Super Bowl Update

By Money Mike


The 2013 MLS season is two months away and earlier today, the MLS SuperDraft took place in Indianapolis and well, it was full of surprises. There were at least two or three players that were projected to be a first round picks and weren't selected at all. We also had quite a number of trades made with teams swapping draft selections. One of those trades included Seattle Sounders FC landing the 10th overall pick from Toronto FC for their 16th overall pick. Who did they get? No mistakes here, the Sounders selected Eriq Zavaleta from NCAA National Champions Indiana with the 10th pick of this years MLS SuperDraft. Seattle also picked up Dylan Remick from Brown University in the second round of the draft (35th overall). Zavaleta is a member of Generation Adidas so he will not count against the MLS senior roster this season.

Zavaleta has spent his time in the youth ranks of Chivas USA, Real Salt Lake and the Columbus Crew and was also a member of the U.S. Soccer Residency program in 08' and 09'. If you thought Zavaleta was a forward this entire career, listen to this. During his time with the U.S. U-17 national team, he was used primarily as a defender and was a starter for the under-17's at the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Nigeria. He appeared in all four matches for the team, leading them to the round if 16 where he was actually sent off in USA's 2-1 loss to Italy. Overall, he made 23 appearances for the under-17's. Despite the fact that he has represented the United States in the youth level, Zavaleta is eligible to represent El Salvador in the senior level due to the fact that his father is from El Salvador and has represented them in the international level. In his two years with Indiana, Zavaleta started in all 46 games and tallied 28 goals and 9 assists and of course led the Hoosiers to their eighth National title.

I did mention his father Carlos was a member of the El Salvador national team, also his uncle Greg Vanney (some of you may have heard of him) was also a professional soccer player. Both of these guys were coached by Sigi Schmid during their career. Oh you guys don't believe me? Take a look at the video, I'll prove it to you....



Remick was Seattle's second round pick from Brown University. In his freshman year, Brown made 17 appearances and finished with a pair of goals and one assist and received the team's Britton Chichester Award, which is given to the freshman who contributes most to the team. A year later, he started all 20 games and helped lead the defense to 11 shutouts. In his junior year, he started the teams first 16 games before picking up a season ending injury. He scored two goals and also recorded two assists that year. In his final season with Brown in 2012, Remick made 18 appearances and led the Bears with seven assists. Could possibly be a left back for the Sounders, but I'm not going to talk about any of that right now since he hasn't made the team yet.

The MLS Combine was pretty interesting this year. You had players that were expected to be a potential Top 5 pick that struggled to meet all expectations and then there were a lot of players who nobody knew much about who stepped on the pitch during the Combine and made a lot of noise. I thought Sigi Schmid, GM Adrian Hanauer, Chris Henderson the Technical Director, and the rest of the Sounders FC staff that traveled to the east coast did an outstanding job of scouting these players, getting to know a little bit about them and doing whatever they can to snap them up. I'm still surprised the Sounders were able to pick up Zavaleta because he was expected to be a Top 5 pick, maybe even a no. 1 overall pick, so I don't know why anybody didn't to cash in on him but more importantly, I don't care because he's here in Seattle and he's ready to kick his pro career into high gear and hopefully Remick will have the opportunity to do the same here in the Emerald City.

By Money Mike


Over the past couple of years, since they have formed a youth academy team, the Seattle Sounders have developed a lot of impressive young talent and continue to do so right now. Earlier this morning, we have learned that one of the youth academy players will be joining the MLS club. The Seattle Sounders have signed local boy DeAndre Yedlin as their first Homegrown player in franchise history. I first heard about this like, five minutes after the Sounders announced the move on Twitter and have followed this move ever since. The former O’Dea High School standout joins the Sounders after two seasons at the University of Akron where he was a two time All-MAC first team honoree.

Yedlin, like I said earlier, is a former standout at O'Dea High School. He also played a couple years of club for Crossfire Premier before joining the Sounders FC Academy for a year. In 2011, Yedlin committed to the University of Akron and all he did was pick up where he left off with the Sounders U18. In his two years with the Zips, Yedlin appeared in all 45 games and finished his career with a goal and 12 assists. He also spent last summer with the Sounders U23 team in the Premier Development League where he led the club all the way to the semi-finals, appearing in 16 matches and recording a goal and an assist each.


My thoughts:

I'm real excited to see this kid go out there in front of his home town crowd and just kill it on the pitch. I highly doubt he's going to start at right back this season, but he will be a starter in the near future for sure. This teams likes its backs to get forward, which is something that DeAndre has done a lot in college and will continue to do in the professional level. Definitely the first of many Homegrown signings for the Sounders. Sean Okoli from Wake Forest, I believe will sign a Homegrown contract. We also have Aaron Kovar from Stanford who was named PAC-12 freshman of the year. Nick Palodichuk and Jalen Markey are could also be future Homegrown players. And also U17 international Paul Christensen, I think will be a future Homegrown player and quite possible a future no. 1 goalkeeper for the Sounders. We'll just have to wait and see what happens. But again, one Homegrown signing has been made and it surely won't be the last. So on a personal note, I just want to say congratulations to DeAndre and looking forward to seeing you in MLS.

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders have announced earlier today that they have traded Jeff Parke to the Philadelphia Union. There were rumors floating around last Sunday that Philadelphia expressed interest in Parke and a day later, appeared to have reached in agreement that would bring him to PPL Park, but Jonathan Tannenwald from Philly.com tweeted that no agreement would be reached at that point. I've kept a close eye on this all week, knowing that the deal would more than likely go trough and found out this morning that Parke has indeed been traded. Parke is a native of Abington, Pennsylvania and his family currently lives in the Philadelphia area and the last time I checked, his wife was due to give birth to their first child. So again, Parke will on the move to his hometown to be with his family and of course to join his new club, the Philadelphia Union. In return the Sounders received allocation money and a first round pick in the 2013 Supplemental Draft.

Parke was selected by the Sounders in the 2008 Expansion Draft after five seasons with the New York Red Bulls. However, he struggled to settle in at the time and he ended up signing with the Vancouver Whitecaps, who were still playing in the USL at the time. After making seven appearances for the Caps' in 2009, Parke returned to Seattle on trial and made an appearance in a Community Shield match against Portland, who were also a USL team back then. Two months later, he signed with the Rave Green and was immediately inserted into the starting lineup and has since then been a huge asset to the back line. In his two and a half year stint with the Sounders, Parke has appeared in 105 matches in all competitions and of course has that lone goal from the match last season against Sporting KC which turned out to be the winner.


Thoughts on the move:

Well, his contract with the Sounders was due to expire at the end of the year and I half expected 2012 to be his last year with the Rave Green. So I'm not at all surprised to see him leave, especially since the fact that he is or will be a father, but at the same it's sad to see him go. It's a long offseason because you're always asking yourself "who's coming, who's going, who's coming, who's going?" and wondering if the moves they're making is right or wrong. Again, it's sad to see Parke leave but at the same time, I wasn't expecting him to return to the Sounders in 2013.

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders have finally gotten the monkey off their back. Last night, the Rave Green came into the second leg of the Western Conference semifinals knowing that they needed to win in order to avoid a fourth straight early round exit, and that's exactly what they did. The Sounders defeated Real Salt Lake 1-0 at Rio Tinto Stadium on a stunner in the late stages of the game by Mario Martinez to advance to the Western Conference final where they will meet the Defending MLS Cup Champion Los Angeles Galaxy. The Conference final will also be a Home-and-Away series with the first leg taking place this Sunday at 6pm at the Home Depot Center and the second leg next Sunday at 6pm at CenturyLink Field.

In the 10th minute, Alvaro Saborio sent Ned Grabavoy in behind with a nice ball. The angle was tight however, and Michael Gspurning had the near post covered all the way and made an easy save.

Eight minutes later, RSL had a better look at goal. As a matter of fact, they had an opportunity that they should've capitalized on. Kenny Mansally delivered a great ball into the middle of the area. Paulo Jr. looked to have been offside at the time of the delivery, but he should've scored. There is no excuse for missing a golden opportunity like that one right there. Again, Mansally put that ball right where it needed to be and Paulo Jr. at the last second loses his concentration and let's it bounce off his knee and wide of target.

In the 31st minute, the Sounders had a free kick opportunity from a dangerous position. Everyone thought Fredy Montero was going to take the kick, but instead he stepped over the ball and forced the RSL wall to break which gave Mario Martinez a clear shot on goal and Nick Rimando who was the hero in the first leg, comes up huge once again as he got a fingertip to the ball to direct it off the crossbar. The Sounders had so many opportunities back in the first game and if it hadn't been for Rimando, the Sounders probably would've had at least four or five goals up to that point.

10 minutes later, RSL had a free kick opportunity of their own. Javier Morales stepped up and curled the free kick over the wall but it was too central and didn't test Michael Gspurning. That was the last opportunity of the half and the score remained as you were at 0-0.

Less than 30 seconds into the second half, the Sounders were denied again. Seattle worked the ball out wide to Christian Tiffert who whipped in a low ball into the area. An attempted clearance by Kyle Beckerman was fluffed at and the ball bounced to Brad Evans for a first time hit and Nick Rimando got down and parried it away.

On to the 61st minute of the match, the Sounders dodged a huge bullet on a free kick. RSL are a dangerous set piece team with big guys like Saborio, Olave, Borchers, etc. Javier Morales's free kick was aimed at Borchers and the ball almost bounced all the way into the net as Michael Gspurning alertly parried the ball away. Seconds later, Kyle Beckerman chipped the ball back into the box for Borchers, but Adam Johansson had him contained all the way and Borchers couldn't control the ball properly.

With 15 minutes to go, another RSL chance goes begging. Eddie Johnson's pass for Brad Evans was too hot to control and Seattle lost possession in their own area. Ned Grabavoy fed the ball to Fabian Espindola who poked it back to Saborio for a first time shot from about 20 yards away, but he didn't get enough power on it and Michael Gspurning made yet another save.

In the 81st minute, the deadlock was finally broken and it was the Men in Rave Green who got the goal. Ozzie Alonso stepped in to intercept a pass from Jamison Olave. Brad Evans worked a give and go with Eddie Johnson in the midfield to get the attack going for Seattle. Evans fed the ball to Fredy Montero in the middle of the field and about a few yards outside the box. Montero then chipped the ball to the far side for Mario Martinez who catches it on a half volley with his left foot and scores and absolute beauty to give the Sounders a 1-0 advantage. Martinez was given the start after Mauro Rosales was ruled out with an injury and what a time for him to get his first Sounders FC goal.

In the 89th minute, Michael Gspurning comes up with a big save. Javier Morales's cross to the near post found the head of Alvaro Saborio who directed it goalwards and Gspurning stood his ground and punched the ball over the bar. The Sounders had everyone back defending the rest of the way. Five minutes were added on to the end of the second half. The Sounders had an opportunity at one point in stoppage time to get a second from Eddie Johnson but he didn't get enough power on his shot. With about two and a half minutes left in stoppage time, another big defensive play help prevent yet another opportunity at an equalizer. Jonny Steele's cross deflects off the head of Adam Johansson toward the six yard area and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado stepped in and got a foot to the ball, otherwise Alvaro Saborio and Nat Borchers were there to tap the ball in the back of the net. That was the last chance of the match and the Seattle Sounders hang on and advance to the Western Conference final for the first time in franchise history.


Observations:

I think the Sounders backline deserves a lot of credit. Despite the fact that they were put under a lot of pressure, they were strong enough to hold their ground. Jeff Parke and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado made things really difficult for Alvaro Saborio, Paulo Jr. and also Fabian Espindola who came on as a substitute in the 2nd half. I think people have overlooked this backline saying that they're not that good. They've had a great second half of the season since the return of Michael Gspurning and they have two clean sheets this postseason. So I'm not worried at all about the backline, and I don't think anybody should worry about the backline. They've been solid lately and their confidence must be high leading up to the conference final against LA.

Now, there have been a lot of tweets and Facebook posts regarding Marc Burch's inappropriate gesture which appeared to be directed at RSL midfielder Will Johnson. Nobody could hear what he said, but apparently a few people may have read his lips. He issued an apology to all of MLS earlier today. Here's what he posted on Facebook earlier today.....

"I want to let everyone know that I apologize for my horrific choice of words last night during our match. This is something that is inconsistent with my family values and because of that I am both disappointed and embarrassed by my level of poor judgment. I take seriously my role as a leader in the community and this is completely regrettable and unacceptable. Character matters and I hope through hard work on and off the field to begin earning your respect and trust again."

Personally I'm glad he stood up and apologized for his actions last night. We had a similar situation back in March in a match between Seattle and Houston when Houston midfielder Colin Clark used a homophobic slur which was directed at a Sounders ball boy and was suspended for three matches. I was expecting a two match ban at the least for Burch, but the MLS disciplinary committee hasn't done anything about it which would mean that Burch would be allowed to play this Sunday. I understand this is the playoffs and we can't afford to lose anybody, but honestly I think there should've been a suspension and the fact that there's nothing is a bit shocking because it appears MLS will let him slide.

The Sounders didn't put together their best offensive performance in the second leg, but the only thing that matters is who scored the most goals in a match and just so happened to be the Sounders. What a moment for GM Adrian Hanauer, Head Coach Sigi Schmid, Assistant Coach Brian Schmetzer and the rest of the Sounders FC organization to get their first playoff series win in MLS after early round exits their first three seasons. To go on the road and finally pull it off is a big moment for the Sounders and their fans. Before the start of the second leg, there were hardly any concerns about this team despite drawing the first leg at home because the fans kept believing in this team and that trend has to continue next round. I can't wait for the series, it's going to be a good one and I think the Sounders will be ready to come out give their full 90' like they've always done.


Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Mario Martinez 1 (Fredy Montero 1, Brad Evans 1) 81'

Seattle Sounders FC advance 1-0 on aggregate.


Misconduct summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Osvaldo Alonso (caution; foul) 51'


Lineups:

Seattle Sounders FC - Michael Gspurning; Adam Johansson, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Marc Burch; Christian Tiffert (Andy Rose 73'), Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Mario Martinez (Zach Scott 87'); Eddie Johnson, Fredy Montero (David Estrada 89')

Real Salt Lake - Nick Rimando; Tony Beltran (Luis Gil 85'), Nat Borchers, Jamison Olave, Kenny Mansally (Jonny Steele 86'); Ned Grabavoy, Kyle Beckerman, Javier Morales, Will Johnson; Alvaro Saborio, Paulo Jr. (Fabian Espindola 58')

By Money Mike


The MLS regular season is over so now it's time to turn our attention to where it really counts, the MLS Cup playoffs. The Seattle Sounders and Real Salt Lake faced off against eachother in last years MLS Cup quarterfinal. RSL won the first leg 3-0 and Seattle won the second leg 2-0. Unfortunately, that second leg win wasn't enough to keep their MLS Cup title hopes alive as Salt Lake advanced 3-2 on aggregate. Tomorrow, it will be a rematch between the Sounders and RSL. The first leg kicks off at 7pm and will be aired regionally on ROOT Sports, locally on KONG-TV and nationally on the NBC Sports Network. The Sounders are well overdue to advance in the playoffs and perhaps this could be the year for that to happen. Since their nine game winless run in the middle of the season, the Sounders have gone 8-3-5 the rest of the way leading up to the playoffs.


Injury report:

Real Salt Lake - Salt Lake has three defenders currently on the injured list.  Chris Schuler and Nat Borchers are dealing with quad strains and Jamison Olave is dealing with a strained left hamstring.  Borchers and Olave are listed as probable and Schuler is listed as questionable.  Another player that's dealing with a quad strain is midfielder Ned Grabavoy.  He might be good to go, but I haven't heard anything yet.  Right now he's listed as probable.  Lastly, Paulo Junior has a contusion in his right foot and is also listed as probable.

Seattle Sounders FC - For the Rave Green, of course rookies Andrew Duran and Babayele Sodade are out.  Leonardo Gonzalez has a strained right hamstring and Patrick Ianni has a right calf strain.  Both have been working their way back, but they have been ruled out for tomorrow's match.  Lastly, this is what's been concerning the entire Sounder nation all week.  Eddie Johnson left late in the first half of sunday's 1-0 loss to the LA Galaxy.  The MRI showed that he suffered a left adductor strain.  He hasn't been ruled out of tomorrow night's match, at least not yet, but there's a chance he will not play in the first leg.  Right now, EJ is listed as questionable.


Who will start if Johnson isn't available?

We've had to deal with the same situation last season with Mauro Rosales.  At least we won't have to worry about him this time.  Again, there is a pretty good chance that Eddie Johnson will not play tomorrow.  If that is the case, head coach Sigi Schmid has plenty of options on the bench with David Estrada, Sammy Ochoa, Steve Zakuani and Mario Martinez.  Estrada and Zakuani are both working to get back to full fitness, Ochoa has struggled to find that breakout moment and Martinez has had trouble settling in because of international duty.  There's a pool on Seattle Times that is also asking who should start and the results are pretty even.

In my opinion, I'd go with creativity here, so I think Mauro Rosales should push up front and Mario Martinez should get the start on the right hand side.  He's been in big matches like these before (but then again, everybody has), he handles the pressure very well, he looked pretty good in the Champions League and we saw what he did for Honduras in their World Cup Qualifying match against Canada.  So I think this match will be an opportunity for him to prove, not that he's happy to be here, but that he want's to be here and that he belongs here.  Of course that's who I think should start, but my guess is that Ochoa will probably the one that will get the nod up front with Fredy Montero.

Right now, anything but a win in the first leg for the Sounders will not work at all.  The lads are at home in the opening match of the playoffs, so here's there opportunity to come right at Real Salt Lake and put them under a ton of pressure.  If the Sounders can win by at least two goals, given the fact that RSL has struggled to score, I think this will put Salt Lake in a heap of trouble.  They have the home field in the first leg, so they have to make the most of it if they want any chance of advancing in the playoffs.

By Money Mike


After clinching a fourth consecutive playoff berth up in Vancouver and with four games remaining in the regular season, it was important that the Seattle Sounders ended their regular season on a high note, starting with a stretch of three straight at home. And what better way to kick off that stretch with a victory over your arch rivals in front of a record crowd. Last night, the Sounders defeated the Portland Timbers 3-0 in front of a record crowd of 66,452. After a somewhat disappointing month of September, the Men in Rave Green bounced back and completely dominated this match on both sides of the ball from start to finish to kick off the final month of the regular season. The Sounders also move up to third place and are three points behind Real Salt Lake for second position in the Western Conference with a game in hand. These two will square off on October 17th at CenturyLink and if the Sounders can win this match, they will move up to second in the Western Conference. This could be a potential quarterfinal matchup in the MLS Cup playoffs, but we don't know for sure. The Sounders still have three games to go before we find out who their opponent will be.

In the 17th minute, Portland fails to capitalize on some miscommunication. Jack Jewsbury's corner found Rodney Wallace unmarked in the middle of the area but he missed wide of Michael Gspurning's left hand side. The problem there was either Jeff Parke or Brad Evans were supposed to cover him, but they were both marking David Horst.

In the 25th minute, the Timbers struck first. The problem was, they scored in their own net. Ozzie Alonso took control of the ball from midfield. Adam Johansson made a darting run from his right back position. Alonso threaded the ball through and Christian Tiffert made a nice dummy and Johansson had plenty of space to cross after Rodney Wallace tried to break up the play with a sliding tackle and the Swedish international played the ball across looking for Fredy Montero and Mamadou Danso kicked the ball into his own net and the Sounders took a 1-0 lead after an own goal by Futty.

Three minutes later, the Sounders doubled their lead. Brad Evans delivered a very good ball to the middle and right there was Eddie Johnson, unmarked and he made the most of it as he slid the ball home on a half volley for his 14th goal of the season and the Sounders jumped out to 2-nil lead with two quick goals. As for Eddie, he has really improved his form throughout the year since returning to MLS after a dreadful spell in Europe. And earlier today Eddie Johnson was called up to the U.S. national team for their crucial World Cup qualifying matches on the road against Antigua and Barbuda on Friday and at home next Tuesday against Guatemala. I'll talk a little more about that later.

A minute later, the Sounders nearly made it 3-0. Mauro Rosales fed the ball to Eddie Johnson, who then poked the ball to Fredy Montero after he saw there was no room to turn and shoot. Montero took a couple of small touches and went for the floater and Donovan Ricketts got a hand to the ball to deflect it off the post. Did these guys not prepare themselves for this match (the Timbers)? Do they not remember that they've played against this guy before? He's scored three times against this team, they should know that they can not give Fredy Montero that kind of space, because he'll burn you in a blink of an eye.

Nearing the end of the first half, Portland looked to pull one back. Diego Chara poked the ball back to Franck Songo'o, who saw that he had room to shoot and decided to have a crack at goal and was just inches wide.

In the 61st minute, the Sounders would extend the lead to 3-0. A long throw in by Brad Evans found the head of Eddie Johnson who flicked the ball to Fredy Montero who's flick was denied by Donovan Ricketts. The Timbers struggled to clear the ball out of danger and Fredy Montero put home the rebound for his 13th of the season. Both EJ and Montero have now combined for 27 goals this season. And that would turn out to be the final score of the match as the Men in Rave Green sent 98% of the fans home happy with as they struck three times and came away with three points.


Observations:

People have been buzzing about this tifo for quite a while now. As you can see on this picture, it doesn't have the full tifo. I do have a shot of this tifo on my mobile phone, but it's not a great picture. One because my phone is crap and two I was in the nosebleed section. This was shared on the FOX Soccer fan page on facebook (that was the first pic I saw since coming home from the match) and we had a bunch of morons from England saying the same B.S. as always (hopefully you know what I mean).

I was really impressed with performance from start to finish from the lads. Down in Portland, they had a lead in that game and were outplayed since. They were outplayed against San Jose and were outplayed against Vancouver. And although the numbers favored the Timbers, you have to say the Sounders were the better side in this game. This is what we want with the playoffs looming.

As for me, my perfect record in attending Sounders matches rolls on. Since they moved to MLS, I've been to six Sounder matches and they've won all six of them. I've been to a few before that when they were in the USL, and they've drawn and lost a couple during that stretch. And there was no doubt I enjoyed being part of it. Mainly because the entire stadium was packed. CenturyLink Field is a great venue for soccer and the U.S. soccer federation needs to think about making this place a possible venue for any future USA matches. As for you folks out there. If you haven't gone to a Sounders match at all, I would suggest you get your tickets to one of the last two remaining matches on October 17th or the 21st. You would have to be an idiot to deny that Seattle is the greatest Soccer City in America.


Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Own goal (Mamadou Danso) 25'

Seattle Sounders FC - Eddie Johnson 14 (Brad Evans 4) 28'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero 13 (unassisted) 62'


Misconduct summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Christian Tiffert (caution; foul) 69'

Portland Timbers - Diego Chara (caution; foul) 72'


Lineups:

Portland Timbers - Donovan Ricketts; Lovel Palmer, David Horst, Mamadou Danso (Eric Brunner 68'), Rodney Wallace; Sal Zizzo (Mike Fucito 46'), Jack Jewsbury, Darlington Nagbe (Eric Alexander 78'), Diego Chara, Franck Songo'o; Bright Dike

Seattle Sounders FC - Michael Gspurning; Adam Johansson, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leonardo Gonzalez (Marc Burch 77'); Mauro Rosales (Andy Rose 87'), Osvaldo Alonso, Christian Tiffert (David Estrada 88'), Brad Evans; Eddie Johnson, Fredy Montero

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders have clinched a playoff berth for a fourth consecutive season since their arrival to Major League Soccer. That spot was secured on Saturday when they went down to Vancouver and battled the Whitecaps to a 0-0 draw. Yes, the Sounders only needed a draw to clinch a playoff spot, but there was no doubt that they wanted to come away with all three points. The Sounders next three games are at home. Starting on Sunday against the rivals from the South, the Portland Timbers. Over 66,000 tickets have been sold for that game. Then they have a week off the following weekend before they prepare for a midweek match on the 17th against Real Salt Lake. Then their last home match of the regular season will take place on Sunday October 21st against FC Dallas before they close out the regular season against the Los Angeles Galaxy on October 28th. So now that they've made the playoffs again, can they finally avoid another early round exit and advance to the Western Conference final? At this point it's not important because there's still four more games to go in the regular season before we can turn our attention to the MLS Cup playoffs.

Seattle did start this match off brightly early on. In the 12th minute, Brad Evans poked the ball to Ozzie Alonso from outside the penalty area for a first timed shot but it went wide of Brad Knighton's right hand side.

A couple minutes later, the Sounders caught the Whitecaps on the counter but just came within a whisker of breaking the deadlock. Barry Robson curled the ball out from the far corner looking for Jay DeMerit but Michael Gspurning punched the ball out of the box, but not quite out of danger. John Thorrington stepped up and looked to strike the ball on goal, but Leo Gonzalez got in the way and Mauro Rosales got the attack going as he found Fredy Montero and the Sounders sprinted back the other way in a four on two break. Montero played the ball back to Rosales who's first timed cross just eluded Brad Evans who got the start at left midfield over Steve Zakuani.

Shortly after, the Vancouver Whitecaps had to go their bench early. John Thorrington has had some injury problems with his right leg over the course of his career in MLS, and he appeared to have re-aggravated his right knee. So the Whitecaps had to use their first of three available substitutes in the 17th minute with Matt Watson coming into the game. Watson was one of four players who followed head coach Martin Rennie to Vancouver from the Carolina RailHawks during the offseason. Things would go from bad to worse for the Whitecaps later on in the half.

In the 30th minute, the Whitecaps missed a golden opportunity to open the scoring. Ozzie Alonso gave the ball straight away to Gershon Koffie in his own area. Koffie then used a little trickery to get away from Alonso and Leo Gonzalez and played in a perfect ball to Darron Mattocks and all he had to do was strike it on goal to give the Caps a 1-0 lead, but he took a split second too long and Jeff Parke slid in to break up the play.

Five minutes later, Koffie had room to shoot from long distance, but his shot went well wide. There wasn't much action early on up to that point, but since then, the game started to open up.

About a couple minutes later, the Sounders got away with what looked like a foul that wasn't called. Not only that, the Whitecaps had make another change. Kenny Miller fed the ball to Darron Mattocks to took one touch to try to get around Jeff Parke and it appeared that Parke dragged Mattocks to the ground just out side the area and Mattocks collided with goalkeeper Michael Gspurning who came off his line to challenge for the ball. Mattocks stayed down immediately holding his right hammy (Hamstring, in case any of you don't know what I mean) while Gspurning got up off the ground limping. If there was a foul, I don't know if Parke would've been sent off because again, Gspurning came out to challenge for the ball. Also, that the foul been given, it would've been a free kick outside the area. The bottomline is, Mattocks got the worst of the collision after suffering a right hamstring injury and the Whitecaps had to go to the bench for the second time in the first half.

A minute into the second half, Camilo Sanvezzo who came on for Darron Mattocks late in the first half, cut inside of Adam Johansson and sent in a low ball towards goal but he didn't get enough power on it and it was easily gathered by Michael Gspurning. Johansson had a lot to prove in this game after a horrible performance last Saturday against the San Jose Earthquakes. He bounced back very well in this match and had a decent performance in this match. It wasn't great, but it was a lot better than last Saturday. Hopefully during the offseason, Johannson will work on that and come into the 2013 season with a little more confidence.

Two minutes later, Gspurning nearly got beat from distance. Alain Rochat locked his ankles and struck the ball brilliantly with his laces and Gspurning alertly got a left arm to it. The movement of the ball nearly fooled the Austrian goalkeeper as he saw the ball drifting toward his right hand post, but then it started knuckling and Gspurning nearly ran past it.

With over 10 minutes to go in the match, the Sounders could've been up 1-0 had there not been a defender covering the near post. Christian Tiffert took the corner from the near side and found Jeff Parke in the middle of the penalty area for a half volley which was on target and looked to have had goalkeeper Brad Knighton beat, but fortunately for him, Lee Young-Pyo was there to clear the ball off the line.

There was a lot more drama late in the match, especially in the final minute of stoppage time, first in the Whitecaps area. Christian Tiffert curled the ball toward the back post which was behind Fredy Montero, but Montero used his strength to bring the ball down, turn and strike on goal. However the ball drifted away from goal.

You thought that was the last chance of the game, eh eh, not so fast. In the final seconds, the Whitecaps quickly sprinted back the other wide and Camilo missed what was probably the biggest opportunity of his young career. Barry Robson's cross found Kenny Miller would couldn't direct his header goalwards, but the ball found Camilo at the far post and he's put his shot just wide. At his caliber, he usually has no problem putting those away and he probably should've put this one away, but he didn't and the Sounders dodged a huge bullet and came away a point which was all they need to secure a place in the MLS Cup playoffs.

The Sounders wanted the three points, even though they only needed one to get into the playoffs. With the next three at home, it's important that the Sounders take advantage of the home field because home field advantage in the second leg is the key. We're looking at a matchup against either the LA Galaxy or Real Salt Lake should we finish second or third in the Western Conference standings. If they finish fourth, they would have to face Vancouver or Dallas in a wild-card matchup at home, with the winner facing San Jose in the MLS Cup quarterfinal and I'm pretty sure that is something the Sounders wouldn't want.

This team should be able to finish above fourth place at the least, but either way when it comes time for the playoffs, they can't afford to lose anybody to injury. Remember, Mauro Rosales suffered a sprained right knee in the final regular season match of 2011 which ruled him out of the MLS Cup quarterfinal against RSL and that proved costly to the team. That can't happen again, you gotta have your big guys out there at all costs. The Sounders are well overdue to advance out of the Quarterfinal. In 2009, they could've had at least three or four goals against Houston and they ended up losing 1-0 in extra time. Both Seattle and Houston had the best defense in the league, tied to the fewest goals conceded with 29. In 2011, well I think you already know. Losing the first leg 3-0, doesn't mean that you don't have a chance of coming back. If anybody remembers the 2005 UEFA Champions League final, Liverpool was down 3-0 to A.C. Milan but they came back with three second half goals and went on to win the final on PK's. I don't think the Sounders will find themselves in this situation again this postseason. If there was anytime for the Sounders to advance, perhaps this will be it.


Scoring summary:

NONE


Misconduct summary:

Vancouver Whitecaps - Jordan Harvey (caution; foul) 49'

Seattle Sounders FC - Jeff Parke (caution; foul) 55'


Lineups:

Seattle Sounders FC - Michael Gspurning; Adam Johansson, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leonardo Gonzalez; Mauro Rosales (Steve Zakuani 70'), Osvaldo Alonso, Christian Tiffert, Brad Evans (Andy Rose 74'); Eddie Johnson, Fredy Montero

Vancouver Whitecaps - Brad Knighton; Lee Young-Pyo, Andy O'Brien, Jay DeMerit, Jordan Harvey; Gershon Koffie, Alain Rochat, Barry Robson, John Thorrington (Matt Watson 17'); Kenny Miller, Darron Mattocks (Camilo Sanvezzo 42')

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders will have to wait another week to clinch a spot in the playoffs for the fourth straight year. On Saturday, the Sounders made their second trip to Jeld-Wen Field this season and came away with a valuable point as they drew 1-1 with their arch rivals the Portland Timbers. As for the Cascadia Cup, the Sounders do retain the Cup for now. Had the Sounders lost the match, then the Timbers would've won the Cup and a couple members of the Emerald City Supporters would've had to walk across the field and hand the Cup over to the Timbers Army (I wonder how that would feel. Surrendering the Cup on their ground).

There wasn't much action early on in the match. In the 10th minute, Fredy Montero got through Rodney Wallace and Kosuke Kimura after juggling the ball a few times and chipped the ball the far post for Eddie Johnson but Hayner Mosquera got in the way. Portland struggled to clear the danger. Ozzie Alonso found Andy Rose on the far side. Rose tried to play the ball to the near post for Steve Zakuani but Mosquera got in the way again. The ball fell to Alonso for a half volley, but he didn't strike it cleanly and it went wide left.

We're gonna fast forward to the 38th minute now. Rodney Wallace fed the ball to Franck Songo'o who has been a pain in the ass for the Sounders back line all game long, here's one of the reasons why. Songo'o cut inside to his right foot and gave a rip from outside the area and it was parried away by Michael Gspurning. That was the first time that the Timbers tested the Austrian goalkeeper in this match. The Sounders can't let Franck Songo'o cut inside to his right foot because that's where he's dangerous.

In the 44th minute, Sal Zizzo had a shot blocked by Jeff Parke and cleared out of the box by Brad Evans. However, the clearance fell right to Jack Jewsbury who gave it a go but the ball bounced wide of Gspurning's right hand post.

In the 51st minute, the Timbers suffered a big blow. Goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts, who was acquired last month by the Timbers from the Montreal Impact in exchange for Troy Perkins, collided in the box with Eddie Johnson as he was challenging for the ball. Here's what happened, Zakuani fed Andy Rose who then sent in a low cross toward the near post for Fredy Montero who just missed getting a head on it, otherwise it probably would've been a goal. Ricketts came off his line and punch the ball away and while doing so, he collides with EJ. Ricketts has been dealing with injurys since he joined MLS in 2009. Of course in the 2009 MLS Cup final against Real Salt Lake here in Seattle, he was subbed out after suffering a right hand injury. He missed half of last season with a broken wrist. Now in this match, I remember in the first half intermittently he was holding on to his left arm. He did stay in the match for a few more minutes, but all signs showed that he had to come out and he was replaced by Joe Bendik in the 57th minute.

Seconds later, Bendik was tested immediately and beaten. On the restart, goalkeeper Michael Gspurning booted the ball long down field. The ball found Fredy Montero who chested the ball down, turned and struck it beautifully over the head of Joe Bendik and into the net for his 12th of the season and the Sounders took a 1-0 lead at Jeld-Wen Field.

In the 78th minute, I don't know what happened on this play but the bottomline is the Portland Timbers leveled this match at one. Jack Jewsbury curled the ball out toward the near post and found Rodney Wallace unmarked. Now again, I'm trying to figure out what the hell happened here. I've been looking at this over and over again. From what I saw, the header bounced off Leo Gonzalez who was covering the far post. Michael Gspurning was trying to pounce on it, but Gonzalez just as he was trying to clear the ball just kicked the ball into his own net. This could've been ruled an own goal on Leo and MLS can still go back and change the scoring on that. The only thing that matters though is that the goal counted and the Timbers leveled this match at one.

Now onto the second minute of stoppage time, the Timbers nearly stole one late. Jack Jewsbury took the corner again, this time an inswinger. This one was intended for David Horst, who scored against Seattle in the last meeting between these two, but the ball fell to Bright Dike and he struck the ball off the post and Adam Johansson alertly cleared the ball out of danger. Everybody thought that was in. Michael Gspurning had no chance at that one, but the post saved the Sounders on that one and the game ends in a 1-1 draw.

The Sounders head to Honduras to take on Marathon on Wednesday knowing that a win will earn them a spot in the Champions League Quarterfinal. Eddie Johnson is suspended for Saturdays home match against the San Jose Earthquakes for Yellow Card accumulations so he will make the trip to Honduras. Mauro Rosales and Christian Tiffert will not make the trip to Honduras however because they are dealing with injuries. However, there's a chance that they'll recover in time for the San Jose match. We need those guys out there, we're getting to a point where we can't afford to lose a key player to injury that could potentially rule them out for the playoffs.


Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero 12 (Michael Gspurning 1) 57'

Portland Timbers - Rodney Wallace 1 (Jack Jewsbury 4) 78'


Misconduct summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Eddie Johnson (caution; foul) 26'

Seattle Sounders FC - Mario Martinez (caution; foul) 79'


Lineups:

Seattle Sounders FC - Michael Gspurning; Adam Johansson, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leonardo Gonzalez; Brad Evans (Marc Burch 78'), Osvaldo Alonso, Andy Rose, Steve Zakuani (Mario Martinez 70'); Eddie Johnson, Fredy Montero

Portland Timbers - Donovan Ricketts (Joe Bendik 57'); Kosuke Kimura, Hayner Mosquera, David Horst, Rodney Wallace; Darlington Nagbe, Jack Jewsbury, Diego Chara; Sal Zizzo (Kalif Alhassan 83'), Bright Dike, Franck Songo'o (Danny Mwanga 72')

By Money Mike


This was where Marcus Hahnemann began his career in 1994 and now this where he will end his career. Earlier this afternoon, the Seattle Sounders traded a conditional draft pick to Toronto FC for their allocation slot to get the veteran goalkeeper. Hahnemann joins the Sounders for the rest of the 2012 season with an option for 2013, although I doubt that will be picked up. My guess is this will be his final year as a professional soccer player. There were some questions in the past about whether or not the Sounders were going to pick him up when Kasey Keller retired. Most of the folks were expecting him to join the team as the new starting goalkeeper, but then the Sounders picked up Michael Gspurning. So then earlier today, Hahnemann signs an MLS contract and the Sounders picked him up through Allocation.

After four seasons at Seattle Pacific University, Hahnemann joined the Seattle Sounders in 1994 when they were playing in the A-League. In 1995 and 96, Hahnemann led the Sounders to back to back A-League titles and was named A-League MVP in 95'. After that he joined the Colorado Rapids and led them to the MLS Cup final in 1997 only to lose to D.C. United. He made 66 Appearances for the Rapids from 1997-99 and he still holds the team record with 39 wins for the Rapids. In 99', Hahnemann moved to Fulham in an 88,000 pound transfer from Colorado, which I think is $129,784 in American money. However, he couldn't break into the first team and after five appearances on loan with Rochdale, Hahnemann joined Reading in 2002 and became their starter through 2009. In the 2005-2006 season, he helped Reading win promotion to the English Premier League. It was the first time in club history that Reading reached the top flight of English football. He made 282 appearances for Reading and after they were relegated to second division football in 2009, Hahnemann joined Wolverhampton Wanderers who were promoted to the Premier League for 2009-10. He was originally the backup to Wayne Hennessey, but after Hennessey conceded four goals in two consecutive matches, Hahnemann took over as the starter and helped lead Wolves to 15th place which was good enough to keep them up. The following year, he struggled and lost his job after 15 appearances in 2010-11. He spent the 2011-12 season with Everton, but did not make a single appearance for them. Hahnemann has also capped nine times for the U.S. national team, and was on their squad during their CONCACAF Gold Cup Championship run in 05'. He was also on their squad for the 2006 and 2010 FIFA World Cup.


Thoughts on this move:

Well, it's great to see he's ending his career in his hometown. Apparently the Sounders needed a backup goalkeeper to rely on in case Michael Gspurning for some reason gets injured again. Bryan Meredith had his struggles, Andrew Weber did ok but he's not that great and I don't think Josh Ford is ready for this level. So bringing in Hahnemann as a backup was a pretty good move by the front office.

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders have inched closer to a second straight CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinal birth. Last night, the Sounders defeated Caledonia AIA 3-1 and are only one win away from clinching a place in the Quarterfinal stage of the Champions League. The Sounders next Champions League match won't be until September 19th when they travel to Honduras to take on C.D. Marathon. Both these teams have faced eachother twice in the group stage of the 2010-11 Champions League. The first meeting was in Honduras with Marathon coming out on top 2-1. The second match was here in Seattle with the Sounders returning the favor and winning 2-0.

In the 10th minute of the match, the Sounders should've been a goal up. Mario Martinez was making his first competitive start for the Sounders and he whipped in a great cross to the far post for a free header from Sammy Ochoa, but his header was saved by Glenroy Samuel as it bounced off his face.

In the 25th minute, Caledonia failed to clear the danger and they gave the ball away in their own area as Ozzie Alonso stepped in and from about 19 yards away fired his shot low and hard with his left foot, but it didn't trouble the goalkeeper and it was an easy save for Samuel.

In the 36th minute, Michael Gspurning found himself under a bit of pressure. Kareem Joseph whipped in a high lofted ball to the far post which started to dip as it came down, and Gspurning had to punch the ball away because there was a player ready to head the ball into the goal or at least put home the rebound if he had any chance.

A few minutes later, Alex Caskey took the corner kick for the Sounders. Glenroy Samuel came out and tried to punch the ball away and the ball bounced to Marc Burch at the far post. Burch looked to take advantage of the goalkeeping mistake but his shot was blocked as Caledonia had four guys on the line to clear the ball away.

In the 45th minute, the Sounders found the breakthrough. Zach Scott made a run forward from his right back position and worked a give and go with Sammy Ochoa, although it was nearly broken up after Ochoa nearly had trouble controlling the ball. Scott got the return as squared the ball across to the near post for Alex Caskey to tap it in for his third goal in all competitions this season and the Sounders took the lead in Trinidad 1-0.

About five minutes into the second half, Caledonia should've pulled level. There was nice through ball played into the area. I don't know who played that ball, I think it might have been Stephan David. Anyway, there was a ball played through and Cornelius Stewart got onto it, but somehow he put it wide.

In the 60th minute, the Sounders doubled their lead and looked to be walking away with all three points. Fredy Montero picked up the ball from Ozzie Alonso and made a nice cut to get past Radanfah Abu Bakr before laying the ball off to Sammy Ochoa. Ochoa received the ball, settled and from the top of the penalty area ripped his shot into the top left hand corner to make it 2-0 in favor of the visitors.

That was until the 67th minute when Caledonia were awarded a penalty. There was a chip into the penalty area that was intended for Jamaal Gay and Zach Scott appeared to have pulled him down in the area. Referee Javier Santos pointed to the spot immediately, but I didn't think there was enough for that to be a penalty. I thought Gay went down rather easily there. Much like in MLS, CCL officiating has been controversial to say the least. And just like the first Champions League match, Kareem Joseph stepped up to the spot and took the honors for Caledonia AIA and he put his kick inside the left post to cut the Sounders lead in half.

The Sounders responded quickly however and in the 69th minute, they would add a third goal. Alex Caskey made a nice move to get away from Aubrey David and squared the ball across toward the near and Fredy Montero was right there once again to add to his goalscoring tally in all competitions this season and that was the decisive goal for the Sounders as they defeated Caledonia 3-1.

The Sounders turn their attention back to MLS play on Sunday as they head to Frisco to take on FC Dallas.  The Sounders have come away victorious in their last two visits and will look to make it three in a row at FC Dallas Stadium as they chase the San Jose Earthquakes for the Supporters Shield.  Kickoff time is 4pm and will be televised on KONG-TV.


Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Alex Caskey (Zach Scott, Sammy Ochoa) 45'

Seattle Sounders FC - Sammy Ochoa (Fredy Montero) 60'

Caledonia AIA - Kareem Joseph (penalty kick) 67'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero (Alex Caskey) 69'


Misconduct summary:

Caledonia AIA - Walter Moore (caution; foul) 17'

Caledonia AIA - Densil Theobald (caution; foul) 29'

Caledonia AIA - Jamaal Gay (caution; foul) 71'

Caledonia AIA - Radanfah Abu Bakr (caution; foul) 87'


Lineups:

Seattle Sounders FC - Michael Gspurning; Zach Scott, Patrick Ianni, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Marc Burch; Mario Martinez (Cordell Cato 29'), Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Alex Caskey; Sammy Ochoa (Christian Tiffert 86'), Fredy Montero (Leonardo Gonzalez 74')

Caledonia AIA - Glenroy Samuel; Aubrey David, Nuru Abdullah Muhammad, Radanfah Abu Bakr, Walter Moore; Kareem Joseph, Densil Theobald, Stephan David, Cornelius Stewart (Conrad Smith 72'); Jamaal Gay (Abdallah Phillipsa 84'), Kerlon Ferguson (Trevin Caesar 63')

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders showed once again that they are a dangerous second half team. On Saturday, to know that this guy is the greatest goalscorer in the club's young MLS history, it's hard to believe that this is the first hat trick of Fredy Montero's career as he struck three times in the Sounders 6-2 blowout win over Chivas USA at the Home Depot Center. With the win, the Sounders climb into second place ahead of Real Salt Lake who knocked the Sounders out of the playoffs last season. If the regular season were to come to an end last weekend, the Sounders and RSL would face eachother again in the Western Conference semifinals with RSL hosting the first leg.

Chivas USA found some openings early on in the match. In the third minute, former LA Galaxy player Tristan Bowen who was making his first start of the season for Chivas was found on the near side with some space. Bowen worked a give and go with Nick Labrocca and looked to strike the ball on goal, but the angle was tight so instead he threaded the ball through to Miller Bolanos who tried to place his shot into the far corner, but instead he hit it straight at Michael Gspurning.

Two minutes later, Miller Bolanos played in a low ball toward the near post for Juan Agudelo who tried to direct it into the far corner, but the final outcome of that was another missed opportunity.

The Sounders first opportunity of the game didn't come until the 10 minute mark and they had no problem making it count. Eddie Johnson flicked the ball on for Fredy Montero who brought the ball down and played an excellent through ball to Brad Evans who got in behind James Riley and Evans calmly slotted the ball into the far corner for his second goal of the season and the Sounders took an early 1-0 lead.

In the 15th minute, Chivas USA had another opportunity to score. After a giveaway, Ante Jazic worked a give and go with Agudelo on the far side before whipping in a good cross for Casey Townsend to got in front of Jhon Kennedy Hurtado but he couldn't head the ball on target. There were so many openings on both side of the field all game long. As for Casey Townsend, he should've scored there. He was in perfect position to head the ball home and he ends up missing it. This is why Chivas USA have scored the fewest goals in the league.

In the 27th minute, Chivas loses possession and the Sounders pour down field in a counter attack and make them pay. Christian Tiffert sent Brad Evans in behind with a brilliant long ball. Evans was looking to try and score another goal, but James Riley tracked back and didn't give him any chance at that and had to wait for support. And he got it as he played the ball back to Mauro Rosales who slid the ball through to Fredy Montero and the Colombian did the rest as he turned and hit it low and hard into the far corner to double Seattle's lead with his ninth goal of the season and his 12th in all competitions. As for Mauro Rosales, remember in mid June he began to struggle on the right hand side and he only had a goal and two assists at the time? It's been a different story since than, that assist on Montero's goal was his 11th in 2012 and there was still more to come later on in the game.

What do I mean by later you ask? Well, let's say the 34th minute when he sets up Fredy Montero again for another goal. Fredy Montero picked up the ball from the near side and he stumbles a little bit and loses his footing, but he did very well to use his strength and maintain possession before James Riley could break up the play. The Sounders worked the ball around outside the area before Mauro Rosales played another excellent through ball to Montero who was all alone and Montero chipped the ball over Dan Kennedy and in to make it 3-0. That goal also put Montero into double figures yet again with his 10th league goal of the season.

A couple minutes later, Chivas USA were awarded a penalty kick. Juan Agudelo chipped the ball to the near post looking for Casey Townsend. Now as Townsend was about to volley the ball goalwards, I thought at first he caught one of the defenders with a high boot. I don't know why, I just did. But Townsend never made contact with any defender, and the ball apparently came off the hand of Jeff Parke and referee Jose Carlos Rivero pointed to the penalty spot. Juan Agudelo stepped up and calmly slotted the ball low into the right corner, sending Michael Gspurning the wrong way to cut the Sounders lead to 3-1.

In the 56th minute, Chivas USA let yet another chance slip away. Juan Agudelo played the ball back to Nick LaBrocca who whipped the ball in first time and getting up was Tristan Bowen for a snap down header which bounced just wide.

In the 64th minute, Chivas were able to finish their chance and what was once a 3-0 Sounder lead has now become a 3-2 Sounder lead. Tristan Bowen fed the ball to the near side for Miller Bolanos. Bolanos had a bit of space to decide whether to pass the ball or strike it from distance. He had Ante Jazic making an overlapping run, but Bolanos decided to go for it alone as he cut inside of Jeff Parke and struck the ball low and hard and it skipped underneath Michael Gspurning and into the back of the goal to make it a one goal game. So things started to look pretty interesting in this match as Chivas USA looked like they were down and out earlier in the game before they scored two unanswered goals to get back in this match.

That is until the 67th minute when Seattle restored their two goal lead and began to pull away from there. Mauro Rosales was once again the set up man as he played another brilliant ball to Fredy Montero. Montero avoided the sliding challenge from John Valencia and rifled his shot into the far corner to complete his hat trick and more importantly to extend Seattle's lead to 4-2. Montero is the fourth Sounders player to record a hat trick in the clubs young history. Blaise Nkufo did it on the road against the Columbus Crew in 2010, Lamar Neagle did at home in 2011 which was also against the Columbus Crew, of course David Estrada did it against Toronto FC in the Opener back in March and now Fredy Montero finally joins that list with three impressive goals against Chivas USA.

The Sounders weren't done there. In the 80th minute, the Sounders put together a lot of passes in this move as they worked the ball out wide to Christian Tiffert who looked and curled the ball near post for Sammy Ochoa and the big man got in on the act with a terrific header to make it 5-2 Seattle.

The Sounders would get one more in the 91st minute. Fredy Montero waited for support and chipped the ball into the area looking for Mario Martinez who was making a run toward the far post and Ante Jazic headed the ball into his own net to make it 6-2 and that's how it would end.

The Sounders road trip continues. Right now they're in Trinidad and Tobago preparing for their Champions League match tomorrow against Caledonia AIA. After that they will head to head to FC Dallas Stadium this Sunday to, well take on FC Dallas. Their confidence should be really high right now the way they've played lately. As for Mario Martinez, if you never heard of him, he's a Honduran international who joined the team on loan from Real Espana following the Olympics. This was his debut match for the Sounders, coming on in the 78th minute. In his short time on the pitch, I thought his movement on the ball was good, he's a good passer, he's got a great vision and he's a fast paced athlete. I think the Sounders need to get Martinez completely involved in these late stages as the Sounders get set for another playoff run.


Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Brad Evans 2 (Fredy Montero 5) 10'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero 9 (Mauro Rosales 11) 27'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero 10 (Mauro Rosales 12) 34'

Chivas USA - Juan Agudelo 2 (penalty kick) 38'

Chivas USA - Miller Bolanos 2 (Tristan Bowen 1) 64'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero 11 (Mauro Rosales 13) 67'

Seattle Sounders FC - Sammy Ochoa 1 (Christian Tiffert 1, Brad Evans 3) 80'

Seattle Sounders FC - Own goal (Ante Jazic) 91'+


Misconduct summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Osvaldo Alonso (caution; foul) 54'

Chivas USA - Miller Bolanos (caution; off the ball foul) 93'+


Lineups:

Seattle Sounders FC - Michael Gspurning; Adam Johansson, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leonardo Gonzalez; Mauro Rosales (Mario Martinez 78'), Osvaldo Alonso, Christian Tiffert (Steve Zakuani 84'), Brad Evans; Eddie Johnson (Sammy Ochoa 73'), Fredy Montero

Chivas USA - Dan Kennedy; James Riley, John Valencia, Bobby Burling, Ante Jazic; Tristan Bowen (Jose Erick Correa 69'), Shalrie Joseph, Nick LaBrocca, Miller Bolanos; Juan Agudelo, Casey Townsend (Juan Pablo Angel 86')

By Money Mike


The Seattle Sounders bounced back from a difficult week and came away with a huge win against their Cascadia Cup rivals from the North. On Saturday, the Sounders defeated the Vancouver Whitecaps 2-0 in front of 55,718 fans at CenturyLink Field in Seattle. Fredy Montero continued his scoring streak as he found the net for the third straight game and has scored four goals in his last five matches. Eddie Johnson's goalscoring frenzy also continued as he picked up his team leading 11th goal of the season.

Through the first 10-15 minutes, the Whitecaps looked like they were the better side from the kickoff. In the 6th minute, Darron Mattocks tried to play a through ball to Kenny Miller who got in behind Jeff Parke and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, but Michael Gspurning came all the way out to meet it. The ball fell to Dane Richards who tried it from a long way out with Gspurning way off his line, but he missed wide. Richards was making his sixth appearance for the Whitecaps since coming over from the New York Red Bulls for former Sounder Sebastien Le Toux.

In the 19th minute of the match, the Sounders troubled goalkeeper Joe Cannon. Eddie Johnson had possession of the ball on the right hand side. Johnson cut inside to with left foot after a couple of step overs and gave it a go from outside the area and Joe Cannon just punched it over the bar, but it was close to going into his own net.

A couple minutes later, the Sounders gave the ball away in their own half and Kenny Miller played a great through ball to Darron Mattocks in the penalty area, but he pulled his shot wide of the far post. Both Miller and Mattocks combined well in this game, causing a few problems here and there.

Shortly after, the Sounders had another great opportunity. Leo Gonzalez made a nice turn to get away from Dane Richards and Lee Young-Pyo who were double teaming him. Gonzalez fed the ball to the top of the area for Mauro Rosales. Rosales pushed the ball to the right side of the area to Brad Evans just as he was being dragged to the ground by Carlyle Mitchell and I think this is where Evans should've tried to hit the ball first time with his left foot because he had a defender tracking back and cutting down the angle. Instead, Brad Evans let the ball drop to his right foot and forced a save from Joe Cannon.

In the 50th minute of the match, the Sounders gave the Whitecaps another scare. Jeff Parke chipped the ball into the Whitecaps area. Eddie Johnson chested the ball down for Ozzie Alonso for a first timed hit from a long way out and Joe Cannon got down and deflected his shot wide.

In the 64th minute, the deadlock was broken and it was Fredy Montero who opened the scoring shortly after coming off the bench. Mauro Rosales floated the ball into the box for Jeff Parke who chested the ball to Montero and the Colombian international poked the ball inside the far corner for his eight goal of the season and the Sounders took a 1-0 lead. So once again, Montero came on and answered all the unnecessary critics regarding his performance on the pitch.

With three minutes left in the contest, the Sounders put the game out of reach. Ozzie Alonso played a brilliant long ball to the near side for Brad Evans who was all alone on the right hand side. Evans made no mistake on this play as he slid the ball across and Eddie Johnson was there, making a run to the far post for an easy tap in and the Sounders put their Open Cup final defeat against Kansas City and their heartbreaking 2-1 loss on the road to San Jose behind them and get three points against their Cascadia rivals.

Now, I just want to apologize to all of you for not keeping you guys up to date on the Gold Medal run for the U.S. women's soccer team during the 2012 Olympics. I had a lot going on that was more important than this, so I just want to make sure you guys understand. Also I'm gonna be taking a break from blogging for a little while, so I'm not gonna cover the Sounders-Chivas USA game this weekend.


Scoring summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero 8 (Jeff Parke 1, Mauro Rosales 10) 64'

Seattle Sounders FC - Eddie Johnson 11 (Brad Evans 2, Osvaldo Alonso 2) 87'


Misconduct summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (caution; foul) 58'

Vancouver Whitecaps - Gershon Koffie (caution; foul) 91'+


Lineups:

Vancouver Whitecaps - Joe Cannon; Lee Young-Pyo, Andy O'Brien, Carlyle Mitchell, Alain Rochat; Dane Richards, Jun Marques Davidson (John Thorrington 89'), Gershon Koffie, Camilo Sanvezzo (Russell Teibert 74'); Kenny Miller, Darron Mattocks (Atiba Harris 89')

Seattle Sounders FC - Michael Gspurning; Adam Johansson (Zach Scott 79'), Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leonardo Gonzalez; Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Christian Tiffert, Alex Caskey (Fredy Montero 61'); Mauro Rosales (Andy Rose 88'), Eddie Johnson