Can Sounders Write History vs Tigres

12 03 2013

Tigres UANLWhen was the last time you heard of fans celebrating a loss?

That could happen Tuesday night if Sounders FC defeat Tigres UANL at CenturyLink Field in the second leg of the CONCACAF Quarterfinal series. With Tigres leading 1-nil after the first leg last Wednesday in Monterrey, Mexico, Sounders FC will need two goals to make the near impossible become strange reality.

Seattle was outshot 18-3. But a veteran defensive effort from Leo Gonzalez and Djimi Traore, along with a stand-on-his-head effort by Keeper, Micheal Gspurning, kept the final score close.

Djimi Traore is the Sounders most recent acquisition. Most noted for his European Champions League title in 2005 with Liverpool.

The first leg was hard-fought. In the end, right back, Leo Gonzalez simply couldn’t make enough spectacular goal line clearances. None more notable than his third minute kick save on the line.

The lone goal for Tigres came in the 73rd minute. Alberto Acosta placed a set piece over Seattle’s defense to Lucas Lobos. His strike on frame was again knocked away by Gspurning. Unfortunately, Alan Pulido was able to push forward and head home the first leg winner.

The Sounders came home only a goal down. Facing Tigres in the second leg Tuesday, they have everything to play for. A pair of goals, OT miracle, or PK (Penalty Kick) glory are all possible.

If the Sounders win Tuesday night against Tigres, pulling off the undisputed upset of the 2013 CONCACAF Champions League, then last weeks first leg loss could go down in sports lore as one of the greatest, most celebrated losses.

If a publisher is reading, and the Sounders win Tuesday, we can discuss a deal for the book,

“The time we went to Mexico, fought to a loss, and came home a champion”

© 2013 Sales on Sounders by Ryan J Sales


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Categories : The Full 90

LA Confidence – LA Galaxy at Seattle Sounders FC

2 05 2012

Robbie Keane, Landon Donovan, David Beckham of LA Galaxy - 2011 MLS Cup Defending Champions

The 2011 Major League Soccer Champions, LA Galaxy are in town for a midweek mash-up with the Sounders tomorrow at Century Link Field.  Coming off an impressive 2-1 grind-it-out Chicago-style win against the Fire last weekend, the Sounders are ready to go from one melee to another.

Come game time, 7 pm Wednesday evening, Seattle’s streets should be quieted from the May Day mess.  Seattle suffered a WTO, circa 1999 relapse on Tuesday.  A May Day protest became dangerous when protestors began doing damage to downtown Seattle businesses.  While other rally’s around Seattle throughout the day were successful in being peaceful.  One disrespectful group of protestors took up news time and headlines when they caused the city and businesses thousands of dollars of damage.

As for the Windy-City scuffle that took place after last Saturday’s match with Chicago Fire, Eddie Johnson was the only Sounder to suffer any repercussions.  So far.  Johnson was issued and undisclosed fine for an inappropriate gesture.  Which he followed with an apology posted on Prost Amerika.  Chicago’s Jalil Anibaba’s two footed, studs up tackle to Leo Gonzalez at the end of the match started the pushing.  He was issued a red card along with Fire coach Frank Klopas.

The Sounders are off to their hottest start, going 4-W, 1-L, 1-D over their first 6 matches.  LA is only simmering at 3-W, 3-L, 1-D.  Some clubs might be intimidated by the Sounders resourceful start, and fever-pitched home crowds.  The star-studded Galaxy are not one of those teams.

As successful as the Sounders have been against the Fire 4-W, 0-L, 3-D.  LA Galaxy have been nearly as successful against the Sounders.  Galaxy last lost to the Sounders during an LA trip in their inaugural season.  Since then, LA has defeated the Sounders four times, drawing once.  Two of those losses were in the 2010 MLS Playoffs.  Which includes the memorable Edson Buddle 35 yard wonder-strike.  Seattle have defeated LA the last two years in US Open Cup play, but that has not been the Galaxy’s priority.  They proved that by winning the MLS Cup last November.

No red carpet treatment from Sounders supporters for the eclectic entourage of soccer stars included on the Galaxy.  David Beckham, Landon Donovan, Edson Buddle, and Robbie Keane.  LA’s lineup looks like an all-star cast.

Seattle has found it’s Estrada and wants its Montero to.  David Estrada has scored 4 goals.  Finding net 5 times this year.  Only three can be solidly credited to him.  Who cares.  When he shoots, the ball finds net.  It may go off a few people before reaching the netting, but that is what is meant when a forward has a knack for net.  Estrada is that man.  Montero has yet to score.  It took him 7 matches last year.  So, timing is ripe for Montero to join Estrada’s knack..

LA is still the class measuring stick.  They play the closet to a top class brand of international soccer of any MLS club.  The pressure and weight from the desire of the Sounders to conquer them, and please home fans has become giant.  When pressure is off, and the Sounders are gliding, and playing in-form US Open Cup soccer, the Galaxy can’t compete.  Being knocked out by the Sounders the last two years in a row.  But when Seattle plays LA in regular season or playoff matches, the pressure seems to bite the Sounders.

Sebastian Le Toux is still the only Sounders player, past or present to score against the Galaxy at home.  That was May of 2009.  The Sounders are due for LA goals at home.  I believe the best cure for midweek blues is scoring goals that defeat the defending champion.

© 2012 Sales on Sounders by Ryan J Sales


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Categories : The Full 90

Dear Santa, It’s a Sounders Christmas Wish

1 09 2010

Imagine it is Christmas Day.  Then imagine you are 7 years old, or 5, maybe 6, even 4 will do.  Your “Dear Santa”, Christmas wish letter, written in crayon scribbled clarity surely reached the North Pole by now?  You ache for Christmas morning.  Despite a short dream of marshmallows, candy canes, mom singing Christmas carols, ninja reindeer, and a rocket bobsled.  It was a sleepless night.  Your aching for morning reaches climax.  You explode from your bed into spirals of clothes.  In a single thrust and splat you are downstairs.  Is there proof he came?  The cookie you left him?  Oh yes, it is gone alright.  The sprinkled crumbs over a short scribbled note written on the napkin you left him, are absolute proof.  ”Ho, Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas”.  Presents are stacked, wrapped in sparkle, flicker, and bows all around the tree.  Definite absolute proof.  He was here.  Now that his presence delivering presents has been proved, it is only about one present.  The one you cast your wish for.  The one you took time to specifically write him for.  The one you wish for above all others.  Did he get your letter?  Did it get to the North Pole in time?  Was it lost in a blizzard?  You lost sleep over this one.  Over everything else, you want this one.  Concept of space and time is useless.  You feel swirled and stuck, captured in still life with Christmas tree and aching desire.  Then comes the joyful misery of outrageous and extensive morning ceremony.  You die a little with each firework-flashbulb-snapshot of pleasantry.  Nothing.  Your letter was lost.  Your letter didn’t matter.  Santa never even read it.  It is over as quickly as it came.  Your wish got lost up the chimney.  Then, through the blur of misery and spectacle a voice says, “did you see the one in the corner?”  Nothing was missed.  This thought confuses you.  Is this ridicule?  With your cosmic accurate radar, ultra powered precision laser beam, and brain inserted sonar present detector there is no possible way you missed, “the one in the corner”.  Like a police officer on duty, you oblige the voice, turn to the corner and walk toward it like a cowboy in a sundown showdown.  There will be no ridicule here.  A child’s lost wish is on the line.  Bundles of bows and torn sparkle paper from the other, mostly fun presents, are pushed aside.  Static electricity, hair standing, you are frightened by the impossibility there is one left in the corner.  You surge forward, “could this really, truly be the one”?  You muse the possibility, for an instant.  Shreds of ribbon and paper fly.  In thrill and delight you reveal, a box.  A box?  Death by ridicule.  You faint.  You have lost all desire to ever, ever wish for anything ever, ever again.  Again the voice.  ”Well, aren’t you curious what’s inside”?  No decorations and lots of heavy tape.  The plainness disappoints you.  The words “Dining Room Dishes” in thick black marker confuses you, especially in a morning of super fantastic spectacular.  In certain defeat you stare down the box.  You poke and pick at the tape with one finger.  Then two. three, both hands join in the sudden scratch and tear of fury from lost hope.  The last shred of tape torn away.  The flaps of the box pulled back.  Christmas tree lights shine inside the box like hundreds of flashlights pointing the way in a dark cave.  Peering inside, doubt and icecap like disappointment slowly melt away.  Something larger than love swells all around you.  It is come true.  This is your Christmas wish.

I have not had the glorious pleasure of celebrating the passing of that moment to a son or daughter.  Challenges in having children has been a dark life challenge.  Yet, in this 41-year-old frame, I’ve found my child’s age in my own unique sports franchise.  No imagining or wishing. It is real, and I am part of it.  I didn’t inherit an existing team.  One entrenched in the local community for generations.  Instead, I’ve been part of starting one.  In Seattle, there is a long settled belief that we are a likely candidate for Soccer Capitol of America.  Our fan base was tops when the Sounders joined the NASL in 1974, and the entire league was crumbling in certain decline when we left a decade later in 1984.  We have been ready and waiting ever since.  Waiting for our Christmas wish to have a “top flight” club.  No “A-League”, no “USL“.  We have wanted only what we felt was the right kind of soccer.  ”Top Flight”, “Premiership”, “Major League”.

2010 US Open Cup

Finally, unwrapped in confetti and fireworks in March 2009, the Sounders jumped out of a plain box sports league, Major League Soccer.  From the start Sounders FC leapt in with international expectations never sought by any US team from any US sport.  Success in Seattle is a self-imposed demand stated above even the most hopeful wishes other franchises have started with.  Winning an MLS Cup league title is not good enough.  Sounders want to be number one in the world.  The first US team to win a FIFA Club World Cup.

As the Sounders battled through the 2009 US Open Cup, every owner and supporter sweated with grasped scarves and crossed fingers.  Would we have winning action to support our wishful words?  In the Sounders final two USL seasons leading up to MLS expansion they made their presence felt in the US Open Cup.  Reaching the semi-final in both 2007 and 2008.  Knocking out a handful of MLS teams in the process.  Then came the start of the 2009 inaugural Major League Soccer season.  Sounders FC started league play going 3-0 and were swept up in a whirlwind of Rave Green hysteria.  Quietly, they began US Open Cup Play-In qualification rounds.  With none of the same excitement and press as the inaugural matches the Sounders qualified for the 2009 US Open Cup.  The matches were played at 5,000 seat Starfire in Tukwila.  The matches sold out but didn’t have the same newsworthiness.  Plus the team was really copying its previous USL achievements.  They pushed all the way to a third straight semi final.  The opponent was the powerful Houston Dynamo.  It appeared a pat on the back was all that was in store for our young MLS franchisee.  Late in stoppage-time, tied 1-1, his head wrapped like a wounded soldier, Nate Jaqua scored the winning goal.  ESPN did not show Nate’s dazzling winning goal on Sports Center.  It should have.  Because forget that it is soccer, forget it was in Tukwila, forget it is only the US Open Cup, it was one of the more entertaining and exciting highlight worthy sports finishes.  After heated debate over where the final would be played, a slighted Sounders FC ownership had to bow to the whims of Major League Soccer’s lovechild DC United.  They would fly to RFK stadium to face the leagues most beloved and storied franchise on its home pitch.  Seattle went on to win 2-1.  Two hundred Sounders fans flew to DC and nearly out roared United’s 20,000.  Winning the 2009 US Open Cup trophy in our inaugural season sent a message to the league that Sounders is more than talk.

With the 2009 US Open Cup victory, Sounders FC gained its first opportunity at international glory.  A 2010 CONCACAF Champions League Play-In match vs Isidro Metapan.  A decent stepping stone for a franchise entering only its second season.  Sounders defeated Isidro Metapan in a 2-leg play-in series for CONCACAF Champions League qualification.  Winning at home 1-0, and drawing away 1-1.  The Sounders won on aggregate goals 2-1.  This placed Seattle into the CONCACAF Champions League group stages.  The Sounders drew Group C with Saprissa, Marathon, and mighty Monterrey of Mexico.  Easily the “group of death” of the 2010 Champions League.   How delicious.  How wishful.  Only season two, and the Sounders play their first meaningful international matches.  The US Open Cup may be as plain-box a tournament as we have in the US.  Little exposure, and “dining room dishes” written on top of the box.  Yet, if you have an ounce of competitive passion in you and believe you know what love for sport is, then this tournament is the best American Christmas wish US Soccer has to offer.

The US Open Cup started in 1914.  One of the oldest tournaments of its type in the world of soccer.  However until Major League Soccer started in 1996, when DC United won the US Open Cup, no team you or I ever heard of had won the tournament.  It allows professional and amateur teams to compete.  Since 1996 when MLS joined, only one non MLS club has won.   The Rochester Raging Rhinos won in 1999.  The Sounders were close in 2007 and 2008.  No other professional American team sport has a competitive tournament like this.  Tournaments where, let’s say, Durham could potentially face the Yankees.  In soccer it happens each year in the US Open Cup.

I wished for this.  An imagination gift.  A plain box club in a plain box league.  Add a Rave Green shirt, a few fireworks and confetti to the sheer magic of 35,000 + fans.  It became everything I wished for.  That one hidden gift in the corner.

In November 2007 I paid $100.00 to become approximately the 670th supporter to reserve 2 seats to a team with no name.  No colors, no players, and not even a completed ownership group.  Drew Carey, while not the primary owner, brought a spark of personal touch rarely seen.  The “Scarf Seattle” campaign turned the concept of a brown box start-up franchise inside out.  Even when Beckham plays, no MLS attendance reaches 30,000.  With the second season completed, the Sounders are closer to an average attendance of 40,000 than most MLS teams are to 25,000.  The Sounders are closer to 40,000 than the LA Galaxy are to 30,000.  The Galaxy even have Landon Donovan and David Beckham.  Yet this Sounders team grows on something bigger than love.  It is connected from city to owner to player to supporter, and anyone who has waited on an unopened wish.  The team loves its fans back.

(Below section was written prior to the the Sounders 2nd US Open Cup Final appearance in as many years against the Columbus Crew.)

Tomorrow, the Sounders have a chance no team in American sports history has ever had.  The chance to open that surprise, wished for package in the corner.  The Yankees have not opened anything like it.  The Cowboys never even looked to see if such a wish was there.  The Steelers have long since had their heads down counting rings.  The Red Wings, all too often thawing octopus.  The Blackhawks still dazed and confused by the end of their Stanley Cup drought.  The Giants are more excited about a possible future Super Bowl in winter in New York, and Red Sox folk are all still writing and publishing stories about how bad things were before they got so great.  Even Jordan never found this plain brown package in the corner.  Tomorrow, Seattle Sounders FC, in year two make their fourth straight US Open Cup semi-final appearance against Chivas USA.  A win for Seattle not only gives them a chance to defend their 2009 title, but to do it playing in front of 36,000 Rave Green supporters at Quest Field.  An additional match not on the schedule at the start of the season.  This could be the cake match.  The wished for gift that only seems to appear as a child.  A childish franchise, the Sounders have an opportunity to play for Everything any team could ever hope for.  Wednesday, September 1st 2010, could be the day.  Why?  A second US Open Cup is a second ticket to international competition in Champions League 2011.  Reach the Knock-Out stages after Group play and the sky is the limit.  World supremacy could be achieved.

It is sport after all.  So from this plain brown box gift in the corner there could just as easily be a broken Christmas day child’s toy.  Or it could also be proof that as adults sometimes something bigger than love, or common understanding exists and springs true from the most unlikely places.  Tomorrow, I ask you to believe.  Even if it is for Chivas USA.  They are 5 years old, and they’ve never won anything.  Believe in this game tomorrow.  It is our country’s cup.  Our US Open Cup.  This is our history and be part of opening it up.  My 5 year-old nephew started Kindergarten today.  I want him to live his dreams.  Maybe I can set an example for him tomorrow in the most unexpected place.  The brown box sport in the corner marked in thick, dark marker, “Soccer”.

March to the Match with US Open Cup

2009 US Open Cup presented to supporters by owners in march to regular season match

This picture is from the Sounders 2009 US Open Cup.  Not an AP photo or from the Getty archive.  This is a photo from my Sounders photo album.  Our owners let us have it to march with in celebration of our 2009 Open Cup victory.  I think of it as Christmas Day 2009.  An average Rave Green match-day with a bunch of usual Sounder FC supporters, marching to an ordinary plain box regular season soccer match.

Love,
Sales on Sounders elf


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Categories : 2010

Portland Calling

30 06 2010

The thump of drums, shower of chants, sling of chainsaw, wash of smoke-bombs, flares, and crazy flag waving fans are not English soccer fans.  It’s Timbers supporters from Portland.  All American baby.  No English derby, this is Emerald City Supporters of Seattle against Timbers Army of Portland.  Vuvuzela will be burned.  This rivalry may look like an English Football Derby, but it’s American as apple pie.  It’s the defending 2009 US Open Cup Champion, Seattle Sounders FC vs Portland Timbers.  A rematch of Seattle’s 2-1 US Open Cup victory over Portland in 2009, played at the same site as this years rematch at PGE Park in downtown Portland.

The US run in the World Cup was pretty fun.  On a scale of 1-10 the Algeria game was an emotional 11.  The game play itself was only an 8.  Then what is a 10, Mr. Sales on Sounders, you ask?  Well, thanks for asking.  My friends, the answer is simple.  It is one of the oldest professional club rivalries in American soccer.  In classic English football terms it is a “derby”.  Tomorrow, Sounders FC travel to PGE Park, squaring off with Portland Timbers and their outrageous supporters, the Timbers Army.  A much-anticipated rematch of Seattle’s 2-1 US Open Cup victory over Portland last year on their way to winning the 2009 US Open Cup.  A great achievement in the Sounders inaugural season.

2009 US Open Cup - As special recognition to Sounders supporters owners had fans take cup in March to the Match

Sounders FC celebrated many historic firsts in their 2009 inaugural season.  Top among these achievements was their 2-1 victory at RFK Stadium, against DC United in the US Open Cup Final.  Taking home their first title and hardware helped establish the Sounders as the winning club they are building to become.  More importantly it opened a door for them in season two to make their first attempt at ascending the highest obtainable height for any club worldwide.  This soccer Everest, is the FIFA Club World Cup.  Clubs qualify by winning their regions Champions League.  The Sounders region is CONCACAF.  The same region the US Mens and Womens National Teams qualify through to reach the World Cup.  The FIFA Club World Cup is annual, while the World Cup is every 4 years.

Portland Timbers old logo

Portland Timbers old logo

In last years US Open Cup against Portland, Roger Levesque scored a stunning, and for Timvers fans, heart breaking first minute goal.  Levesque was already one of the most hated players in Portland for having scored the most goals against them from 2005-2008.  The final 3 years Sounders were in the USL-1 division with Portland.  In his first minute goal, Levesque added kindling to the Timbers fire by adding a celebration mocking one of Portland’s famed rituals.  The Timbers have a Lumberjack for a mascot.  He takes his chainsaw, revs it up and cuts wood, spraying sawdust and smoke into the beer bellowed air of the Timbers Army.  Levesque, being savoy and spiteful, had a teammate act like he had a chainsaw, and proceeded to cut Levesque down.  Levesque fell and was dragged away by other teammates.  It was a well choreographed goal celebration.  One that stirred conversation going into the rematch.  With Portland joining MLS next year, Timbers fans already believe they are as good as the Sounders, and don’t need much motivation to try and prove it.

The Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders rivalry started in 1974.  Last year, even with the teams in different leagues, the US Open Cup match, and Levesque’s goal only had added intensity over past rivalry meetings.  The game earned a featured two page picture in Sports Illustrated a week later.  The game will draw even more attention this year, including TV coverage.  US Open Cup matches are rarely televised as the competition has little advertising.  The intensity of this rivalry and the rematch are some of the best inexpensive advertising the US Open Cup has had.

“Why so serious”? Said the Joker to Batman, in, The Dark Knight.  Well, the US Open Cup will never be bigger than the MLS Cup.  But as people begin to understand soccer more they will see the value in this competition.  It allows potential young stars to gain recognition and compete with older former players, top amateurs, as well as MLS regulars.  Even though a small rural county team may never win the cup.  It is every few years that just such a team will knock out an MLS team, and forever place that team and its community in a spotlight.  I invite everyone to support this type of true community sport.  I hope 10 years from now towns all over the US will compete to host a US Open Cup match.  It is “so serious”, because winning it is one means for a US club to potentially reach the status of best club in the world.  The winner gains an opportunity to play in the CONCACAF Champions League.  The winner of the CONCACAF Champions League earns a berth in the FIFA Club World Cup.  By the Sounders winning the 2009 US Open Cup, they make their first attempt at ascending this great soccer Everest this year.

Lamar Hunt US Open Cup

Lamar Hunt US Open Cup

This is one of our country’s oldest competed for trophy’s dating to 1914.  In 1999 one of the outstanding patrons of the modern competition, Lamar Hunt, was recognized by adding his name to the competition.   The competition is open to all United States Soccer Federation affiliated teams from amateur to professional.  Prior to joining Major League Soccer, the Sounders had not won a US Open Cup, but had a winning record against MLS clubs.  They knocked Chivas USA out of the 2008 US Open Cup 5-1.  Upsets for some reason, well beyond my comprehension of soccer, exist in this sport more than any other I know.  Earlier this year in Spain’s Copa del Rey, (Spain’s version of the US Open Cup), Real Madrid lost 4-0 to Alcorcon.  A team well below Real Madrid’s

Alcorcon

Agrupación Deportiva Alcorcón - Founded 1971

world status.  Could you imagine Boise State beating the Dallas Cowboys in a pre-season game?  Never, ever, ever.  Well, it happens every year in soccer in almost every country.  This last winter I watched Manchester United get knocked out of the FA Cup, on their home pitch, by a second level team.


For Club and For Country

FIFA = Federation Internationale de Football Association

The 6 regions of FIFA
AFC – Asian Football Confederation
CAF – Confederation Africaine de Football
CONCACAF – Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football
CONMEBOL – Confederation Sudamericana de Futbol
OFC – Oceania Football Confederation
UEFA - Union of European Football Associations

National Teams and Clubs play in the same region.  For example, the US Mens and Womens National Teams play in CONCACAF, the same FIFA region as MLS clubs Seattle Sounders FC and LA Galaxy.

And we wonder why World Cup refs can’t get calls right.  Who the heck even knows all the regions?  No wonder US sports stick to conferences like “North”, “South” “East” and “West”  The toughest one we deal with is BCS.  Nice and short, unfortunately no one knows how it actually works.  Well, that is other than how it works annually to deny the University of Utah and Boise State their due National Championships.  Oh, but that’s for a muse of another day.  FIFA is an association established under Swiss law, located in Zurich.  The President is Sepp Blatter.  As far as I can tell, your chances are better to meet the Pope than Sepp.  Unless of course, you are Bill Clinton or Mick Jagger.  Until that happens, the closest your thoughts and comments will get to anyone in FIFA, including Mr. Sepp Blatter, is with my Sales on Sounders comment link below.  Have at it.

Post Match

When a soccer match comes to Penalty Kicks a few things are certain.  Any player still standing after playing a nearly full 130 minutes is physically and mentally running on empty.  The full 90 played out with a few minutes tacked on for stoppages completing the first half, and again at the end of regulation time.  No winner decided.  Two extra time periods of 15 minutes each elapsed, again without a winner emerging.  So, all that is left is guessing right, or guessing wrong.  Simple really.

In 1994 an Italian guessed wrong in the World Cup.  Chances are you don’t know his name.  Baggio stepped up for his PK, (common name for Penalty Kicks) one of the brightest, high-profile Italian stars in European soccer, and his brightest moment was upon him.  Italy and Brazil squared off in the Rose Bowl, in Passedena, for the 1994 World Cup Final.  If Baggio hits his PK, Italy knocks out Brazil.  Confidence is what Baggio is known for as much as any player on the pitch that day.  His shot is confident and strong.  A little too strong.  His shot sails over the crossbar.  Brazil win another World Cup.  I was in Nak-Nek, Alaska working at a fish processing plant.  I saw this Italian go down to the ground.  I thought briefly, “ah too bad for him”, then I jumped up and down with everyone else enjoying the Samba Kings celebration.  His star status shot from the sky.  In the harsh world of soccer, he’s no big deal anymore.  The less likely Brazilian hero, who made his shot, is Dunga, who is coaching the 2010 Brazilian team to another likely appearance in the South Africa final.  When such an intense and grueling sport comes to guessing right, or guessing wrong, it’s fair to say, the outcome will always be unreasonably unfair to someone.

Portland matched the Sounders ability for 130 minutes.  The Sounders took a 1-nil lead in the 13th minute, but Portland fought hard for the equalizer in the 38th minute.  That was the end of the scoring summary.  Penalty Kicks would decide the fate of both teams.  The winner advancing in the US Open Cup, and the loser out.  The coin toss chooses advantage.  The first team to shoot has that advantage.  Portland won the coin toss.  Each team gets five penalty kicks.  Team with the most made, wins.  If still tied after five, then it keeps going until one makes it and the other misses.  Keller took the advantage away from Portland making the first save.  Seattle hit the next three shots.  In the fourth round of PK’s Keller again guessed correctly, making the save.  Patrick Ianni only has to make his shot and Sounders win.  Like Baggio, his shot goes high and off the crossbar.  Portland makes their last shot.  Zach Scott for Seattle is last to go.  He guesses correctly, missing the Portland keeper and Sounders advance.  It’s glory for Sounders.  How unfair for Portland at home.  I’d almost feel bad for Portland, except not much has gone well for Seattle in 2010.  So a little fortune in guessing right feels like just rewards.

Scoring Summary

13th min, Seattle -  N. Jaqua, (goal), Montaño, (assist)
38th min, Portland – B. Dike (goal), Pore (assist)

Final – Seattle 1 – 1 Portland

Penalty Shoot Out
Seattle
1. N. Sturgis (Goal)     4. P. Ianni (Crossbar)
2. F. Montero (Goal)    5. Z. Scott (Goal) – Winning PK
3. S. Zakuani (Goal)
Portland
1. R. Pore (Save) 4. R. Smith (Save)
2. D. DeMartin (Goal)   5. R. Lopez (Goal)
3. M. Danso (Goal)

Penalty Kick Final – Seattle (4) – (3) Portland


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Categories : 2010

Disruptors & Distractors

30 05 2010

Round 11 vs Colorado Rapids

Colorado Rapids

Like San Jose, Colorado is another of the original MLS teams.  Twice appearing in the MLS Cup final but coming up short both times.  They also sport a US Open Cup in their trophy case, but it’s a bit dustier than the Sounders, as it came in 1999.  Two interesting historical points link the Sounders and Rapids.  The first is a personal side note, and US Mens National Team back up Goaltender, Marcus Hahnemann.  Hahnemann helped the A-League Sounders to back-to-back titles in ’95 and ’96.  Directly after their second championship in ’96 against the Rochester Rhinos, I met Hahnemann.  Actually it was more like the Mean Joe Greene, Coca-Cola add from the ’80′s.  He threw me his sweaty water bottle.  Yes, I did take a swig, and kept it as a proud souvenir.  The second connection is Sounders current Technical Director, Chris Henderson who is still the Rapids all time assists leader with 53.

Seattle Sounders – circa 1996

The Rapids are a team of two faces.  Always as good as any team in the league, but not always in form.  Sounds a little familiar.  The bad face, is their two main goal producers, Conor Casey, and Omar Cummings, who can light up the score board with the best, but have not been in top production form.  Meaning they could be due for a break-out game.  The good face, is a brilliant face.  Conor Casey was left off the US Mens National Team World Cup squad, barely.  Some say he should be there.  He was the 2nd leading scorer in MLS last year and has struggled this year.  Showing how quickly a player goes from being in form to out of form.  Edson Buddle, for LA Galaxy is amazingly in form this year, so he’s on the plane to South Africa while Casey stays home.  Is that fair?  To be continued . . .   My World Cup posts are coming soon.
Now back to the main event.  Those two, Casey and Cummings have not been in form but both are strong, quick and able to score in multiple ways all around the attacking end.  They are backed up in midfield by US World Cup 2006 standout Pablo Mastreoni.  Their defense is also strengthened by another US standout, Marvel Wynne, who played well for the US in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.  The Rapids have the skill and intensity to be a MLS Cup contender, but they have not yet found that playoff bound groove.

Sounder 'til I die

Seattle comes to the Rapids home pitch in Commerce City, Colorado at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.  They bring baggage of similar sounding issues to Colorado.  Difficult time finishing up front, great potential, but struggling to find their form.  So the game presents a perfect test for one team to rise above the other and attempt to gain mid-season momentum.  Seattle’s electric defeat of the Boca Juniors 3-0 in their mid-week friendly, hopefully sparked the team into preparation for Colorado’s physical toughness.

What the Sounders need to do is play with intensity from the start.  Rather than sit back as they did against San Jose.  Push the ball wide, create passing lanes in the Rapids defense, and get their chances on net.  Make the Rapids Keeper have to work.  If we keep him busy, good things will happen.  If we let the Rapids dictate the pace and possess the ball, it could be another frustrating night for Sounders FC.  This is not a “must win” game, but it is a “should not lose” game.  A draw tonight would be well received.

One player on the Sounders who could step up tonight to help the Sounders cause is Fredy Montero.  He may not be a pure goal “finisher” as some have stated about him.  His new role could be possibly more beneficial.  During the Boca Juniors match, he did not score, but he was a disruptor.  Tonight in the game against the Rapids his disruptor role could change the game.  It would force defenders to play him more tightly, but leave more Sounders unmarked.  It would also leave the Rapids defense unsure where Seattle’s attack will come from.  That could also help give the little extra moment for Zakuani, or Ljungberg to come in on goal or set up an assist.  Montero’s disruptor role could become defined for him tonight.  No pressure for him to finish, just put pressure on the other team all night long.

Post Match

“I don’t think we’ve walked off the field being an outplayed team.  We’ve got to keep working and keep our belief in ourselves, and the team spirit has to remain there”.
Sigi Schmid, after round 11”s 1-nil loss to the Colorado Rapids.

LA Galaxy being the exception.  The Sounders have played on the pitch as eloquently as Sigi speaks after a tough loss.  Falling to 3-5-3 is not how anyone saw this team.  It is a deep hole.  The Sounders are responsible for digging that hole.  Goals are all that could fill the empty void players, coaches and fans are feeling.  Because the on-field play is good enough to deserve a better record.  Sigi is right.  If the players keep their belief up, the way they are playing will earn better results.

Two players on their way to Sounders FC may help gain those results.  One is coming back from injury.  The other is new to join Sounders FC.  Nate Jaqua will rejoin Sounders FC in a week or two after recovering from a pre-season injury.  He provides a tall target up front.  A focus up top that will free Montero from his current do everything role.

FC Twente - The Tukkers

After the World Cup, Blaise Nkufo, the Swiss National Team striker joins Sounders FC from his former club FC Twente.   Blaise Nkufo, /Blaze Koo-foe/ has banked 114 goals for FC Twente, which brings a lot of hope to Sounders FC’s late season form.  No one man on his own can win a title.  But he can provide a spark of hope and distraction from frustration.  Nkufo brings experience, and an excited spirit to the team.  He will be fresh from South Africa.  Every player asking him the same questions as press, “what was it like?”  To the delight of all involved he will offer a distraction to all the usual questions about a disappointing season.  He will be covered in microphones, while the rest of the team prepares.  That is just what this team needs.  Distraction from disappointment and consistent work on game preparation.  That will keep the team spirit up and allow for good results to come.  Blaise will likely give the same on field distraction as he does off field.  Defenders will swarm Nkufo, like press junkies, leaving Montero marked by one defender instead of 2 or 3.  Ljungberg will have a tall target to provide him more ground and air options.

There are no guarantees in sports.  There is hard work, which allows the selfish belief in hope for great results.  In that type of sweat and hungry spirit there often lives a spark that makes those great results come true.  Sports is about watching the impossible become real.  Soccer is the essence of that truth.  This young team knows how to win.  They play like a winner.  Following the advice of their coach and incorporating two difference makers gives credibility to Sigi’s post-match comments.  All the elements exist for this team to find itself on a championship course.  If the players continue to work hard and believe the results will come.


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Categories : 2010

The Fucito Finish

17 04 2010

The following piece has been updated and edited since I originally posted it in April 2010.

Round 4 vs Kansas City Wizards

Sounder 'til I die

On Saturday, April 17th, Emerald City plays host to the Wizards of Kansas City.  Occidental Avenue becomes a brick road for Sounders followers lead by Emerald City Supporters (ECS).  The March to the Match will be accompanied by a marching band, Sound Wave, and a few thousand supporters with raised scarves singing and drinking loud pints of chants.   We are polite folk here in Emerald City.  Politely inviting visitors to our home pitch at Qwest Field.  What we refer to as the Soccer Capital of America.  Instead of a courteous welcome sign like, “home sweet home”, we have a respectful banner at the North End of Qwest Field with the welcoming words, “Welcome to Green Hell”. The banner hangs above the pitch displaying this slogan of sincere truth.  A theme gaining popularity.  Parents proudly point it out to their sons and daughters.  It sounds polite doesn’t it?  On match-day, in a sea of Rave Green supporters who welcome no one, Qwest Field transforms into Rave Green Hell.  This is Sounders FC, where the gates of Green Hell smile, invite, and await the Wizards.

Confession:  OK, deep breath, slight tremors of nervousness, beads of sweat . . . (whispering) . . . I like the Kansas City Wizards. Not like friends or anything.  Not like I really even know them or anything.  I mean I really don’t “know” them at all.  No one does.  Even the best Wizard supporters only know a few of their blue and black-collard players by name.  Even that is only because of rote memorization.  Not from actually, you know, “knowing them”.  The Wizards don’t even know each other.  Like the 70′s Batman TV series character, Riddler, who sported a “?” on his chest.  This should be on the front of the Wizards 2010 kits.  They are the biggest unknown in Major League Soccer.  Kansas City was the first team to defeat Sounders FC at Quest Field, 1-0 in its inaugural season.  That game featured another Sounders FC first.  The first red card. Handed to Kasey Keller for use of hands outside the box.  That win was the highlight of Kansas City’s 2009 season.  The Sounders later got revenge during a late season playoff run.  They won on the road in Kansas 3-2.  There were also rumors last year the Wizards could relocate to St Louis..  Their home field, Comerica Park, is a multi-use field.  One of the worst MLS home pitches.  It’s like playing soccer on a part Triple-A baseball, part football field.  Not acceptable.  So this unknown rag-tag team of Wizards needed something to settle their spirits.

. . . then came the big news.

The Wiz

In December, from behind a mysterious curtain appeared a real Oz.  On December 17, 2009, Wizards President, Robb Heineman began posting video updates on the Wizards website about the teams new stadium plans.  In January, they broke ground.  One of the keys to moving so fast was the Kansas City suburb county approval of “Star Bonds”.  Wizard supporters could buy bonds to support the stadium being built.  The Wizards ownership, OnGoal, LLC, scored on what was nearly a franchise headed out-of-bounds.  Even dressed in Rave Green, I stand in support of the Wizards.  The stadium will be ready in 2011.  In the meantime, in this early 2010 season, they are playing like a team somewhere over the rainbow.  Undefeated so far in 2010.  They are completely unaware that even Common Sense itself picked them to be bottom of the league dwellers.  Instead, the groundbreaking momentum of the franchise has sprung the players into a twister of believing they are a rag-tag team on a journey searching for their true identity.  Their Oz-ownership has stepped forward demonstrating knowledge, heart, and courage.  Heineman, has kept them in Kansas.  So, the Sounders will need to wake them from their brick road dream.  I am “Sounders ’til I die”.  I am good polite people, but tomorrow I will be a bad guy.  It is time to slap this band of rainbow chasing Wizards back to Kansas reality.

Keys to the match:

Take away hope.  Attack and score early.  Allowing Kansas an early goal permits their back 4 to lock the game up.  Sub in a couple defensive midfielders and they can close up shop.  Scoring early forces Kansas into playing more forward, taking chances.  The Sounders are an attack minded opportunistic team who capitalize on other teams forward pressing risks.  This would allow Seattle to use their speed to create solo breakaways, or odd man advantage rushes, a 3-on-2, or 4-on-3.

Possess the ball. Passing widens the field opening defensive holes.  Use speed to get wide and deep attacking runs through the midfield seems created by good passing and ball movement.  From pressing forward and wide cross into the box using central attacking numbers to finish.  Then, let our defense lock down the game.

Sounds simple, but the true key to the match is grit.  Seattle will need to fight for this one.  The Wizards already have this game mentally won because no one has awoken them from the “over the rainbow” dream start they are having.  Grit and grind.  It is time to wake up the Wizards and prove the banner true.  Yes, the Wizards have arrived in Emerald City, but the real-estate belongs to Sounders FC.  So, with a warm welcome, I politely invite Kansas City into Green Hell!

Post Match:  The Fucito Finish

Do you know Michael Fucito?  Did you see his historic finish in stoppage time?  It is the highlight of the week and likely the month.  It may even be the one we look back on for goal of the year.  No matter, it stands on its own as historic.  It will forever be remembered and named for Fucito’s grit in commitment to finish a brilliant late winner.

How do you spell spectacular, exquisite finishes in soccer?  In Barcelona, it’s M-E-S-S-I.  In soccer history, it’s P-E-L-E.  In Seattle, it’s F-U-C- (OK, this is an appropriate language site, no matter what you think, I’m spelling the name of a Harvard Graduate, so stay with me folks and I’ll pull this one out of the gutter) -I-T-O. Years from today Sounders supporters may refer to a late stoppage time winner as what it was named today, the Fucito.

For 90 minutes fans stood, chanted, and cringed watching chances come close, but slip by the goal in the end.  Zakuani’s speed down the left only lasted for 15 minutes.  Kansas made him play more compact, defensive, and out of position for any breakaway goal.  So, late in the match, Sigi went to his bench.  First to appear was Roger Levesque.  For his next sub, Sigi pulled one from the coaches magic hat.  He put in hard-working, Harvard Graduate, Michael Fucito.  Initially nothing changed.  Then came the bizarre moment of the match.  The Full 90 concluded.  The ref allowed the game to play on into stoppage time, but no indication of how much stoppage time would be allotted was signaled by the fourth official.  Then, almost 1 minute into stoppage time, the fourth official finally held up the sign for 4 minutes.  Remember 4 minutes?  Yes, last week.  The Real Salt Lake buzzer beater that took our win and deflated it to a draw.  Like me, many fans had an evil Rave Green smile thinking, “maybe this is our turn”.  We are in “Green Hell” after all.  Unfortunately, If you took a moment and thought about who the hero would be, then looked out on the pitch, no Sounder made you feel a hero was there today.  The ball was played lazily into Kansas City’s half and strolled out-of-bounds on the right side for a Sounders throw-in.  Nothing was taking form and the refs end-of-match whistle made the impending feel of another draw that much more frustrating.  The refs watch turns to the 92nd minute.  Brad Evans takes the throw in.  Evans is the 70th minute sub, an attacking midfielder.  So his taking the throw-in means one less attacker.  I’m thinking to myself, like 36,000 others, “why doesn’t Riley, a defender take the throw-in?  Oh well, at least we’ll get one point for the draw.”  Evans uncorks a quick, sharp throw-in diagonally down the right side.  Fucito, comes out of nowhere, sprinting left to right, like he’s running a Matt Hasselbeck late game audible.  His speedy and timed run onto the ball narrowly beats out the defender.  Like a receiver, he brings the ball into his feet perfectly.  Immediately setting up his own right footed blast on goal.  A hesitation and the goaltender is set to make the save.  Fucito, places the ball in front of goal with poise drilling a one-timer into the nylon swell of the Brougham End net.  (south end goal)

Sounders Win!!!  Sounders Win!!!

Not so fast.

Soccer 101: The time you are most susceptible to conceding a goal, is right after you score a goal!

36,000 finally had a brilliant and historic goal to celebrate.  The players were ready to walk around the pitch in celebration, applaud the fans and take a bow.  The match wasn’t over.  Kansas broke down into Seattle’s attacking third with ease and an immediate buzzer beating equalizer was on the right foot of the Wizards striker.  Even I didn’t turn back to the match until I heard the gasp of the crowd and . . . . “Keller”!  Keller parried the ball away to his right side.  He was, how should I put this, beyond anger at having to make that save.  You could just about hear his yell over 36,000.  Of the 36,000 in the stands, 11 on the field, Keller was the only Sounder still playing.  He saved the day!  He saved the match.  Then as quickly as he played the role of hero, he quietly stepped aside.  The consummate professional, veteran, and team Captain quietly stepped aside, so the young glassy-eyed hero Fucito, would have his day as the hero the fans wanted.  After all, he had just scored a Fucito.

This match will be remembered.  Named because of how spectacular and special the win is.  Time will tell if this young franchise adopts future stoppage time winners as “Fucito”!  Who knows?  For today, 36,000 at the X-Box Pitch danced and chanted his name.  Today Sounders supporters celebrated, The Fucito Finish.

Michael Fucito's first professional and dramatic extra time game winning goal on 4/17/10 v Kansas City


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Categories : 2010

Preseason: Portland Timbers v Sounders FC

11 03 2010

Still preseason?

Kasey Keller and Freddie Ljungberg have both referred to this preseason as longer than most in their careers. At Arsenal, Ljungberg said they would often prepare for the season in three weeks. For a second year franchise in the MLS the decision may prove to be good. For some of the veterans it may become a more grueling hull than in past seasons in their careers. For me I’m going Rave Green silly in the head and “shiver with antici . . . pation.” Portland is in town tomorrow for a preseason match, but my racing heart says as a supporter it is anything but a preseason match.

Now for something completely bloggingly different.

Just to assure you that the above quote, “shiver with antici . . . pation” was an intended velveeta cheese blog moment, let me take this to a whole new level. Name the character and movie that quote comes from and I will draw a name on March 25th, the Sounders FC opening season match v Philadelphia Union. One attempt per person, and I’ll draw one name from all the correct answers. I’ll send something in the festive Rave Green of Sounders FC. Better than “Bluest Skies in Seattle” lyrics, I promise.

Now back to our regularly unscheduled blog . . .

The NFL has a glorious phrase “any given Sunday”. It is rock solid truth and captures everything you could imagine or expect to see from an NFL game every time you turn one on. So perfect is the catch phrase that a good football movie was made with the phrase as the title. I have yet to find a soccer specific quote that encapsulates how impossibly intense and wildly fun a soccer match is. Until I find that gem to promote the game the way the NFL does, I am relegated to the use of examples. I have one such recent example. On March 10th, 2010, Olympique Lyonais (Lyon) of France visited Real Madrid, “Galacticos” of Spain. Real Madrid’s nick name is “Galacticos” for their over 200 million spent in last summers transfer window. The galactic spending spree was to acquire the kind of players that crush teams like Lyon 3-0. On March 10th, the two teams met for the second leg of a home-home round of 16, aggregate goal match. Leg one, won by Lyon at home 1-0 was not too amazing, because Lyon play well at home in European matches. The second leg in Madrid at the Bernabeu, well no way. That would be like the Seahawks winning an NFC championship game in Texas at the Cowboy’s new stadium during a season where the cowboys have 10 pro bowlers, league MVP, rookie of the year, and every imaginable Los Vegas pick to win the Superbowl. Is that clear enough? The bottom line, Lyon is out and Madrid moves on. The last time the French visited Spain and took home something that rightfully belonged to the Spanish, America was an even younger country. It’s not so much “any given Sunday” as it is “excuse me, but no you don’t.” As expected, the “Galacticos” poster boy, international stand out, model, and simply one of the best, Cristiano Ronaldo scored in the 6th minute to even the aggregate score 1-1. Madrid’s plan: Get the early equalizer, then add one more before half, two more after the break, and boom-zop Madrid celebrate crushing Lyon 4-1. Soccer is desperately more insane than that. Gonzalo Higuain, another brilliant Madrid striker and Argentine national had the open net to grab that 2nd first half goal I mentioned. He is an exquisitely brilliant striker, not unlike the kind of player Reggie Miller was for the Indiana Pacers in the NBA. The pace on the ball as he struck for net when the ball left his foot was perfect, but the ridiculously imperfect roundness of the ball and painful aggravation of the perfect game rolled the ball just wide of the post. Madrid’s easy crush of Lyon at home in the Bernabeu would never again look so wide open. So, the wrenching hold of soccer gods took hold of the game clock, and after Cristiano’s expected 6 minute equalizer . . . nothing really happened at all.

You’ve heard of Cristiano Ronaldo. You’ve at least seen highlights of him, and seen his handsome pictures dressed in exquisite European suits advertising hollywood swag. You’ve seen highlights of Higuain, because you’ve heard of Real Madrid, and he’s a fixture there. But unless you are an Olympique Lyonais supporter you have not heard of Miralem Pjanic. I am a fan of Lyon and when Juninho and Fred were there I could name the starting eleven. I think I could only do 4 now. I have not heard of Miralem Pjanic, but I know that in Lyon he is eating free at all the restaurants and toasted as their hero. In the 75th minute, he shot a dagger through the heart of every Madridista. The game ended 1-1, but the two-leg aggregate score was 2-1 Lyon. The draw for Madrid was a loss. The European Championship game is in their home at their Bernabeu, but neither team will belong there.

Senecca Wallace, (I know he’s in Cleveland now) gets brought on in the 4th quarter to replace an injured Hasselbeck in my imaginary Seahawks v Cowboys NFC Championship. He throws a touchdown in the back of the endzone with 8 minutes left to play. Somehow the defense holds on. You’d barely believe that possible, but you’ve seen New England, New York (Jets & Giants), St Louis, and even Pittsburgh against Dallas win those type of Superbowls. So, occasionally in your calm but overheated heart, you know, “any given Sunday” your team can win this game, because hey, it has happened before. Soccer is a little more manic. It is amazing how often teams that are so much better only win 1-0 or worse, they draw 1-1. But the soccer seasons are longer. So, there are more underdog upsets, but there is also little movement year in and year out of who the top 3 or 4 teams are in each European league.

Tomorrow when the Sounders FC face the Portland Timbers in the first ever preseason Community Shield match it will feel intensely like an any given Thursday match. The proceeds of the match go to charity, but the recognition ceremony and photo session for the winning team to hold up the shield at end of the match adds a little edginess. It’s only a preseason match, I know, I keep stating it a lot. The thing is in this little soccer hot bed corner of the US, and slowly getting recognized in the world of soccer, the Sounders FC are trying to be Young Madrid. While Portland is joining MLS next year, so tomorrow they would be fantastically thrilled to be Young Lyon.

That is why I’m up late, heart racing, more nervous and excited for any preseason game for any sport that I can remember. “I’m Sounders ’til I die”. I just hope not tomorrow.


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Categories : 2010


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