking to the car. my dad doesn’t watch most of the games, and it was much later than he would normally call, so i answered in case he had something important to talk about. and just as i say hi and take a breath to tell him to not talk about the score he slides in “TOUGH DRAW”

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh

i check my phone expecting to see the 1-1 scoreline i already knew, but was a bit surprised at 2-2. as i clicked into the box score i thought, “i hope we came back to draw…. i hope we came back to draw.”        90th minutes RSL equalizer

Freddie Ljungberg at Rio Tinto (© GoSOUNDERS.com)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH

so forgive me if i didn’t rush home and watch the thirty minutes i missed. i did watch our goal in the 70th, and theirs in the 90th. our goal was not a thing of beauty, but they all count. it went down as an own goal and arlo thought i was marshall at first. no matter who really put it in, it was a dangerous ball in by freddie (i think) and confusion over whoever got the touch tells you it was a bit sloppy all in all. no matter at all and we will take it.

but then i had to watch the equalizer…. and that was painful. i have had a hard time telling who was defending saborio. i think it was marshall, but i can’t tell for sure. well, whoever it was, i don’t want to point to one player but you have to say that was not up to par. he wasn’t looking at the ball, so he had no idea that saborio was just about to jump and put head on ball. he has to do better than that.

now let me rewind and pass on notes from what the first part of  match that i did watch.

- noonan needs a haircut.

- marshall was very lucky to not get a yellow for his earlier challenge. the ref played advantage, and there was so much time between the foul and the next stoppage of play, i think the ref forgot about it. then marshall made a FANTASTIC tackle later in the game and got a yellow for that. not sure if that was a make up call, or if the ref just doesn’t know what he is doing….

- the ref….. at first, i was getting frustrated with him, he clearly forgot to bring his whistle. but i have been doing my best to try and not let the ref dictate my happiness with a game, and i would much rather a ref let a lot of tough tackles go than to blow the whistle for every little ticky tack bump. so i won’t complain (much)

- our defense, in the first half at least, coped relatively well with a very well organized RSL attack. they came out of midfield fast and were causing us problems. you could argue that our midfield wasn’t doing it’s job and let far too many of those attacks start by letting them get into those spaces far to easily, and you wouldn’t get too much argument from me. but either way you want to slice it, the over all result of putting up with that much pressure was encouraging.

- i thought freddie had one of his worst games i have seen out of him. usually it is his touch that separates him from many on the pitch, but it was very poor last night. and for all the times last year that i complained that montero didn’t make the pass to ljungberg that he should, well ljungberg made a VERY poor decision to not make that open pass to montero. it would have set him through 1×1 with the keeper and likely would have seen us take a 2-0 lead into half time.

- back to montero. his pass to zak that set him through for the first goal was fantastic. for the second time in three games, montero has made the correct, and quite tough pass to send zakuani free. the first being against Philly which resulted in the evans goal. i like that we are seeing this from him. it is a part of his game that we did not have at all last year and it really bodes well for his game, and ours, if he can find and make those difficult passes.

- leo going out was a shame. he has become such a strong part of our defense, we can’t afford to lose him. i haven’t heard what was wrong with him. anyone know? wahl came in, and reminded me why i like leo so much. wahl is a good defender, but he is nervous as hell on the ball. he plays with his head down and likes to hoof it to nobody. of course, his job first is to defend, so if he does that, fair enough, but you take out any type of attacking play from that position while he is in there, well it makes defending against us just that little bit easier.

- their crowd… that was their home opener right? they are the defending champions right? those were thousands of seats empty right?  that is sad.

- their first goal…. i was SCREAMING at zakuani. he was lazy and gave findley loads of time on the ball. zakuani was jogging towards him when he should have been busting his ass to put him under pressure. well he didn’t, and a perfect cross was put in for a  quite good diving header by johnson. the defending on him could have been better, but the real mistake was letting that cross come in uncontested.

a couple other things. leading scorer in MLS – le toux. that hurts a little eh? oh, and have you seen the eastern conference standings….? yes, it is only three games, but if you had said, even at this early point of the season that Kansas City, New England,  NYRB would be the top of that table while DC, Toronto and Chicago would be at the bottom, well you would have had a lot of people laugh at you.

ok, that is enough for now. i realize that some of what i may have said might have changed in the last 30 minutes (maybe freddie had an amazing second half, and i didn’t see it). so forgive me. yes, i could go watch, but i have this thing where i just can’t rewatch any part of  a game where we don’t win.

the scoreline says draw, but this was a loss no doubt.

In what probably feels like a loss for most Sounders fans, the defending MLS Cup Champions used an extra-time time header from Alvaro Saborio to gain a draw against Sounders FC.

Seattle (1-1-1, 4pts) got on the board first with an 11th Minute Goal from Steve Zakuani who was fed from Fredy Montero before sliding the ball past Real Salt Lake netminder, Nick Rimando.

Carrying the lead into the second half, Will Johnson equaled the score at 1 in the 53rd minute.

The Boys in Rave Green, took back the lead in the 72nd minute as Freddie Ljungberg place a free kick from 25 yards out in front of the Real Salt Lake goal for Tyrone Marshall to direct in (but was later recorded as an RSL Own Goal).

With a 2-1 lead in Stoppage Time, the road win was looking good until Saborio’s 95th minute goal.

Seattle hosts Kansas City next Saturday at Qwest Field. [Buy Tickets]

Scoring Summary:
SEA — Steve Zakuani 1 (James Riley 1) 11
RSL — Will Johnson 1 (Robbie Russell 1, Robbie Findley 2) 53+
SEA — own goal (Nat Borchers) 72+
RSL — Alvaro Saborio 1 (Nelson Gonzalez 1) 93+

Seattle Sounders FC — Kasey Keller, James Riley, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyrone Marshall, Leo Gonzalez (Tyson Wahl 45), Pat Noonan, Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Steve Zakuani (Roger Levesque 45), Freddie Ljungberg, Fredy Montero (Nathan Sturgis 45).

Substitutes Not Used: Patrick Ianni, Peter Vagenas, Michael Fucito, Terry Boss.

TOTAL SHOTS: 2 (Fredy Montero 1, Steve Zakuani 1)
SHOTS ON GOAL: 2 (Fredy Montero 1, Steve Zakuani 1)
FOULS: 10 (Tyrone Marshall 3)
OFFSIDES: 1 (Freddie Ljungberg 1)
CORNER KICKS: 2 (Freddie Ljungberg 2)
SAVES: 3 (Kasey Keller 3)

Misconduct Summary:
SEA — Tyrone Marshall (caution; Reckless Tackle) 56+
RSL — Chris Wingert (caution; Tactical Foul) 60+

Referee: Abiodun Okulaja
Referee’s Assistants: -Frank Anderson; Steven Taylor
4th Official: Tyler Ploeger
Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-60-degrees

Kickoff is set for 6p PT on Saturday 4/10

The Boys in Rave Green take to the road for the first time in the 2010 MLS Season as they head to Sandy, UT for Saturday’s match against the defending MLS Cup Champions, Real Salt Lake.

Sounders FC (1-1-0, 3pts) defeated Philadelphia 2-0 in the first match of the season thanks to goals from Brad Evans and Fredy Montero. Seattle then lost 0-1 to the NY Red Bulls last weekend.  RSL has the same winning pattern with a 3-0 opening win over San Jose, and a 1-2 loss at Houston.

Last week’s loss at Houston was frustrating for the club and Jamison Olave (a former Deportivo Cali teammate of Montero’s) who committed two fouls in the RSL penalty box in a 4-minute span. Those penalty kicks gave the Dynamo the win.

Three of Real Salt Lake’s goals have come from the right foot of Javier Morales. The 30-year old Argentinian also assisted on their fourth goal as the squad heads home for their first match at Rio Tinto Stadium in 2010.

To ensure success for the Sounders, Sigi Schmid noted, “When we have the ball, we need to keep the ball. We need to make them defend as much as possible so we need to keep the ball. When they have the ball, we just need to do a good job defensively.”

Salt Lake has never lost a home opener. They have a 2-0-3 record in their first matches in Utah as they enter their sixth season as a club.

The teams split their meetings in Seattle’s inaugural season, each winning at home. Seattle got goals from Nate Jaqua and Montero on March 28th at Qwest, but lost 0-1 on August 8th at Rio Tinto. They also met in a US Open Cup play-in match; a 4-1 Seattle win at Starfire.

Statistically…

Sigi Schmid is 4-3-1 in his career against Salt Lake.

The Game is scheduled to kick off at 6p PT. It will be broadcast locally on KONG 6/16 and News Talk 97.3 KIRO FM with Arlo White calling the play.

Want to watch the match with other Sounders Fans? Check out the Sounders Away Match Viewing Guide.

Referee Note
Abbey Okulaja will be the Man in th Middle refereeing the match. In 2009, he oversaw 7 MLS matches, including Seattle’s 0-1 loss at home to Kansas City where Kasey Keller was sent off. In those matches, he averaged whistling 21.7 fouls and 2.7 yellow cards. He issued 3 red cards.

RSL Notes
Real Salt Lake Founder, Dave Checketts and Co-Owner Dell Loy Hansen will present the team’s MLS Cup Championship rings during a pre-game ceremony to the 17 players and four coaches who won MLS Cup 2009 and remain with the team … In the team’s first appearance of the season in front of the home fans, Real Salt Lake will also hoist both a west-side banner and a flag, each commemorating the club’s domestic championship in just its fifth season.

The Sounders will host the Kansas City Wizards next Saturday (4/17) at Qwest. [Buy Tickets]

Kickoff is set for 6p PT on Saturday (4/10). It will be broadcast locally on KONG 6/16 and News Talk 97.3 KIRO FM with Arlo White calling the play….

Let us know if we’ve missed any…

Seattle: (ECS) The Atlantic Crossing

Seattle: (North End Supporters) Ballard Loft

Seattle: (Gorilla FC) Summit Public House

Seattle: (Prost & SounderAtHeart) Elysian Fields

Tacoma: (Gorilla FC & Furia Imortal) Meconi’s

Spokane: (ECS) Waddell’s

Lakewood/DuPont: (ECS) McNamara’s Pub and Eatery

Puyallup: (ECS) O’Henry Sports Bar

Bremerton: (ECS) Cloverleaf Sports Bar & Grill

Olympia: (ECS) O’Blarney’s Irish Pub

Bellingham: (ECS) McKay’s Taphouse

Everett: (ECS) The Irishman

Tacoma: (ECS) Doyle’s Public House

Southern California: (ECS) Barney’s Beanery

Phoenix: (Sonoran Sounder Alliance) The Turf

i have no love for RSL, but congrats to them, they deserved it with the performances the put in the last 4 games.

and poor landy cakes…. he won the MVP trophy, but couldn’t hit the frame. i almost feel sorry for the guy.

almost.

Sounders FC will once again host the MLS First Kick on Thursday March 25, 2010 as they host the newest MLS club, Philadelphia Union. Kickoff is scheduled for 630p.

Seattle will also participate in the Home Opener for Real Salt Lake, as the Rave Green head to Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday, April 10th.

Sanna Nyassi and Stephen King added goals for the Sounders in their 4-1 win.

LeToux notched his first goal (24′) on a Penalty Kick after fellow USL Sounder Roger Levesque was taken down in the area. Nyassi quickly scored 2 minutes later.

King’s goal in the 53rd finished off a pretty passing sequence that started with LeToux and Levesque. Seba scored his second and the club’s fourth goal on a cross from Levesque 2 minutes after that.

Head Coach Sigi Schmid noted, “the result was great for us tonight, and it was good to get some guys on the field who haven’t been playing a lot, and for them to make our job as difficult as possible as coaches. So, obviously, [Sebastien Le Toux] had a very good game, with his two goals, [Sanna] Nyassi, causing a lot of problems, but I also thought Ianni and King played very well in the middle of midfield, kept things together for us pretty much. It was nice to have Taylor Graham back out there. So, overall, I was really pleased with how we played.”

Sounders FC will play the Colorado Rapids next. The game, location, and date will be determined later. The winner of that game will earn one of MLS’s eight US Open Cup spots.

Scoring Summary
SEA — Sebastien Le Toux (penalty kick) 24
SEA — Sanna Nyassi (Sebastien Le Toux, Roger Levesque) 26
RSL — Will Johnson (unassisted) 32
SEA — Stephen King (Sebastien Le Toux, Roger Levesque) 53
SEA — Sebastien Le Toux (Roger Levesque) 55

Real Salt Lake — Chris Seitz, Tony Beltran, David Horst, Jamison Olave (Nat Borchers 46), Robbie Russell, Ned Grabavoy, Kyle Beckerman (Jean Alexandre 66), Andy Williams, Will Johnson (Raphael Cox 71), Robbie Findley, Luis Miguel Escalada (Yura Movsisyan 57).
Substitutes Not Used: Tino Nunez, Kyle Reynish, Chris Wingert.

Seattle Sounders — Chris Eylander, James Riley, Taylor Graham, Tyson Wahl, Zach Scott, Sanna Nyassi (Evan Brown 72), Stephen King, Patrick Ianni, Steve Zakuani (Jarrod Smith 65), Roger Levesque, Sebastien Le Toux.
Substitutes Not Used: Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Nate Jaqua, Kasey Keller, Fredy Montero.

TOTAL SHOTS: 16 (Sebastien Le Toux 5)
SHOTS ON GOAL: 8 (3 tied with 2)
FOULS: 12 (Patrick Ianni 3, James Riley 3)
OFFSIDES: 2 (Sebastien Le Toux 1, Roger Levesque 1)
CORNER KICKS: 4 (Sebastien Le Toux 4)
SAVES: 2 (Chris Eylander 2)

Misconduct Summary:
SEA — Patrick Ianni (caution; Reckless Tackle) 19
RSL — Jamison Olave (caution; Handball) 41
SEA — Sanna Nyassi (caution; Unsporting Behavior) 71

Make sure to refresh or hit F5.

Starfire Sports- Tukwila,WA

Starting Lineup (appears to be…)
Seattle: Levesque, Scott, Graham (captain), Riley, Ianni, LeToux, Nyassi, Zakuani, Wahl, King, Eylander

RSL: 5, 1, 23, 3, 8, 77, 20, 33, 10, 20, 2

14′ LeToux misses from the six on a Nyassi cross.

19′ Ianni booked

24′ PK… LeToux scores 1-0 Seattle

27′ Nyassi scores of LeToux pass…. 2-0 Seattle

32′ Will Johnson scores for RSL… 2-1

42′ Olave gets booked

Halftime… Seattle 2. Real Salt Lake 1.
And I’m sorry that my mobile device auto corrects foreign words…

Stats
Shots on Goal- SEA 7. RSL 4
Corner Kicks- SEA 2. RSL 2
Fouls- SEA 4. RSL 8

46′ Eylander big save. Sounders counter and miss off Zakuani cross.

51′ Stephen King scores offa LeToux assist… 3-1

55′ LeToux scores off a Levesque pass… Seattle 4- RSL 1

64′ Zakuani sub out. Jarrod Smith in

71′ Nyassi booked for… Something

72′ Nyassi subbed out. Evan Brown in.

End of match.
Sounders FC 4: :1 Real Salt Lake

That match will be held down at Starfire in Tukwila next Tuesday (4/28). Fewer than 300 tickets remain and are priced in the $10-15 range. Get your tickets now!