Brian Mullan received Seattle’s most sporting welcome for visiting the Sounders at CenturyLink last Saturday. He was given a proper loud greeting. The kind of traditional Seattle sports greeting reserved by fans of the Seahawks 12th Man, Mariners fans at Safeco, and Sounders Emerald City Supporters for players who’ve become villans of Supersonic City.
Who is Clay Bennett, and who are the Oklahoma City Thunder? For the “Daily Double”, Alex?
There was a large media build up to Mullan’s visit. Yet for all the hype, there wasn’t much to report between Seattle’s fans and Mullan. Except noise. It wasn’t a situation you would characterize as, “much ado about nothing”. But the boo-jeering of Mullan remained tame. Even expected.
From player introductions, to every touch of the ball, until exiting the pitch, Brian Mullan was greeted and jeered with boos for his slide tackle last April, that broke Steve Zakuani's right leg, nearly ending his career.
Mullan strolled into Seattle from the rocky mountains of Commerce City, Colorado. Home of the Rapids. From the edge of town to every turn of the street he was reminded of the sad and heavy-handed incident with Zakuani a year ago. Fans came, fans saw, and fans booed. There were no surprises.
America’s western ethos is alive and true in Major League Soccer. At least when it comes to the Rave Green supporters of Seattle.
How the match was won. Heroes and villans.
Seattle’s fans did what good sporting fans are supposed to do. From lineup introductions for the purple-clad visitors from Colorado, fans picked out the one true villan. Brian Mullan was given more than a traditional “who?”, during player introductions. ”Who?”, is a pre-match jeer for visiting soccer players as their names are announced. For Brian Mullan, the usual “who?” was followed by a bravado-chorus of “boo”. That greeting echoed the entire match whenever Mullan touched the ball.
Brian Mullan had other plans. In the 33rd minute Omar Cummings shot a solid strike at Seattle’s goal. The ball deflected off Sounders’ Keeper, Michael Gspurning’s hands. Mullan swooped in from his right-wing post and worked his way into the center of the Sounders 6-yard box. Seeing the deflection, he raced forward, knocking the loose ball into the net.
Alex Rodriquez was almost set free. For an instant, Seattle’s most disliked sporting-villan appeared to be released. This vision was quickly vanquished by the assistant referee who flagged the play offside.
In all fairness to Mullan, he was one of the more positive, forward moving playmakers on the Rapids during the match.
In the end, it was one of the more unlikely Sounders who stepped forward into the role of hero. Zach Scott turned a 63rd minute corner from fellow newcomer, Alex Caskey into the far corner of Colorado’s net. Scott’s snap-flick header, came from Caskey’s left-sided corner. As the ball curled in to the box, Scott escaped his defensive marker. Creating a seam of space to run towards the near post and meet the ball before it could be whipped away by Colorado’s defensive grinders.
The game winner was Scott’s first goal in Major League Soccer. The hard working, and longtime Sounders veteran defender had coach, Sigi Schmid contemplating after the match if any Sounder would be more unlikely to score. ”Michael Gspurning. (Sounders Goalkeeper) I think he’d probably be a little more unlikely”.
Scott started playing for the Sounders in 2002 before they were promoted to MLS in 2009 from their A-League/USL-1 days. Teammate Roger Levesque, and Assistant Coach, Brian Schmetzer are the other two standouts from the clubs older era.
Zach Scott’s “Man of the Match” reward was shared with longtime fans. Sending 38,000 riding home into the happy sunset.
You can also find my work at SeattlePI.com in The Seattle Sounders Fan Blog section.
