Super Bowl Update

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders were 30 second away from their first win since May 9th and clearly this was a match where they clearly deserved all three points. However, a missed call by the linesman as well as a blown call in the final seconds of stoppage time in the second half led to New England scoring two goals and the Sounders came away with only a point after drawing with the New England Revolution 2-2 in Foxborough. The Sounders winless streak has now extended to eight games when it clearly should've come to an end.

The Revs were the dominant side the first quarter of an hour of the match and they had a chance from inside the area in the sixth minute. Chris Tierney curled the ball toward the near post for Blake Brettschneider, but he couldn't get a head to it. The ball fell nicely for Saer Sene, but he skied his shot well over the bar.

Three minutes later, the Revs skied another one. This time it was Clyde Simms with the opportunity as the chased down a loose ball in the box, but he started to stumble as he got the shot away which resulted in the ball sailing over the top.

In the 12th minute, here was the first goal that the assistant referee messed up on. Blake Brettschneider took a shot that was blocked by Patrick Ianni or Marc Burch, but anyway Brettschneider got it back after Burch failed to clear the ball out of danger and squared the ball across to a wide open Saer Sene who tapped the ball into an empty net but this goal shouldn't have counted because he was in an offside position when the ball was played to him. I don't know what the assistant referee was looking at, because Sene was clarly offsides and the linesman kept his flag down so the goal counted and the Sounders for the eighth straight match found themselves trailing 1-0.

In the 23rd minute, the Sounders would pull one back and level this match up. Florian Lechner went for the switch instead of clearing the ball into the Sounders half and Adam Johansson would head the ball back into the danger area. Lechner had another opportunity to clear, but Mauro Rosales poked the ball away and sent a beautiful curling ball into the area for a snap header by Eddie Johnson and there was no way he was gonna miss from there. It was Johnson's sixth goal of the season and his third goal in the last four matches. More importantly, it brought the Sounders back level at a goal a peice.

In the 35th minute, Johnson would add another goal to his stat. Mauro Rosales's cross was intended for Johnson, but that sailed over everyone. However, right there to chase the ball down was Marc Burch. Burch curled the ball back into the area and Matt Reis makes a terrible decision here as he came a few steps off his line to try to secure that cross and the ball sailed over his hands and right to the head of Eddie Johnson for his second goal of the game and his seventh of the season to put the Sounders ahead 2-1.

In the second half, Bryan Meredith had to come on to replace Andrew Weber in goal after Weber suffered a thigh injury late in the first half. This is the second time Meredith came off the bench to start the second half and it was also his ninth appearance of the season. He quickly got in on the act in the 47th minute, making a save on a volley by Lee Nguyen.

In the 88th minute, Meredith had to make another save. Benny Feilhaber snuck the ball through for Fernando Cardenas who looked to slot the ball inside the far post but from the position he was in, there was no way he was gonna convert.

In the final seconds of stoppage time, this goal pisses me off just as much as the first one did because the Revolution shouldn't have been given a chance to go forward in the first place. The Sounders were playing keep away in New Englands half, now Alvaro Fernandez was tripped up by a New England player. I mean Flaco was trying to keep the ball and kill off the remaining seconds and he gets tripped up and the assistant referee spotted it, but he says it was a foul on Fernandez. Are you fucking kidding me? It was a clear foul on the Revs, which would've given the Sounders a chance a kill off the remaining seconds of stoppage time, game over, Sounders win, winless streak over. But they gave New England the free kick and it leads to this. Fernando Cardenas curls the ball into the area for Diego Fagundez who heads the ball past Bryan Meredith and the Sounders get robbed of a victory that they obviously deserved after the officials missed an offside on the first goal and made a bullshit call in the final seconds. The Sounders won this match, it's as simple as that.


Scoring summary:

New England Revolution - Saer Sene 8 (Blake Brettschneider 1) 12'

Seattle Sounders FC - Eddie Johnson 6 (Mauro Rosales 4) 23'

Seattle Sounders FC - Eddie Johnson 7 (Marc Burch 2) 35'

New England Revolution - Diego Fagundez 1 (Fernando Cardenas 2) 94'+


Misconduct summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Andy Rose (caution; foul) 18'

Seattle Sounders FC - Osvaldo Alonso (caution; foul) 50'

Seattle Sounders FC - Leo Gonzalez (caution; foul) 90'


Lineups:

Seattle Sounders FC - Andrew Weber (Bryan Meredith 46'); Adam Johansson, Patrick Ianni, Zach Scott, Marc Burch; Brad Evans (Alvaro Fernandez 56'), Osvaldo Alonso, Andy Rose, Alex Caskey (Leo Gonzalez 80'); Mauro Rosales, Eddie Johnson

New England Revolution - Matt Reis; Florian Lechner (Diego Fagundez 81'), A.J. Soares, Stephen McCarthy, Chris Tierney; Benny Feilhaber, Clyde Simms (Kelyn Rowe 64'), Shalrie Joseph, Lee Nguyen; Blake Brettschneider (Fernando Cardenas 19'), Saer Sene