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

Here’s the report from the club…

Second half goals by Alvaro Fernandez and Sammy Ochoa propelled Sounders FC to a 3-1 victory over Chivas USA at the Home Depot Center in the final MLS regular season game of the season. The Rave Green will play at Real Salt Lake on either October 29 or 30 in the first game of the Western Conference semifinals.

A Chivas own goal in the 53rd minute broke a scoreless tie and got the momentum going for Seattle. The goal occurred after Fredy Montero played a ball down from Mike Fucito near the left side of the goal and it was inadvertently knocked in the net by retreating Chivas defender Andrew Boyens.

In the 68th minute, Fernandez got behind the defense on the left side and received a well placed pass from Brad Evans and finished in the top right corner of the net for his ninth goal of the season.

Then five minutes later in the 73rd, Montero crossed the ball to a sprinting Ochoa, who finished with a diving header past keeper Dan Kennedy. It was the second goal of the season for Ochoa, who substituted in for Fucito in the 64th minute. Roger Levesque was also credited with an assist on the goal.

Chivas USA scored in the 83rd minute when Victor Estupinan headed down a bouncing ball in front of the net for a score.

Sounders FC (18-7-9, 63 points) has won five of their last six games and finishes the season second in the Western Conference. They play the third place team in the Western Conference, Real Salt Lake, in two-game aggregate goal playoff to advance to the Western Conference finals.

Real Salt Lake finishes with 53 points after a 1-1 draw earlier this evening against Portland. They clinched the conference’s third seed after San Jose defeated FC Dallas 4-1 tonight. RSL and FC Dallas were tied with 52 points going into tonight’s games.

Chivas USA (8-14-12, 36 points) loses the final three games of the season and finishes the season eighth in the Western Conference.

Montero has now scored or assisted in his last eight games. He has 12 goals and 9 assists in MLS play this season.

Mauro Rosales made his first start since September 17 game against D.C. United when he sprained his MCL. He left the game in the seventh minute after suffering a right knee injury on a foul by Ben Zemanski and was replaced by Roger Levesque. Zemanski was issued a yellow card for the foul. Rosales picked up an assist in Seattle’s comeback victory over San Jose on October 15 after entering the game as a substitute.

Seattle will host the second game of the Western Conference semifinals on either November 2 or 3. Tickets for that match go on sale Monday, October 24 at 10 a.m. Tickets will be available at SoundersFC.com or by calling 800-745-3000.

Seattle Sounders FC (18-7-9) at Chivas USA (8-14-12)
October 22, 2011 – Home Depot Center, Carson, California

Scoring Summary:
SEA – Own Goal 53′
SEA – Alvaro Fernandez 9 (Brad Evans 5) 68′
SEA – Sammy Ochoa 2 (Fredy Montero 9, Roger Levesque 3) 73′
CHV – Victor Estupinan 1 (Andrew Boyens 1, Marcos Mondaini 2) 83′

Chivas USA – Dan Kennedy, Zarek Valentin, Heath Pearce (Andrew Boyens 46′), David Junior Lopes, Ante Jazic (Mariano Trujillo 57′), Ben Zemanski, Blair Gaven, Nick LaBrocca, Alejandro Moreno, Marcos Mondaini, Juan Pablo Angel (Victor Estupinan 76′).

Substitutes Not Used: Zach Thornton, Michael Lahoud, Jorge Flores, Chris Cortez.

TOTAL SHOTS: 12 (Angel, Estupinan 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (Angel, Estupinan, Zemanski 1); FOULS: 13 (Boyens 3); OFFSIDES: 3 (Angel 3); CORNER KICKS: 8 (Mondaini 5); SAVES: 2 (Kennedy 2).

Seattle Sounders FC – Kasey Keller, James Riley, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kenedy Hurtado, Leo Gonzalez (Tyson Wahl 82′), Mauro Rosales (Rover Levesque 11′), Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Alvaro Fernandez, Mike Fucito (Sammy Ochoa 65′), Fredy Montero.

Substitutes Not Used: Bryan Meredith, Zach Scott, Erik Friberg, Lamar Neagle.

TOTAL SHOTS: 8 (Montero 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (Fernandez 2); FOULS: 16 (Alonso 4); OFFSIDES: 3 (Montero 3); CORNER KICKS: 3 (Fernandez 2); SAVES: 1 (Keller 1).

Misconduct Summary:
CHV — Ben Zemanski (caution; reckless tackle) 5
SEA — Roger Levesque (caution; reckless tackle) 40
SEA — Brad Evans (caution; dissent) 79
SEA– Fredy Montero (caution; dive) 80

Referee: Ricardo Salazar
Referee’s Assistants: Craig Lowry, Peter Manikowski
4th Official: Ramon Hernandez
Attendance: 22,137
Time of Game: 1:50
Weather: Foggy and 64-degrees

Seattle (3-2-1, 10 points) had already secured a place in the quarterfinals and finished the second in the group. Comunicaciones was eliminated by the Monterrey (4-2-0, 12 points) win.

Delgado’s game-winner came after he picked up a rebound from teammate Humberto Suazo’s blocked shot in the box. Delgado fired past Sounders FC keeper Bryan Meredith from 12 yards.

After falling behind on a 3rd minute Monterrey goal, Seattlle tied it shortly before halftime. Fredy Montero bent a free kick from 25 yards out through the Monterrey wall and just inside the left post, outside the reach of keeper Jonathan Orozco. The free kick was set up by a foul and yellow card by Luis Perez, who took out an attacking Montero.

Montero now has 18 goals this season across all competitions, including 11 in his last 11 matches and six in his last four.

Monterrey got on the board early when Suazo lofted a ball over the Seattle defense to a running Dario Carreno, who won the one-on-one with Meredith. The goal was Carreno’s fourth in CCL this year.

The Rave Green had two good opportunities in the two minutes after Delgado’s game-winning goal. First, Roger Levesque headed a ball from James Riley right in front of the goal that Orozco was able to punch over the crossbar.

On the next possession, Montero almost added his second of the game. Tyson Wahl lofted a ball into the box where Montero backed down a defender, chested the ball and hit a right-footed shot that missed just wide of the post.

Meredith made his first start since signing with Sounders FC on September 12. He was drafted by Seattle in the second round of the 2011 MLS SuperDraft and spent much of the season playing for the USL PDL champions Kitsap Pumas. Tonight’s start was his first competitive start since winning the PDL championship on August 6.

Zach Scott picked up a yellow card in the 58th minute, his second in CCL, which means he will be suspended for the first quarterfinal match.

In the 69th minute, Monterrey keeper Orozco charged out from the goal to punch a ball clear but ran into a teammate and went down with a shoulder injury. He was replaced by Juan de Dios Ibarra.

Monterrey picked up yellow cards in the 75th, 82nd, and 93rd minutes for delaying restarts.

The attendance of 15,866 was the third-largest of the 2011/12 tournament thus far.

Sounders FC concludes the MLS regular season on Saturday when they travel down to Carson, CA to face Chivas USA at the Home Depot Center at 7:30.

CF Monterrey vs. Seattle Sounders
October 18, 2011 — CenturyLink Field

Goals by Period
1
2
Tot
CF Monterrey
1
1
2
Seattle Sounders
1
0
1

Scoring Summary:
MTR — Dario Carreno (Humberto Suazo) 3
SEA — Fredy Montero (unassisted) 42
MTR — Cesar Delgado (unassisted) 61

CF Monterrey– Jonathan Orozco (Juan de Dios Ibarra 73), Severo Meza, Ricardo Osorio, Miguel Morales, Jose Basanta, Luis Perez, Cesar Delgado (Neri Cardozo 80), Sergio Perez, Dario Carreno, Sergio Santana, Humberto Suazo.

Substitutes Not Used: Walter Ayovi, William Paredes, Jesus Corona, Cesar De La Pena, Marcelo Cazubon.

TOTAL SHOTS: 6 (Humberto Suazo 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (3 tied with 1); FOULS: 10 (3 tied with 2); OFFSIDES: 5 (Sergio Santana 2, Dario Carreno 2); CORNER KICKS: 3 (Humberto Suazo 3); SAVES: 5 (Jonathan Orozco 4)

Seattle Sounders — Bryan Meredith, James Riley, Zach Scott, Jeff Parke (Patrick Ianni 67), Tyson Wahl, David Estrada (Lamar Neagle 79), Osvaldo Alonso, Erik Friberg, Roger Levesque, Fredy Montero, Sammy Ochoa (Mike Fucito 74).

Substitutes Not Used: Brad Evans, Alvaro Fernandez, Pat Noonan, Kasey Keller.

TOTAL SHOTS: 12 (Fredy Montero 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 6 (Fredy Montero 2, Sammy Ochoa 2); FOULS: 14 (Fredy Montero 3, Zach Scott 3); OFFSIDES: 2 (Sammy Ochoa 2); CORNER KICKS: 4 (4 tied with 1); SAVES: 1 (Bryan Meredith 1)

Misconduct Summary:
MTR — Luis Perez (caution; Reckless Foul) 41
SEA — Zach Scott (caution; Reckless Foul) 58
MTR — Severo Meza (caution; Delaying a Restart) 75
MTR — Humberto Suazo (caution; Delaying a Restart) 82
MTR — Miguel Morales (caution; Delaying a Restart) 94+

Referee: Enrico Winjgaarde
Referee’s Assistants:-Ramon Louisville; Egberth Paesch
4th Official: Rudolph Angela
Attendance: 15,866
Time of Game: 1:51
Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-58-degrees

All Statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial

POSTGAME QUOTES: Sounders FC vs. Monterrey – October 18, 2011

Sigi Schmid – Sounders FC Head Coach
(General comments…) “I thought for the most part the game was a pretty even game. We had some chances to score and didn’t take advantage of them and I thought we gave up two soft goals. I think they’re a good team. I think they move the ball around. I think they were content even early in the second half to play the game to a draw. The first goal was a bad play for our backs in terms of playing offside that early in the game, which is something we tell them not to do. The second goal was a giveaway. We had the assist. You can’t give up soft goal because you aren’t always going to be able to resurrect yourself and score goals and win.”

(On Bryan Meredith…) “I thought Meredith played well for a guy in his first game, and this was a fairly big game. I thought he was composed. I didn’t think he could do much on either goal. Maybe on the second goal he could have stood a little bit longer. That will come with experience. His feet were good. His composure was good. He came out and collected crosses. He was fine. [Kasey] Keller had an emotional game Saturday and felt not best to come with him today.”

(On seeding in the quarterfinal round…) “It matters in terms of the pairings because most of the group winners are going to be Mexican teams, so now the chances are that you’re going to match up with a Mexican team. That makes the task a little bit harder. Toronto still has a chance to win their group. LA has a chance to win their group. Maybe then, who knows how the draw turns out. It was something we wanted to do but also wanted to be smart and not put ourselves in jeopardy for the next round and also for the MLS Cup with players who had knocks or injuries like Leo Gonzalez or [Brad] Evans. That’s one of reasons we took Jeff Parke off the field. He had a yellow going in. We lost Zach Scott because of his yellow. We didn’t want another centerback to pick up his second yellow.”

(On Fredy Montero receiving captain’s armband…) “Fredy has done well. Kasey is our captain and he wasn’t in there. Evans is a guy we give the armband to when Kasey isn’t in there. We thought Fredy deserved it. He has been playing well and leading the team with his effort and his performance. We thought it was the appropriate thing to do. ”

(On Montero’s offensive improvements…) “It was a good goal. He works on his free kicks. That’s something we have really concentrated on this year. He’s scored a few free kicks and that’s added to his total this year. He’s grown, he’s matured. He understands the physicality of the game now and he has sped up his play. He’s a player that continues to grow and mature. He has great vision and great skills. Sometimes he tries so hard to try to do something, people say if he could play it a little simpler, but that’s part of his game. He’s a player who can pull some things off like that and he needs the opportunities to do that.”

(On Sammy Ochoa’s play…) “Ochoa did well. Ochoa gives us some of the things that O’Brian White gave us earlier in the year. He’s a bigger body. He’s good at getting up for headers up front. I know he wishes he had that cross back that Tyson swung in. Sammy has done well for us.”

(On moving forward…) “They know now that we can concentrate on one thing. I’m not happy with the goals we gave up and they heard that as well.”

Brian Meredith – Sounders FC Goalkeeper
(On his first start…) “Three minutes into the game, seeing that first shot, giving up a goal, definitely not the way I want to start the game, or my MLS career. After that I settled down a little bit, got the nerves out of me I felt pretty confident the whole rest of the game. The second goal was tough–they kind of intercepted a bad pass, not really much we could do–and we couldn’t put away our chances. We had enough of them. We just couldn’t put them away.”

(On when he learned he would start…) “Yesterday after practice, so not much time.”

(On if he suspected he would start…) “Yeah, but you never know. I was hoping I would but I didn’t want to count my chickens before they hatched. I’m thankful for the start and I think I played alright, but there’s definitely a lot to improve on.”

(On if he had to get himself back into the game after the goal…) “Not really. Giving up the goal…you’re going to give up goals as a goalie. To get one out of the way that early, it was tough obviously, but it kind of shook the nerves right out of me. After that I felt fine.”

Jeff Parke – Sounders FC Defender
(On the game…) “We definitely gave them the game tonight. There were some mistakes that we shouldn’t make. We have to move on now and forget about this game because it’s more important now that we’re going into the playoffs on a high and try to limit our mistakes.”

(On it being his first game back in a while…) “It’s like any other game. You just have to get back into it and get the rust off a little bit and get in the flow of the game. It wasn’t a good game for me tonight, but hopefully the next game we can move on and do better as a group.”

(On if it’s a relief that the team can focus on the MLS Cup…) “I hadn’t really thought about it as much, but now that you’re saying it, it definitely is. We can concentrate on just the games left and this weekend in LA, and the playoffs coming up. We’ll see who we play and gear up for them, and that’s the most important thing. That’s all we have left, so hopefully we can get a better chance earlier than later to see who we play, and we can start with them.”

(On the difference between having Kasey Keller in goal and a rookie…) “It’s big, but you’re talking about one of the best goalies that’s ever played in the US and to represent the US, so it’s tough to compare. It’s his first game out there with us and I thought he did a good job. I can’t really compare them because it wouldn’t be fair to him. It was his fist game and there’s things you learn from it and you move on from it and you look at it and see what you could have done better and what you could have done to help the team.”

Sammy Ochoa – Sounders FC Forward
(On the blow to his head…) “I think it was an elbow, it doesn’t hurt…Everybody says it was an elbow. I didn’t see it. I thought it was his head, but I guess it was an elbow.”

(On how he felt in his first start…) “I felt good. I was happy to get the start, but we didn’t get the win, but we felt like we did better than the other team. We just weren’t lucky in our finishing.”

(On if he feels they’re on par with Mexican teams…) “Yeah. I played in Mexico five years and all those Mexican teams feel that MLS teams are not as good…but the MLS is getting a lot bigger and a lot better.”

Victor Vucetich – CF Monterrey Head Coach
(General comments…) “We knew it was a very important match for both teams. A tie would have given the opposition the first spot. That interested us because we can play the second leg at home. The match was very even, very well fought, particularly in the midfield. Monterrey recovered that resolve to get the result in this important game.”

(On Jonathan Orozco injury…) “It’s too early to talk about the injury. It’s hard to draw a conclusion. Hopefully there will be time enough for him to be fit.”

(On playing Seattle again…) “This is the fourth match that we’ve played against the Sounders. The team caused a great impression. We know it’s a great team that plays well together. The game was even and well disputed from the beginning to the end, like the previous matches. A great game for the teams.”

(On next round…) “Every win motivates a lot, particularly because we are facing The Classic. The resolve and determination tonight will be positive for the next few games.”

(On player substitutions from last game against Seattle…) “There were three or four changes from the last game. Neri Cardozo, Walter, Sergio Perez, Miguel Morales, Luis Perez. Five changes from the last game.”

(On Suazo and Santana playing together…) “The team has been playing together for some time. We know each other well and that gives us options. We try to always keep four players playing ahead at any sector of the pitch. The midfielders and defenders faced off a number of times. We knew that we could not retract and expect that based on individual talent, someone could make a difference.”

(On Sounders player that called attention…) “A number of them, not just from this match, but from the historic and the statistics. For example, Montero is always very dangerous. Alonso can be very dynamic. Riley marked very well and has tremendous speed and can support the attack as well. Maybe I’m missing a few other names, but definitely a strong roster that plays well as a team and has strong individual talent as well.”

(On The Classic…) “All of us who take part in Mexican futbal understand the importance of The Classic. The derby is not only about the three points. It’s also about the pride. For that we have to go with maximum concentration and maximum preparation. What this represents to the city is very important. The two Monterrey teams call a lot of attention and focus of the city and they make The Classic very interesting and very important.”

Sounders FC, who have second place secured, now boasts a 17-7-9 record on the 2011 campaign (60 points)

Official Report from the Club…
wo late goals from Sammy Ochoa and Fredy Montero provided Sounders FC a dramatic 2-1 comeback victory over the San Jose Earthquakes before 64,140-the third-largest single-game crowd in MLS history-on Saturday night on the Xbox Pitch at CenturyLink Field.

Goalkeeper Kasey Keller made a season-high seven saves to keep Seattle within reach, and was honored in a postgame tribute following his final home regular season match. Keller, 41, has announced he will retire at the end of the season.

Sounders FC (17-7-9, 60 points) won for the fourth time in five MLS games and plays its final regular season game at Chivas USA on Saturday. They will enter the MLS Cup Playoffs as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.

It was San Jose’s (7-12-14) first loss in the last five games. Chris Wondolowski staked the visitors to a lead in the 24th minute with his 15th goal.

Montero sent the Sounders FC record MLS crowd into a frenzy in the 87th minute. He took a short feed from Lamar Neagle and beat Quakes keeper Jon Busch to the right corner from 12 yards. Brad Evans also assisted on the play. Montero has scored or assisted on a goal in his seven consecutive games, and he tied his team record with 12 goals.

Mauro Rosales returned from a three-game absence, coming off the bench in the 64th minute and setting-up Ochoa’s equalizer. In the 82nd minute, Rosales lifted a ball over the top of the San Jose defense and Ochoa ran onto it, shooting past Busch and off the right post. It was Ochoa’s first MLS goal. Rosales leads Seattle with 13 assists.

Sounders FC lead the league in comeback wins. They are now 7-7-3 when allowing the first goal.

Seattle finishes the season with an average of 38,498 fans per game, setting an MLS record for the third year in a row.

Fans of Keller certainly got their money’s worth. The Rave Green’s captain thrilled the throng in the 65th minute when he made a double save on Wondolowski and Simon Dawkins. He also slapped another ball away from Wondolowski’s feet on the frenetic series.

San Jose scored in the opening half when Seattle defender Jhon Kennedy Hurtado’s clearance was intercepted by Rafael Baca, who quickly fed Wondolowski for a breakaway on Keller. Wondolowski slotted the ball into the left corner, tying him with D.C. United’s Dwayne De Rosario for the most goals in the MLS.

Rosales made his first appearance since he sprained his MCL against the D.C. United on September 17.

Seattle returns to action Tuesday night when they host Monterrey in a CONCACAF Champions League match at Century Link Field. San Jose plays next Saturday October 22 against FC Dallas.

San Jose Earthquakes (7-12-14) vs. Seattle Sounders (17-7-9)
October 15, 2011 — CenturyLink Field

Scoring Summary:
SJ — Chris Wondolowski 15 (Rafael Baca 3) 24
SEA — Sammy Ochoa 1 (Mauro Rosales 13) 82
SEA — Fredy Montero 12 (Lamar Neagle 2, Brad Evans 4) 87

San Jose Earthquakes– Jon Busch, Steven Beitashour, Bobby Burling, Jason Hernandez, Justin Morrow, Simon Dawkins, Sam Cronin, Brad Ring, Rafael Baca, Chris Wondolowski, Khari Stephenson.

Substitutes Not Used: Joey Gjertsen, Maxwell Griffin, Chris Leitch, Matt Luzunaris, Ellis McLoughlin, Jacob Peterson, David Bingham.

TOTAL SHOTS: 14 (Chris Wondolowski 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 8 (Chris Wondolowski 4); FOULS: 19 (Jason Hernandez 5); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 5 (Simon Dawkins 5); SAVES: 1 (Jon Busch 1)

Seattle Sounders — Kasey Keller, James Riley, Patrick Ianni, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyson Wahl, Alvaro Fernandez (Sammy Ochoa 68), Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Lamar Neagle (Zach Scott 90), Mike Fucito (Mauro Rosales 64), Fredy Montero.

Substitutes Not Used: Erik Friberg, Roger Levesque, Pat Noonan, Bryan Meredith.

TOTAL SHOTS: 13 (Fredy Montero 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (3 tied with 1); FOULS: 10 (Mike Fucito 3); OFFSIDES: 3 (3 tied with 1); CORNER KICKS: 3 (Lamar Neagle 3); SAVES: 7 (Kasey Keller 7)

Misconduct Summary:
SJ — Justin Morrow (caution; Reckless Tackle) 6
SJ — Brad Ring (caution; Reckless Foul) 40
SEA — Patrick Ianni (caution; Unsporting Behavior) 48
SJ — Jason Hernandez (caution; Unsporting Behavior) 57

Referee: Michael Kennedy
Referee’s Assistants:-Kermit Quisenberry; Bill Dittmar
4th Official: Hilario Grajeda
Attendance: 64,140
Time of Game: 1:52
Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-52-degrees

All Statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial
Top of Form

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POSTGAME QUOTES: Sounders FC vs. San Jose Earthquakes – October 15, 2011
Sigi Schmid – Sounders FC Head Coach
(Open comments…)”First half wasn’t our best half of soccer. I thought we gave away way too much space at midfield. We needed to control the middle part of the field. That was a big thing we talked about at halftime. I thought we did a better job of that in the second half. Certainly, you could see the impact that Mauro [Rosales] has on our game. When he came onto the field, he just changed our whole dynamic a little bit. It was great to see Sammy Ochoa get his first goal in a Sounder uniform and I thought Fredy Montero finished his goal very well. Not to neglect, certainly there were some great saves that Kasey [Keller] made throughout the game tonight that really kept us in the game and gave us the opportunity to win the game in the last 10 minutes. So not our best night but again we showed our resiliency and our character in being able to come back and pull out a win at home.”

(On if there’s a game of Keller’s that stands out…)”Shoot, there’s so many. I mean, obviously that game he played for the national team against Brazil that night in L.A. was one that ranks up there as one of the best all time for any goalkeeper but he’s played so many outstanding games for the Sounders that you sort of, as a coach, sometimes you almost go, ‘OK, it’s expected.’ But you can’t ever become complacent. You can’t ever expect it. Big goalkeepers make saves at crucial points in the game and they don’t give up generally soft goals and that’s what Kasey does. He makes saves at important junctures in the game to keep us in it and that keeps us in the game. He was able to do that for us tonight and he’s done that numerous times.”

(On the reaction to the go-ahead winning goal by Montero…) “I mean, I know I was elated. I think everybody else was elated. Certainly, when you look at our sport – I’ve said this – sometimes people say, ‘Soccer, it’s not enough…’ How can you say a game like tonight wasn’t exciting? Games like tonight just grip you. I was definitely elated and I think all of the football fans who showed up… What was it tonight? Like 120,000 people went to watch football but I think a few more came to watch the European version. So we’re happy about that but it was pure ecstasy and knowing that we were able to fight back and come back again and that our character and our resiliency was still there just made me elated.”

Kasey Keller – Sounders FC Goalkeeper
(Open comments…)”For me, with all of the anticipation for this game and knowing there was going to be a huge crowd, I’m not one who really likes to take focus. I like to just be a team guy and make the team happen. This was the most nervous I’ve been for a game since the World Cup because I just didn’t want to disappoint. I just wanted to be able to come out and help the team win the game today so I’m just so proud of the guys to not quit (and) to keep going. We’ve done it so many times this year that once again, you definitely don’t want to leave this stadium early because we’re going to make things happen at some stage of the game. It might be a little bit late but we’ll make it happen. I’m just proud of the whole franchise. By no way could I have imagined, or Sigi [Schmid], or Adrian [Hanauer], or Joe [Roth], or anybody, that three or four years ago when this thing got rolling that we would be at this stage right now where we are. Huge credit to everybody from obviously the ownership group, the coaching staff works tremendously hard, the players, the fans – they just keep coming out. We have an Open Cup game and 20,000 non-season ticket holders show up on a Tuesday night. I’m just humbled. I’m humbled not just for what the club has done for me and given me the opportunity to come home and finish my career back home in something that is just so incredibly special. You can ask my friends who were able to fly out, guys who’ve played around the world and they just can’t believe it. They just are so proud of what’s going on here in Seattle and I’m just proud to be a small piece of it.”

(On late in the game when he saved four consecutive shots…)”I can’t remember that long ago. Like I said, I just hoped I could play today and help the team get a result because I don’t want to see 64,000 people go home disappointed. I want them to go home and say, ‘That was a tremendous experience.’ Take away all the motorcycles and Drew [Carey] driving in on a quad – that was pretty cool, that was worth watching for the attendance and then Zach Scott yelling I should take the other showcase. I’m happy with the showcase I got but this club is something special and like I said I’m just so proud to be a part of it and was able to help with what was the most important thing for tonight, and that was the result. Because, you know, like Sigi has said and Adrian, we still want five more games this season – no, six actually if you count the CONCACAF game. So we’ve got a lot left and there’s no reason that with the resilience that this team has that we can’t have a good time left.”

(On when it will all sink in that he’s done playing soccer…) “I don’t think it will truly sink in until the end of January when everybody’s getting back together for preseason and I’m realizing that I’m not for the first time in 20-some years, if you count college soccer, that’s a long time ago. [...] Because, like you said, this isn’t the last game. I’m used to a European system where the last game is the last game but now it’s playoffs and you don’t know when it’s going to be and let’s hope it’s in November in L.A. That’s what we’re all hoping for because I think we would sell out Home Depot Center on our own. I think our fans would fly down and be there so I’m excited for that prospect.”

(On what’s next for him after the season ends…) “Chivas, next weekend…It’s going to be interesting to sit down at the end of the season and figure that all out. What I didn’t want to do was focus on something before I was done with something else and that’s truly the way I’ve always tried to approach this thing is I’m going to have a whole lot more years when people don’t want me to play than when they want me to play so while I’m playing focus one hundred percent on the job at hand and then when the time comes we’ll sit down and get that side of things taken care of. I’ve said all along, I’m not one of those guys that’s said, ‘I definitely want to be a coach,’ or ‘I definitely want to go into media,’ or, ‘I definitely want to go back room.’ I’m interested by a lot of things and I think what I’d love to do is wear a bunch of different hats and see which one fits right. I’m looking forward to that next step in the game.”

(On if he says anything to his defenders when the defense breaks down …) “No, no, no. I would have much rather preferred to sit here, have us win four-nil and I sat back there and took a few goal kicks. That would have been the ideal game for me. I think what we’re trying to achieve is to get ourselves in good form for the playoffs and confidence comes with results. Nobody wants, coming out of last week’s game, we don’t want to go into the last game at Chivas having lost two games at home and having that. So the focus is all on being ready to go for the playoffs and if I am called upon to make a couple saves, that’s my job. Do I prefer that I don’t have anything to do? Of course, but sometimes you have to do your job.”

(On over 120,000 people watching American and European football in Seattle today…) “Well, I had a lot of friends that went to both games and that just shows you the way that sports are perceived here in Seattle and the U.S. I’m a fan of football. I watched college football today in my preparation for the game. I also watched a bit of the Chelsea game this morning as well. That’s just the way we are. We understand that there’s a lot competition in this country and I’m one of those guys that enjoys that. There’s no reason why we can’t have our own little piece of the pie and actually a lot bigger piece because the sport’s growing and growing and I’m just proud to have been able to be a part of it from the beginning and now I’m more than happy to go to a football game one day, go to a soccer game the next day, go to a baseball game, go to a basketball game – that’s called being American.”
(On what he attributes his successful career to…) “Well I think every successful person regardless if they’re a businessman, whatever they’re doing, they don’t like to lose. I think sometimes they understand that it’s inevitable and it’s going to happen. I work just as hard in practice not to lose if I have a side. I get mad – I go home angry if I give up a bad goal in training. Because I know if I give up a bad game in training then I have a good chance of giving up bad games in games. So it’s all that whole process and really it’s an internal drive to try to be as good as you possibly can be and to help your team win and knowing that sometimes you’re going to make mistakes and how do you bounce back. Sometimes you’re going to have the best of days and then how do you come down from that? Because tomorrow this game’s over. Tomorrow we’re in for practice, Monday we’re in for practice and then Tuesday we have a Champions League game and next weekend we have another game. The Open Cup game was great but we’ve had two games since then. Now we’ve had this game. So, it’s how do you manage all of that? I think the best thing I’ve done for that side is I think the more consistent you are off the field as a person, the more consistent you’ll be on the field. If your life is all over the place, how can you expect your career to be steady. I’ve been extremely blessed with a great family life, with a great wife and kids who when the phone rings and guess what, we’re moving to Germany. Okay. Guess what we’re moving to Spain. Alright. We’re moving back to England. Yeah. Guess what kids, we’re back, now we’re going back to England again. It was like, ‘Cool, there’s the next adventure.’ So I can’t thank them enough for being that huge support system and that’s been a big, big reason for my success as well.”

Sammy Ochoa – Sounders FC Forward
(On if he checked if he was onside after scoring the goal…) “No, I didn’t really check. As soon as the ball went in, I just ran. I didn’t see the linesman. I was standing near the ref and everybody was running towards me so I was like, ‘It’s a goal.’”

(On the size of the crowd…) “There were a lot of people in here. I’ve never played with so many people in the stadium. It was nice. Nice because it was the last home [game] of Kasey’s regular season. It was fun, and thank god we got the win, too.”

(On how important the win was…) “I think it was really important. We didn’t want to lose at home since the last game against Philly we lost and there’s no more games at home, and to get this win was big. Plus we had the thing going with Kasey, so it made it better.”

Fredy Montero – Sounders FC Forward
(On the large crowd…) “It was just amazing. This is my first time playing with that many people in a regular MLS season, so it was amazing. Thanks to all the fans for the support and for coming here for Kasey’s last game.”

(On if the crowd felt different than some of the friendlies…) “Yes, for sure. We had all those people cheering for us. When we played against Man U, at least half of the stadium was rooting for them. This was something special. I feel so proud to be part of this team and to play next to Kasey Keller.”

Frank Yallop – San Jose Head Coach
(On his thoughts regarding the match…) “I’m not sure we could play any better and not be two up. We didn’t get the second goal and that changed everything. It is the story of our season; we had good ball movement and created some chances to score the second one. I haven’t seen the play [Seattle's first goal] but the boys said he was offsides. But we have to play as mentally strong as we can in those late stages. Maybe it was offsides, I will have to take a look at it. It is frustrating to play well and to get nothing out of the game.”

(On Kasey Keller coming up with some very big saves tonight…) “Yeah, he did. I think he had a couple of moments where we hit it straight at him and should have picked a corner. I’m on the sidelines and can’t see the angles, but I can’t fault our boys for their effort. It is frustrating we can’t seem to finish games out; the way the unit played tonight I was happy with that. I was disappointed we didn’t get a point out of it, if not three. Seattle is a strong team til the end and they got their points. I thought the way we played was a credit to us for digging in, but obviously it is about winning and scoring goals.”

(On Chris Wondolowski having a scoring hot streak…) “He started the season out well and had a little bit of a dry patch in the middle of the year. He is a goal scorer; he has 15 goals this season, no penalty kicks. That is a good tally for anyone in any league, not just this one. He is a good player. He is dangerous around the goal and when he gets a good chance he usually scores. I think in the second half when Keller saved it I was expecting him to make it. All in all he has done very well this year.”

(On the team coming out with a little more focus with having the opportunity to play in front of the largest MLS crowd…) “Even if it’s 40,000 it is a big crowd. I think our guys were up for the battle. If you look at the game as a whole we played well, overall we weren’t outplayed. The two plays cost us the games, I haven’t seen them so I can’t comment on them. It is frustrating to come away with nothing.”

Chris Wondolowski – San Jose Forward
(On Kasey Keller coming up with some big saves tonight…) “He made some really good saves and that is something he has done for a number of years now. He is a great goalkeeper.”

From the club…
A goal by Freddy Adu in the 60th minute broke a scoreless tie and Brian Carroll added another for the Philadelphia Union in a 2-0 win Saturday night over Sounders FC on the Xbox Pitch at Century Link Field.

The loss for Sounders FC (16-7-9, 57 points) snapped a three-game MLS winning streak and eliminates them from contention for the Supporters’ Shield. With two regular season matches remaining Seattle sits second in the Western Conference, seven points behind the L.A. Galaxy.

Philadelphia’s win (11-7-14, 47 points) propels it into first place in the Eastern Conference, two points ahead of Sporting Kansas City. The Union are now unbeaten in their last seven MLS games.

Seattle played without its top three point producers: forward Fredy Montero and midfielders Alvaro Fernandez and Mauro Rosales. Montero was serving a suspension for yellow card accumulation. Rosales has been out since September 17 with an MCL sprain and Fernandez was on the bench after sustaining a mild concussion in Tuesday’s U.S. Open Cup final.

Sounders FC central defender Jeff Parke was removed from the match at halftime with a concussion.

On the Union’s opening goal, Gabriel Farfan dribbled to the end line and rolled a pass to Adu whose first-time shot went over the shoulder of a helpless Kasey Keller and into the roof of the net.

In the 70th minute, the visitors doubled their lead on a counterattack following a Seattle corner kick. Former Sounders FC forward Sebastian Le Toux took possession and ran at the defense before slipping the ball to the right side for a charging Carroll to shoot past Keller. It was Carroll’s first goal of the year.

Le Toux’s assist, his ninth, continues one of the hottest stretches for any player in the MLS this season, having scored or assisted in nine of his last 11 games.

Both teams combined for just four first-half shots. The best scoring opportunity for Seattle came in the 20th minute when a cross from Lamar Neagle was timed perfectly by Pat Noonan, but his volley shot went right into the arms of keeper Zac MacMath.

Sounders FC nearly got on the scoreboard first in the 53rd minute. Brad Evans chipped a shot from the top of the box over MacMath’s head and hit the crossbar. MacMath finished with two saves to earn the shutout.

Seattle out-shot the Union 13-6 but managed only two shots on goal to Philadelphia’s four. Sounders FC also had an 8-5 advantage in corners, all of theirs coming in the second half.

The game was played before the 48th consecutive sellout with an attendance of 36,304.

Both teams return to action next Saturday. Sounders FC will try again to clinch the West’s second seed in their final MLS regular season home match against San Jose. Philadelphia hosts Toronto FC at PPL Park.

Philadelphia Union (11-7-14) vs. Seattle Sounders (16-7-9)
October 08, 2011 — CenturyLink Field

Goals by Period
1
2
Tot
Philadelphia Union
0
2
2
Seattle Sounders
0
0
0

Scoring Summary:
PHI — Freddy Adu 2 (Gabriel Farfan 2) 60
PHI — Brian Carroll 1 (Sebastien Le Toux 9) 70

Philadelphia Union– Zac MacMath, Sheanon Williams, Carlos Valdes, Danny Califf, Gabriel Farfan, Michael Farfan, Brian Carroll, Justin Mapp (Jack McInerney 86), Freddy Adu (Amobi Okugo 75), Sebastien Le Toux, Veljko Paunovic (Stefani Miglioranzi 89).

Substitutes Not Used: Danny Mwanga, Kyle Nakazawa, Roger Torres, Chase Harrison.

TOTAL SHOTS: 6 (Brian Carroll 2, Veljko Paunovic 2); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (4 tied with 1); FOULS: 10 (Veljko Paunovic 3); OFFSIDES: 1 (Sebastien Le Toux 1); CORNER KICKS: 5 (Freddy Adu 4); SAVES: 2 (Zac MacMath 2)

Seattle Sounders — Kasey Keller, James Riley, Jeff Parke (Patrick Ianni 46), Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyson Wahl, Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Erik Friberg, Lamar Neagle, Mike Fucito (Nate Jaqua 68), Pat Noonan (Sammy Ochoa 62).

Substitutes Not Used: Alvaro Fernandez, Roger Levesque, Zach Scott, Josh Ford.

TOTAL SHOTS: 13 (Lamar Neagle 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 2 (Lamar Neagle 1, Pat Noonan 1); FOULS: 9 (Lamar Neagle 3); OFFSIDES: 1 (Sammy Ochoa 1); CORNER KICKS: 8 (Lamar Neagle 3, Tyson Wahl 3); SAVES: 2 (Kasey Keller 2)

Misconduct Summary:
SEA — Lamar Neagle (caution; Reckless Foul) 63

Referee: Baldomero Toledo
Referee’s Assistants:-George Gansner; Ian Anderson
4th Official: Ramon Hernandez
Attendance: 36,304
Time of Game: 1:51
Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-62-degrees

All Statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial

POSTGAME QUOTES: Sounders FC vs. Philadelphia Union – October 8, 2011

Sigi Schmid – Sounders FC Head Coach
(Opening comments…) “I thought especially for the first half that Philadelphia was the better team. It was sort of a strange game because I thought they really dominated the first half and we were still 0-0. I thought the second half was less dominating, but that’s when they got the goals. I think they did well to finish their goals. Obviously we could have done a better job shielding the ball and we got caught on the counter on the corner because some guys were in the wrong positions, but it happened. For us it wasn’t our best game. I know we’ve been through a lot as a team. I think we’ve had some emotional highs in the last two weeks and sometimes you come out a little bit flat and they were a little bit flat today, especially in the first half, and we left it for a little bit too late. It just serves as a reminder that in this league everything is so tight that if you come and aren’t wholly prepared to do all the work you need to do, you end up coming up short. Thankfully that’s not our normal operation style so we take what it is. We’ll take it on the chin and we’ll learn from it.”

(On if they can use this as a lesson for a run in the playoffs…) “I think at the end of July we went to Houston and we lost a game there 3-1 and everybody was like, ‘Oh geez, woe is me,’ and we had a pretty good run after that so to serve itself again. I played on a team at UCLA where we used to kill everybody all the way through the playoffs. We didn’t know what the pain of losing felt like and then all the sudden we get to the playoffs and we lose the NCAA title game because we had never gone through that pain of losing. So sometimes the pain of losing is the best motivator of all.”

(On losing their top three players tonight to suspension/injury…) “It was a hard one. [Alvaro] Fernandez got cleared late yesterday, so he really hadn’t gone through a full training, so he hadn’t trained since Tuesday. It’s sort of ironic we’ve lost two guys with concussions in the last two games, but there was no foul called on the one in Chicago and there was no foul called today. But again, we can say, ‘OK, we were missing those guys [Montero, Rosales, Fernandez].’ But we had enough people on the field. We had enough people who could do it. We just had too many people who didn’t have a good game.”

(On Jeff Parke…) “We had to pull him at halftime because they felt he was concussed. So we’ve got to see from here.”

(On Pat Noonan getting the start…) “Well, we wanted to keep the same sort of balance up front. The way we play is we have the one forward high and Fredy [Montero] finds his space underneath. Noonan is more comfortable doing that. Rather in the end we went with the two big guys up front, so the thing was to try and keep us in a rhythm. But again, like I said we had too many guys with bad games so we never got into a rhythm.”

(On if it hurts not getting the Supporter’s Shield for best record in MLS…) “It always hurts. But at the end of the day what’s most important is to win the MLS Cup. You look at who won the MLS Cup last year, Colorado. Did they win the Supporter’s Shield? No. Who won MLS Cup the year before? Salt Lake. Did they win Supporter’s Shield? No. So maybe winning the Supporter’s Shield isn’t all that necessary to win the MLS Cup and at the end of the day that’s our goal.”

(On the possibility of facing Real Salt Lake in the playoffs …) “Obviously it gives them some time to rest, so that might be on the plus side for them. But he’s [Kyle Beckerman] getting a couple of national team games so he’s going to stay in game rhythm. He’s played enough games this year to stay in rhythm and he’ll be highly motivated when the playoffs come around. We have to deal with Salt Lake. It’s not just Beckerman. That thing can go either way. It can either be a plus or a minus. It depends on how he reacts to it.”

(On the goal by Freddy Adu…) “I think [James] Riley was trying to shield the ball going out of bounds. The referee was pretty liberal in terms of allowing you to shield and disregard the ball and Riley got too close to the ball as he was trying to shield and Farfan tips it through his legs and it just goes past [Patrick] Ianni. So everybody sort of relaxes because they expect the ball to go out of bounds for a goal kick because he’s shielding, and then he pokes it through and everybody was a little late reacting. So it was an opportunistic goal.”

(On if any particular players’ play stood out to him tonight…) “I thought [Kasey] Keller came up with a huge save in the 53rd minute that looked like it was going to keep us in it for awhile, but I don’t think there’s anybody you can point to on our team and say they had a good game or a game that they normally have.”

(On the crossing…) “I don’t think our crossing was real sharp. A lot of them were lolly-pops, so you could come out there and it was like picking grapes – you could just run out there and catch the ball. Too many of them were too close to the 6-yard box and they were hung up in the air too much. So we made it a little easier for them than it needed to be.”

(On what he thinks is the biggest difference between this year’s Philadelphia team and last year’s…) “I said in preparation for the game that they’ve just solidified themselves defensively with the addition of [Carlos] Valdes, the addition of Brian Carroll and the addition of [Faryd] Mondragon when he’s in goal. Those are three guys out on the field that are all defensive players and that’s helped them. They play a 4-5-1. They play very conservative and they try to pack the midfield and they hope to spring Sebastien [Le Toux] for an opportunity here or there. Even though they had possession on us in the first half they really didn’t have any real clear quality chances in the second half, but obviously they converted on the chances that they got.”

Brad Evans – Sounders FC Midfielder
(On the game being a let-down game after Tuesday…) “No, I don’t think so. That’s not the excuse, just coming out slow the past couple games seems to be the case. If we play with half the intensity that we did in the second half, then we come on top. We came out slow, that’s the bottom line. We absorbed pressure–they had good possession but they weren’t dangerous. They didn’t get any good clear opportunities the first half. When we did get possession we didn’t connect enough passes. That’s the name of the game, I guess. They got two soft goals that we gifted them, too, and that was it.”

(On if not having Montero, Fernandez, or Rosales put pressure on others to score…) “Nobody even thought about it, I don’t think. Whoever is in is expected to score. It is what it is.”

(On the goals…) “The first one [Gabriel Farfan] just beats him down line, [James Riley] was trying to shield it out of bounds and he just gets unlucky. [Farfan] sneaks around him and takes him out at the same time. Fredy [Adu] makes a good run on it. He was anticipating it a little better than we were and he puts it away. The second one we just pushed too many guys forward trying to get that goal a little too early. I think it was too early in the game to be pushing forward with that many guys. They caught us on a counter-attack and a little mis-clearance. We gave it to them.”

Kasey Keller – Sounders FC Goalkeeper
(On the game…) “It was just one of those bad days. Everybody can look at whatever different excuse you want to come up with but at the same time we just weren’t good enough today and we have to hold our hands up and say, ‘That’s not good enough. Let’s get that out of our system and get ready to roll through the rest of the season.’ That’s at least how I’m looking at it.”

(On if the team had a letdown game after Tuesday…) “No question. That’s all part of the game…As a professional, you have to be ready for stuff like this. You have to be able to compartmentalize your season. You have to say, ‘Tuesday night was great, now I have to get ready for Saturday.’ You’re going to have a lot of time in November, December, January to go celebrate or commiserate on what you did for the last eight months, so it’s frustrating for everybody. Obviously we had a lot of fans go home that weren’t happy, everybody leaving this locker room isn’t going to be happy. We can’t, I think, just push it under the rug and say, ‘OK, that’s a bad day and a bad thing or whatever.’ We have to still accept that it’s not good enough and be ready for next weekend and the weekend after that and then get ready for the playoffs. Looking at what some teams have done below us and maybe chucked it in a little bit, but other teams are fighting for their playoff positions. We’re too good for that. We have too good of individuals, too good of a team as a collective to just say, ‘Alright, don’t worry about it, we’re in the playoffs,’ because we’re better than we are today.”

Peter Nowak – Philadelphia Union Head Coach
(On controlling the ball most of the match…) “In the first half we couldn’t figure out a way to break them down in the final third. I think we made a couple of adjustments at halftime and it worked out well. We tried to push the game from the outside.”

(On the differences in coaching a team in year two…) “On the first game we played here we spent a lot of time with the team, the expansion team hoping for the best. You never know what will come out. We spent three weeks in training camp and it just wasn’t enough. During the season you get used to each other to my training method, tactical, everything. Today the players understand the concepts, the tactical concepts, how they prepare themselves. I think this team is completely different than the one here 18 months ago.”

(On Freddy Ado addition to this team…) “I think it was the right move for him to come back. I know him very well and he knows me very well. He knows how to approach the training methods and how to be apart of the team. For a couple of weeks he was injured and we didn’t try to push the envelope. We knew he would come back and he did and I think he had a strong game. I think he needs to be a little bit more involved, I give him a lot of freedom out on the field. In the second half he figured when to attack in, when to be a play maker. I think the goal is fantastic for his confidence and for his future.”

(On the lessons Freddy Adu learned on his travels through Europe…) “I told him seven years when he joined D.C. United that what we are trying to do here is kindergarten compared to what he will face in Europe. Over there the coaches, players, travel, media all different than here. In his first year he had four or five coaches each one with different styles. Sometimes those coaches won’t talk to a player or explain anything. I think he learned the hard way and it is good to have him back and scoring goals for us again.”

Freddy Adu – Philadelphia Union Midfielder
(On coming up with a big goal…) “That goal was all Gabe [Farfan] it was just great work down the line. As a professional player we were taught to always go to the near post when the ball is down the line, to try to get in front of the defender. Low and behold the ball popped up right were I was.”

(On getting a good strike on the ball for his score…) “Yeah, I was falling down and I had to concentrate on getting a good foot on it. The only place I could hit it was going up, trying to hit the ball to the roof of the net. I knew Kasey [Keller] was there but when your falling down you want to hit the ball as hard as you can.”

(On the environment at CenturyLink Field…) “The environment amazing, it is my first time playing here in an MLS game. It is amazing; it has a very European field to it. The surface is something different, I don’t really enjoy playing on turf but we all have to play on it and adjust to it. As you saw a couple of passes got away from us and you really have to concentrate on your passes and shots. I thought we did a great job.”

Sebastian Le Toux – Philadelphia Union Forward
(On getting a win and back into first place…) “It is huge win for us to get it here, especially after the Sounders U.S. Open Cup win. To come on out into the west and get a win is a big confidence boost for us. It is big win for us to be on top in the East.”

(On the positives coming out of tonight’s win…) “We were consistent, and coming up with some big stops in the middle and through the first half. In the second half, we had a few occasions to score when we had our chances.”

(On being able to finish in the second half…) “The surface here is pretty fast and some of the players have not had an opportunity to play on it. In the second we were more confident with the ball.”

~Buy Sounders 3-Peat USOC Champs Gear Now!~

The goal was the eventual game winner as Sounders FC became the first team in the professional era to win the USOC three consecutive years as Seattle defeated the Chicago Fire on Tuesday night, 2-0 in front of 35,615 at CenturyLink Field. Osvaldo Alonso added the insurance goal in the 5th minute of added time to ice the cake for Sigi Schmid’s club. The last team to win three consecutive clubs was the New York Greek Americans from 1967-69.

Sounders FC are now 13-0-1 in Open Cup play since their inception in 2009.  It is coach Sigi Schmid’s fourth Open Cup title. For Chicago, the loss snaps a four-game unbeaten streak across all competitions and prevents the Fire from becoming just the third club to ever win the Cup five times. Unbeaten in four games and winners in 10 of the last 13 in all competitions, Sounders FC are now 4-0-3 against Chicago. Seattle fans had set the previous record crowd with 31,311 for last year’s final, a 2-1 win over Columbus.

Scoring Summary:

SEA — Fredy Montero (Jeff Parke) 78
SEA — Osvaldo Alonso (unassisted) 96+

Chicago Fire — Sean Johnson, Gonzalo Segares, Cory Gibbs, Josip Mikulic (Jalil Anibaba 61), Dan Gargan (Sebastian Grazzini 85), Marco Pappa, Pavel Pardo, Logan Pause, Daniel Paladini (Diego Chaves 80), Dominic Oduro, Patrick Nyarko.

Substitutes Not Used: Orr Barouch, Baggio Husidic, Michael Videira, Jon Conway.

TOTAL SHOTS: 6 (Marco Pappa 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 4 (Marco Pappa 3); FOULS: 18 (Patrick Nyarko 4); OFFSIDES: 3 (Patrick Nyarko 2); CORNER KICKS: 6 (Daniel Paladini 3); SAVES: 6 (Sean Johnson 6)

Seattle Sounders — Kasey Keller, James Riley, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leo Gonzalez, Alvaro Fernandez (Erik Friberg 46), Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Lamar Neagle, Mike Fucito (Roger Levesque 89), Fredy Montero.

Substitutes Not Used: Nate Jaqua, Sammy Ochoa, Zach Scott, Tyson Wahl, Josh Ford.

TOTAL SHOTS: 24 (Mike Fucito 7); SHOTS ON GOAL: 8 (Erik Friberg 2, Jeff Parke 2); FOULS: 12 (Mike Fucito 4); OFFSIDES: 0; CORNER KICKS: 10 (Lamar Neagle 5); SAVES: 4 (Kasey Keller 4)

Misconduct Summary:
CHI — Patrick Nyarko (caution; Reckless Tackle) 26
CHI — Daniel Paladini (caution; Tactical Foul) 37
CHI — Jalil Anibaba (caution; Unsporting Behavior) 90
SEA — Osvaldo Alonso (caution; Unsporting Behavior) 90

Referee: Alex Prus
Referee’s Assistants:-Steven Taylor; Eric Boria
4th Official: Josh Wilkens
Attendance: 35,615
Time of Game: 1:54
Weather: Rain-and-58-degrees

All Statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial

POSTGAME QUOTES: Sounders FC vs. Chicago Fire – October 4, 2011
Sigi Schmid – Sounders FC Head Coach
(Opening comments…) “Obviously we’re very pleased to win three [U.S. Open Cup championships] in a row. It was a hard fought game. I thought Chicago played very well. Their players were giving everything they had and committed themselves totally to the game. We were a little unlucky with a couple off the post – Fredy Montero’s in the first half, [Mike] Fucito’s in the second. I thought we were more dangerous on chances. I think we pretty much, for the most part, limited them on chances, although they had some good possession in midfield. I just can’t say enough about the guys over there. To win three in a row is something very special and very unique. It hasn’t been done in a long time. Like we said, every time we enter a competition we want to win it, so we’ll enter it next year and we’ll want to win it next year as well.”

(On how hard it is to win the tournament three years in a row…) “It’s tough, it’s tough. You need a little bit of luck. You need some breaks to go your way along the way. We had some games when you look at the string of games and the series of games and you look at the penalty kicks in Portland the one year and you look at the overtime goal that we got the one year up here at Starfire [Sports Stadium]. So you need a break or two along the way but that’s what you’re looking for and then a good team can take that break and be able to use it.”

(On if it is assumed that the prize to winning the U.S. Open Cup is entry into the Champions League play-in next year…) “Yeah, it’s entry into the play-in, but we’d like to do a little more than just play-in. So that means we’ll have to do a little more in the MLS playoffs this year.”

(On if he changed anything at halftime…) “No. All we talked about at halftime is that we felt that they were holding a high line, so that we felt we could get in behind their defense. We could look to play a little more direct at times. At times I thought we were a little too direct, but we felt that we wanted [Mike] Fucito and even Lamar [Neagle] – because they both have good pace – to check and go a little bit more and to try and get them play in behind the defense, so that was important to us. The other thing we talked about was simply not to get countered on because they’re a team when we had a corner or a free kick they tried to come out very quickly and tried to counter on us. But tactically we had to bring on Erik Friberg for Alvaro Fernandez because he had a slight concussion – that’s what the doctor told us, so we had to pull him off at halftime. That changes us a little bit too because then we wanted [Brad] Evans and Friberg to interchange a little bit more. Erik plays it more as a midfielder than a winger, so that allowed Lamar to push on a little bit more as well.”

(On defending Chicago’s attack…) “Well, I think we did a lot of little things. We talked about making sure that their defenders, and primarily Pavel Pardo didn’t have a chance to lift his head and hit those long balls in behind. I thought [Brad] Evans did a really good job. Sometimes we were stretched in midfield, but I thought he [Evans] did a really good job of stepping up to Pavel. I think when you look at the 90 minutes it was a rare occasion that he was able to hit a ball behind our defense, he was able to go back and square. With Fredy [Montero] and [Mike] Fucito we wanted the same from them and I thought they did a great job of that. And then we said if there’s no pressure let’s make sure we drop off and I thought [Jeff] Parke and [Jhon Kennedy] Hurtado of getting that head start as they defended. They didn’t wait for the ball to get hit, they saw that, ‘Hey, there’s no pressure,’ so they started running and advancing the pass. So I thought we limited the space behind us. I think maybe only three occasions in the whole 90 minutes where they were looking like they were dangerous getting behind us.”

(On how they have been so successful playing in multiple competitions with lots of travel…) “Well, it’s tremendous. Our depth has been good all year and different guys have stepped up and contributed at different times. That’s just a reflection of our team. We have a lot of stars on this team, but the star of the team is the team. They know that, ‘OK, today it’s Fredy’s turn to score and the next day it’s going to be Flaco’s [Alvaro Fernandez] turn to score, and the next day it’s going to be Lamar Neagle’s turn to score, and different people…and Kasey [Keller] chips in a save here and there and everything works out.’ But I think our depth and being able to balance so many competitions is a tribute to what the club has been able to build up over three years and the improvement of players in that three year period of time.”

(On if there is a psychology involved that is different than a normal week in preparing for a Cup final…) “I mean the players, the players bring that in their makeup and in their constitution. So you talk about it and you realize the importance of the game and as we’ve gone through these series of games we’ve tried to talk about games in three or four game blocks and say, ‘This is an important game. This is what this game does.’ Maybe New England [Revolution] are not so important in our minds at that point because we have an important game here, so we’ve tried to balance all that. But at the end of the day, I can stand on my head in the locker room and spin around on a top. What’s going to motivate them is themselves inside. They get out and they motivate themselves and they get it done. There’s a lot of special people that they know who support them and I think the biggest motivation of all for me at the end of that game, as all the players are gathered on the field, is just looking up at the stands and seeing everybody still there waiting for us to get presented the trophy. Everybody else waited, except for that one little Chicago corner. But I think that’s a reflection of what we play for every day and what gets us motivated every day. The fans are superb.”

Jeff Parke – Sounders FC Defender
(On his almost-goal that Montero eventually scored…) “Any way it goes in. It’s be nice to score, but Fredy got it and knocked it in.”

(On if they thought it wasn’t their night after two shots hitting the post…) “I didn’t want to believe it. I was thinking that a little bit, but then I was like, ‘We’re gonna knock one in and open this game up.’”

(On if he and the team prefers the south end of the field…) “I guess I can see the ball a little better in that corner.”

(On how the defense neutralized Chicago’s speed up front…) “We just gave them a little space and talked a lot. It goes to our midfield, they got after their midfield and didn’t let them pick their head up too long and took those guys out. Hats off to our midfield, they did really well, and the back line did well, as well.”

(On what was the key to the game…) “It was the pressure. The pressure definitely never quit on them. We didn’t make it easy for them, and it showed because they didn’t play too many balls over the top and when they did, we were there.”

(On how hard it is to play so many knock-out games…) “It’s tough, but you get used to it. Some of the guys get a bit more mature, they get used to the level of the play. We’ve got plenty of guys that do so good and have been in these big moments before.”

Brad Evans – Sounders FC Midfielder
(On the play of the midfielders…) “They looked for the long ball first and foremost, so we talked about before the game, ‘Let’s make their backs play as much as possible, especially [Dan] Gargan,’ so I think we did a good job of that. I think we stepped up. [Pavel] Pardo wasn’t really involved until the middle of the second half-early in the second half. We did a good job, but a player like that is going to find his way into the game somehow. Other than that I thought we did a pretty good job in midfield.”

(On neutralizing Chicago’s better players…) “We talk about that every game. You look at a [Landon] Donovan or a [David] Beckham, whatever it is, you try to make them play square or backwards as much as possible. So tonight, we knew that their two forwards were going to look for the ball behind, so we closed the service. It’s kind of a little bit of math, I guess. I thought we did a good job.”

(On the emotional aspect of winning this game…) “I think the most important thing is that we’re all in this together, regardless. At some point, everybody has played a part in this tournament or this season. We’ve got a deep team, and like I said, everybody’s played part. It’s a testament to our team and these guys, and it’s great to win for guys that can’t be involved.”

(On celebrating in front of the home crowd…) “It’s insane. Once they started getting into it in the second half, I knew we were going to get a goal for sure. Once we get one, we get two. They were insane tonight, so it was awesome.”

(On the togetherness of this team…) “It pays dividends. Hopefully this pays dividends down the line. We can get the Supporter’s Shield with that other result tonight, so we’ll celebrate this for a couple days, but we have a big game Saturday. If we can get three points there and catch some ground again, we put ourselves in a good position to possibly get the Supporter’s Shield and carry this to the MLS Cup.”

(On if the game got a little rough in the second half…) “When you’re down 1-0, you try to do anything you can to scrape a goal somehow. You expect it, it’s part of the game, but it’s great to see everybody fired up.”

(On winning after such a long trip…) “In a game like this, you throw travel out the window. You don’t even think about it. It doesn’t play a part. I don’t think anybody was thinking we had tired legs or anything.”

(On Osvaldo Alonso’s goal…) “It was ridiculous. I thought for sure he was going to shoot, then he took another touch…unbelievable. Couldn’t have happened to a better player, better person. It’s fitting.”

Kasey Keller – Sounders FC Goalkeeper
(On winning a championship…) “To be able to win a cup, at any time, is a tremendous feeling. To win a league, unfortunately I haven’t been able to win a league yet, hopefully we still have a chance at that. Whenever you get a chance to lift a trophy, you know it’s a special occasion. We were so disappointed that first year, that we weren’t able to host the final–we thought we deserved it, we thought our fans deserved it–but we had a great travel support to D.C. and we were able to win there. Then last year, can we get back here and be able to host the event and win it in front of our fans, which we were able to do, break all kinds of records for MLS Open Cup. Then to think, can we do this a third time and host it once again?”

(On playing the game at home…) “I don’t think you can take away from the fact our ownership group is willing to out-bid to get us home draws. The tremendous atmosphere we have at Starfire for games is a huge advantage to us. You can’t look only at the team, it’s a total club effort to have days like this. Big thanks to them. Then what do our fans do? They come down here and break their own record from last year, but what makes it even more special, is something from day one–it’s one thing to have a great crowd…but to be able to back it up and be successful for that crowd is something that I’m so proud of in these last three years that we’ve been able to accomplish.”

(On the differences from last year…) “There was a little bit different feeling last year. We left it kind of late. I think we had such a huge relief after qualifying for the playoffs, we kind of let down a little bit. You say, ‘How is that possible?’ Sometimes you have that subconscious that’s like, ‘We made it. Okay.’ The goal this year was different. We’ve been up there all year…We knew we were going to make the playoffs… We’re ready this year to go as far as we possibly can, and that’s a cool mentality that we’ve had.”

Fredy Montero – Sounders FC Forward
(On not being able to score until late in the game…) “Our expectations were always high and they were very positive. We kept trying and trying again until that first goal arrived, and were going to keep trying and trying again until that first goal arrived.”

(On the atmosphere…) “As our coach said, we have the opportunity to make history. We were able to do it not just for our families, but also our fans, and now we have to keep looking forward to the next cups and wins that we have ahead.”

Frank Klopas – Chicago Fire Coach
(General thoughts…) “First I want to congratulate Seattle for winning a third U.S. Open Cup, so congratulations to them. The game, obviously, didn’t turn out how we wanted it to, still very proud of the effort our guys put in. We knew that it was going to be a difficult match, for sure. It’s not an easy place to come and play. I thought the first half we had moments where we had some rhythm into the game, but never got anything going through the midfield or with our front-runners. I think the second half, we talked about that and tried to get the midfield involved more, develop some rhythm in the play, get our front-runners with their movement to work a little better together. We gave up the set-piece goal, then we tried to push the game and obviously at that point it was late and we were pushing forward and they scored a second goal. I’m proud of the effort from our group, obviously disappointed because we put a lot into the game. We just have to focus on the next game coming up in the league against Dallas at home.”

(On why they weren’t able to get any rhythm…) “I think they did a very good job defensively, for sure…I don’t know if our movement off the ball wasn’t great, I don’t know if they threw us off a little bit, I don’t want to use excuses. I just think we never got rhythm. We had a little bit of a momentum change in the first half then it just seemed that we didn’t get that back and our front-runners didn’t seem to work well off each other.”

(On Seattle having the home-field advantage…) “What can I tell you? That’s the way they do it, maybe if they find a better solution when it’s a neutral site, I couldn’t tell you. It was an opportunity. I know that we did everything we could to get it. It would have been great to play at home, but regardless it’s a final, and things that aren’t in my control I can’t worry about that.”

(On what he can take from the game…) “I liked the effort of the group. I know we felt good coming into the game. We were in a rhythm, we were playing well. Every game is going to be different. I liked the attitude of the guys going in. I know they competed hard and they left everything on the field, but we still have to keep working now for the guys to be gelling more on the field. In situations like this, I can find better solutions to get more involved in the game. There’s always going to be positives.”

Logan Pause – Chicago Fire Midfielder
(On the game…) “It’s disappointing. We came here to win. We were under the gun all night. They’re a great team, one of the best in the league. It was a great atmosphere and home field advantage. The better team won tonight unfortunately.”
(On what the team’s overall issue was tonight…) “We struggled to get things going offensively and struggled to create chances. You end up defending for a good portion of the game, which is what it felt like we were doing. They hit the post a couple of times and we dodged a few bullets. On the set piece, we know they’re dangerous. They got a knock down tap in and from then on we had to push the game. Then they got the second assurance goal at the end.”
(On what the team needs to do in its final MLS games in its push to make the playoffs…) “We need remember what the last five or six games have looked like, and the results that we’ve gotten, and try to carry that momentum. As a group, we’re not happy with the result. We wanted to win and hoist that trophy, but at the end of the day, we now have to refocus. We know we have a couple of teams to catch so we have to take care of our business and need wins at this stage.”

Sean Johnson – Chicago Fire Goalkeeper
(On the game…) “First off, caps off to the Sounders for playing a great game. We came into the game knowing it would be a battle. We fought hard the first 45 and kept it close. In the second half, they had a bit of fortune on their side. They got open on the set piece and (Fredy) Montero was able to finish it off. To cap it off, the last goal by (Osvaldo) Alonso out there was world class. I’m proud of my team for the effort we put forth. It’s never easy coming out of a game, especially a championship, with a loss, having worked so hard to get here. We have to look forward now. We have three games left in our season so we have to finish our season strong and try to push for the playoffs.”

(On if the pressure was increasing as the second half went on…) “The longer it went scoreless, given the circumstances, the better for us. Pressure, I didn’t really feel pressure in the game to be honest. There was about a 15-minute period where Seattle really pressed and I think at the end of that period they got their goal. There are no words to explain going down off a set piece and then trying to push forward to get a goal. We left ourselves open, but you have to take the chance – it’s a championship game. It was a hard-fought game and I’m proud of our team, proud of our effort. We’ll try to look forward now.”

(On the team struggling to find its rhythm in the first half…) “We did seem a bit disconnected going from defense to midfield then midfield up top. We were able to get out of the half 0-0 and that’s the most important thing. When you’re not playing like you want to you try to do the best you can and just work hard to get out of the situation. I thought we came out in the second half and played a lot better. They were just fortunate to go up a goal and then we were pressing, pressing. They were able to finish the game off with the late goal.”

(On what was missing tonight…) “To be honest, it was just one of those nights. Everybody fought hard. You’d have loved to get up and score early on team like this, especially away. We were confident going into the second half. I thought we played a bit better and picked it up a bit. All I can say is, on the night, we played hard and just came up a little short.”

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

Osvaldo Alonso's brace sends Seattle to the knockout stage. (Chris Coulter photo)

Two timely goals by Osvaldo Alonso leveled Sounders FC with Comunicaciones in the 5th match of the CONCACAF Champions League. The Cuban’s 88th minute goal, even the match a two and gave Seattle 1 point in the Group Table assuring them a first or second place standing.

Club Report
GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala – Seattle Sounders FC clinched advancement to the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal next March with a 2-2 draw against CSD Comunicaciones in the fifth round of group play on Tuesday night at Estadio Cemetos Progreso.

Osvaldo Alonso netted a brace for Seattle, both equalizing goals in the dying minutes of either half. His second leveler came in the 89th minute.

Sounders FC (3-1-1, 10 points) remains atop Group D and clinched advancement out of the group stage for the first time in club history.

Comunicaciones (2-2-1, 7 points) are now in third place after CF Monterrey (3-2-0, 9 points) beat CS Herediano (1-4-0, 3 points) tonight, 1-0.

Seattle will host Mexico’s Monterrey in the final Champions League group stage match on the Xbox Pitch at CenturyLink Field on October 18. Kickoff is 7 p.m. PT.

Transito Montepeque opened the scoring for Comunicaciones in the 7th minute. Montepeque ran onto a ball played over the Seattle backline by Carlos Mejia and chipped it over Kasey Keller, dipping just under the crossbar.

Sounders FC equalized shortly before halftime. A long throw-in by Zach Scott bounced in the box until an attempted clearance fell to Alonso just inside the box. Alonso blasted a shot that ricocheted off a defender and slipped inside the near post.

Comunicaciones regained the lead in the 64th minute when a corner kick dropped in the box and Rafael Morales’ 6-yard strike found the back of the net.

Alonso supplied the dramatic late equalizer when he struck in the 89th minute. The defense knocked Fredy Montero’s sliding attempt out to Alonso who put the ball past the keeper from 8-yards out.

The brace marked the first two CCL goals for Alonso and he now has five in all competitions this season.

Montero hit the crossbar with a shot from 18-yards in the 85th minute and Comunicaciones’ Bryan Ordonez hit the frame with an overhead attempt from a corner kick in the 18th minute

Seattle had two early shots in the 9th minute that were saved as keeper Juan Paredes first denied Lamar Neagle’s attempt, then tipped Montero’s volley over the crossbar.

Montero sent another dangerous shot on frame in the 36th minute but Paredes dived and his outstretched hand tipped the ball around the post.

Mike Fucito had a pair of scoring opportunities in the second half as he sent a long-range shot just over the crossbar in the 54th minute and was then denied by Paredes in the 61st minute on a breakaway.

Seattle went unbeaten (2-0-1) on the road in group stage play. The match was the first draw in Group D.

Jhon Kennedy Hurtado was issued his second yellow card of the competition and will miss the final round.

Erik Friberg made his first appearance since suffering a hip flexor strain against Real Salt Lake on September 10.

Sounders FC will travel north to Foxborough, Mass. on Saturday night to face the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium. KONG 6/16 will televise the match live beginning at 4:30 p.m. PT. Seattle then returns home for a four-match home stand on the Xbox Pitch at CenturyLink field that begins on October 4 when Seattle hosts the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final versus the Chicago Fire. First kick is 7 p.m. PT.

Seattle Sounders FC at CSD Comunicaciones
September 27, 2011 – Estadio Cementos Progreso, Guatemala City, Guatemala

Goals by Period
1
2
Tot
CSD Comunicaciones
1
1
2
Seattle Sounders FC
1
1
2

Scoring Summary:
COM – Transito Montepeque (Carlos Mejia) 7′
SEA – Osvaldo Alonso 44′
COM – Rafael Morales 64′
SEA – Osvaldo Alonso 89′

CSD Comunicaciones – Juan Paredes, Rafael Morales, Erwin Morales, Carlos Mejia, Dagoberto Arriola, Edgar Martinez, Bryan Ordonez (Abner Trigueros 77′), Carlos Ramirez, Fredy Thompson, Rigoberto Gomez (Jose Del Aguila 45′), Transito Montepeque (Marvin Ceballos 58′).

Substitutes Not Used: Elias Vasquez, Marco Ciani, David Guerra, Hernan Sandoval.

TOTAL SHOTS: 14 (Arriola, 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (3 players, 1); FOULS: 11 (2 players, 3); OFFSIDES: 9 (Montepeque, 4); CORNER KICKS: 2 (2 players, 1); SAVES: 3 (Paredes, 3)

Seattle Sounders FC – Kasey Keller, Zach Scott, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyson Wahl, Alvaro Fernandez, Osvaldo Alonso, Erik Friberg (Servando Carrasco 74′), Lamar Neagle (Nate Jaqua 92+), Mike Fucito (Sammy Ochoa 66′), Fredy Montero.

Substitutes Not Used: David Estrada, Taylor Graham, Josh Ford, Amadou Sanyang.

TOTAL SHOTS: 26 (Montero, 10); SHOTS ON GOAL: 5 (Alonso, 2); FOULS: 11 (Friberg, 3); OFFSIDES: 3 (Fucito, 2); CORNER KICKS: 3 (Fucito, 2); SAVES: 1 (Keller, 1)

Misconduct Summary:
COM – Erwin Morales (caution; Reckless Tackle) 75′
SEA – Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (caution; Foul) 87′

Referee: Roberto Garcia
Referee’s Assistants: Alejandro Ayala; Victor Calderon
4th Official: Jorge Gasso
Time of Game: 1:50
Weather: Chance of showers/thunderstorm

All Statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial

POSTGAME QUOTES – Sounders FC at Comunicaciones

Sigi Schmid – Sounders FC Head Coach
(On earning a point…) “We are very happy with the tie. We knew we at least needed to get points here…I thought we made a couple of mistakes that were uncharacteristic of us, especially with Kasey Keller making that kind of mistake. I think we bailed him out tonight. But we are very, very happy.”

(On the game…) “Our goal as a team was to tie. Comunicaciones was playing a lot of long balls in behind so we had to do a better job of making sure we ran and got to those long balls. Our team has very good character so I was very confident that we could come and tie the game. I think we have the most come-from-behind wins and ties in our league. It’s in the character of this team.”

(On Comunicaciones…) “I think Comunicaciones played very well. They played with tremendous heart and desire. It was very evident that they were playing with a lot of emotion. I think they played better than they played us in Seattle, for sure. And then the early goal helps them. We had some chances, didn’t get one, finally got one. I thought Comunicaciones did a good job, had a good game plan, was a little more direct than maybe we would have expected, but I thought they were very dangerous.”

Osvaldo Alonso – Sounders FC Midfielder
(On scoring two goals…) “I’m very happy. I’m very proud of myself. We get a result tonight. We get to advance to the next round, which is good for the team.”

(On importance of the game to him…) “For me, unbelievable. [...] Now, the main focus for me is to keep winning as we go into the next round. [...] Now everybody is happy. Everybody is proud of us. So now we keep going.”

(On his goal celebration after first goal…) “I did that because … it’s my wife’s birthday. I’m very happy for that. I think it’s good for her.”

Tyson Wahl – Sounders FC Defender
(On the importance of the result…) “Obviously it’s an exciting time for the team. We are kind of set up to do that this year. Last year we weren’t satisfied with our performances in this tournament so this year I think we really showed our depth, showed how we have grown and matured as a team and the expectations keep on rising and we are meeting the new high expectations. So I think we are all excited. It was a sloppy tonight. It was definitely raining hard but we got the job done. Ozzie obviously had timely goals and we made it interesting. We come out of here with a tie and advance, good times.”

(On Osvaldo Alonso…) “Even though he doesn’t score most the goals he’s our most valuable player. I think if you ask anyone else they would say that. So even if he is not scoring goals he is making a difference elsewhere. Tonight he was finishing off some of his chances so it’s good.”

(On the defense…) “I think we had some miscommunication issues. Sometimes we were stepping when we should have been just dropping off. As I said they were really looking to get behind us. On the first goal it could’ve been offside, I’d like to look at it. We definitely should have been backing off a little bit more. In the second half I feel like we cleaned it up a little bit.”

(On looking forward…) “We are looking to continuing our success in league and getting shutouts.”

(On the equalizing goal…) “It was chaotic from what I remember. I was just trying to get forward and get involved. It was on the right side. The ball bounced kind of on a deep cross, popped over Sammy [Ochoa] and a couple other guys, came to me, I trapped it. I played a short ball into Sammy and I think he ended up shooting it and knocking it back to Ozzie, maybe, from my memory. I was just trying to push forward and make something happen. I was just trying to get in a cross and the ball popped out to me and I put it back in there. Sammy did a good job backing into guys and holding the ball up for us.”

The win improves Seattle’s record to 15-6-9 (54pts) and secured the club’s claim to the Cascadia Cup.

Full Story from the club…
A pair of Fredy Montero goals in the second half was the difference in a 3-1 Sounders FC victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps FC in the final game in Vancouver’s Empire Field. Seattle’s win also clinches the Cascadia Cup, the battle for bragging rights in the Pacific Northwest between Seattle, Vancouver, and Portland.

Sounders FC (15-6-9, 54 points) is second in the Western Conference behind the LA Galaxy. They clinched a playoff spot after yesterday’s draw between Kansas City and Philadelphia.

The loss for Vancouver (4-15-10, 22 points) snaps a two-game home winning streak. They remain last in the Western Conference standings. They move into their new stadium, the BC Place Stadium, in their next match on October 2 against Portland.

After the Whitecaps took a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute on a Camilo goal, the Rave Green tied the score before the half on a Brad Evans penalty kick in the 32nd minute.

In the second half, Montero took over. In a four-minute span, he made the score 3-1 on a pair of beautiful goals. First, in the 63rd, he controlled a bouncing ball at the top of the box, faked a shot with his right foot, cut to his left, then shot with his left foot into the top left corner of the net, out of keeper Joe Cannon’s reach. Just minutes later, Montero again shot from the top of the box and was deflected by Vancouver defender Jay DeMerit up and over the reach of Cannon for a goal. Montero’s two goals tonight now give him nine for the season, now ahead of Alvaro Fernandez for the team-lead in MLS play.

Evans’ equalizing PK goal in the first half resulted from a DeMerit hand ball in the box. After Cannon saved a Montero shot from the left side, the ball came to Fernandez, whose follow-up shot was saved when DeMerit blocked the shot with his arm. Evans pounded the PK into the right side of the net as Cannon guessed left.

As for the Whitecaps goal, Davide Chiumiento took a one-touch pass from former Sounder Peter Vagenas and got behind the Seattle on the right side of the box. He then hit Camilo with a quick pass and he one-timed it in.

Sammy Ochoa made his MLS debut when he subbed in for Nate Jaqua in the 66th minute, then almost scored in the 85th when he headed a Montero free kick off the right crossbar for an almost-goal. Ochoa made his Sounders FC debut in the CONCACAF Champions League match against Herediano Tuesday night after being signed August 26.

Sounders keeper Kasey Keller had another stellar night. He had a pair of fantastic back to back plays in the 18th minute–first he punched a ball clear off a Vancouver corner kick, then a fantastic point-blank save when Vancouver forward Michael Boxall got the ball behind the defense–and an athletic diving save in the 55th on an Eric Hassli strike.

Despite not scoring, Lamar Neagle made his presence known. In the 48th minute, he rocketed a deep shot from outside the top left corner of the box that curved on mark but banged off the crossbar. He again hit the woodwork in the 89th minute after a hard shot from the right side of the box that hit the right post.

Sounders FC will fly from Vancouver to Dallas and then to Guatemala for their Champions League match against Communicaciones on September 27th. Their next MLS match is October 1st at New England.

Seattle Sounders (15-6-9) vs. Vancouver Whitecaps (4-15-10)
September 24, 2011 — Empire Field

Goals by Period
1
2
Tot
Seattle Sounders
1
2
3
Vancouver Whitecaps
1
0
1

Scoring Summary:
VAN — Camilo 9 (Davide Chiumiento 9, Peter Vagenas 1) 22
SEA — Brad Evans 5 (PK) 32
SEA — Fredy Montero 8 (unassisted) 63
SEA — Fredy Montero 9 (unassisted) 67

Vancouver Whitecaps– Joe Cannon, Jonathan Leathers (Jeb Brovsky 46), Jay DeMeric, Michael Boxall, Jordan Harvey, Davide Chiumiento, Gershon Koffie, Peter Vagenas, Camilo, Eric Hassli (Long Tan 81), Mustapha Jarju (Shea Salinas 58).

Substitutes Not Used: Philippe Davies, Greg Janicki, Omar Salgado, Jay Nolly.

TOTAL SHOTS: 17 (Mustapha Jarju 5); SHOTS ON GOAL: 7 (Camilo 2); FOULS: 15 (Eric Hassli 5); OFFSIDES: 1 (Hassli 1); CORNER KICKS: 7 (Camilo 7); SAVES: 5 (Joe Cannon 5)

Seattle Sounders — Kasey Keller, Zach Scott, Jeff Parke Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leo Gonzalez, Alvaro Fernandez (David Estrada 79, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Lamar Neagle, Nate Jaqua (Sammy Ochoa 66), Fedy Montero.

Substitutes Not Used: Servando Carrasco, Mike Fucito, Patrick Ianni, Michael Tetteh, Josh Ford.

TOTAL SHOTS: 21 (Fredy Montero 7); SHOTS ON GOAL: 8 (Fredy Montero 5); FOULS: 9 (Nate Jaqua 2, Fredy Montero 2, Jeff Parke 2); OFFSIDES: 1 (Fredy Montero 1); CORNER KICKS: 5 (Fredy Montero 4); SAVES: 6 (Kasey Keller 6)

Misconduct Summary:
SEA — Brad Evans (caution; dissent) 30
VAN — Jay DeMerit (caution; hand) 32
VAN — Eric Hassli (caution; reckless foul) 70
SEA — Jeff Parke (caution; reckless foul) 37

Referee: Jair Maruffo
Referee’s Assistants: Corey Rockwell, Frank Anderson
4th Official: Paul Ward
Attendance: 21,000
Time of Game: 1:50
Weather: Cloudy-and-68-degrees

*All stats are unnoficial*