Portland Pilots v Sounders FC (Live Blog)


Good Bars to Watch Soccer in Seattle
Friday, February 20, 2009

blog-photo5.49 Hello and welcome to Merlo Field. Prost Amerika has arrived in the pressbox and we are going to open comments to our readers for the first time ever in our history. Also tonight, it’s our first look at Sounders FC and we can’t wait to give you our impressions of Fredy Montero, Steve Zakuani and co.

History is being made tonight as Sounders FC makes its first ever appearance in the Pacific Northwest. Several Sounders players are already warming up on the pitch. It’s dry here and the Chiles Centre dome faces across from us.

6.04 I have just been joined by Senor Jose Romero of the Seattle Times who will be blogging as well. We’ll have his URl up here so you can check it out.

6.06 Sounders full squad warming up. It’s about 45 degrees here. We’ve been given a blue sandwich voucher. Matt Gaschk has arrived from Sounders FC.

6.16 Game rosters are out but no starting line-ups. Everybody has made the trip. Fredy Montero just took a biff on the nose.

6.19 No news about cuts or staring eleven yet. Haven’t seen the ECS but the Timbers Army are here in increasing number behind the left hand goal.

6.21 Michael Fucito is here. Please also visit Matt Gaschk’s Official blog.

6.28 Line up – first half: Keller, Brown, Ianni, Wahl, Scott, Nyassi, King, Theobald, Jaqua, Caugherty, Clark.

6.31 Substitutes line up is everybody else!

6.37 Darkness sets in on Northern Oregon and there are 400 folk in already with more streaming in.

6.41 A mix of UP purple scarves, green Portland Timbers but no sign of the Sounders fans. Still 20 minutes drinking time to go?

6.43 The UP drumming band has arrived. About 20 of them trombones and drums. Nice wrok from the Villa Drum squad, named after one of the dorms. They are resplendent in kilts.

6.48 Crowd at 800 now, and it seems only the starting players are on pitch. UP’s next match is against the Timbers here. Quelle Irony!

6.51 8 minutes till scheduled kick off and it’s lovely night for football. We have the UP team: Guerrero, Chrostek, Kawulok, Lopez, Nielsen, Warner, Emory, Kraus, Rouse, Davidovic, Van Schaik. UP will wear white and purple trimmed shirts and white shorts, and Sounders FC will be be in their all green.

6.53 A big thank you to all of you looking in. Thank you for choosing Prost Amerika. Thank you to Kara for being my eyes and ears tonight too.

6.57 Referees all dressed in yellow are on and here come my Sounders. Kasey Keller in a Sounders uniform captains the side. We lose the coin toss but this is my first look at Sounders Fc. Awesome. Keller gets a lovelty announcement and round of applause. ECS are here.

7.00 anthem

7.05 Up kick off and ball ends up with Keller King shoots after a scramble and Guerrero makes his first save.

2 mins: Sfc left wing corner from Evan Brown. Scott unable to guide the header on goal.

3.19 GOAL Sanna Nyassi on the overlap, Jaqua wins the header and beats Guerrero low to the keeper’s right 1-0 Sounders

7 mins: Nyassi looks very powerful on right side of MF. They were practising overlaps in training Thursday. Sounders playing 442. from l-r defence, Scott, Wahl, Ianni, Brown, mid Caugherty, Theobald, King, Nyassi with Theobald being a more defensive midfielder.

Jaqua and Clark front two.

11. Lopez fires in and Keller is called into action for first time as he collects cleanly.

13. Nyassi has a good leap for a little guy, gets good height. FK SFC on right. Tyson Wahl to take. left footed but too far.

16. Lovely turn by Collen Warner beats a defender but his pass is wasted

Thobald playing the old Leighton O’Brien role dropping back to pick up the ball off the back four.

17. Clark is playing more of a target man. He’s 5′11″ and 155 pounds

19. Wahl floats in corner from right, Caugherty heads wide.

Theobald seems to be plaing defensive center mid. He’s doing a lotg of pointing and shouting. orchestrating the direction of the ball out of theback four.

21. Caugherty, left side mid. lacks pace of Nyassi so far. yet to see what he can do. Hasn’t seen much of the ball so far.

23. Clark draws foul on right. Brown to take set piece on left side but with right. He has some curve but again the ball is kicked too hard.

26. Nyassi and Brown linking well on right. Good off the ball movement. Wahl is also making himself available.

27. A left side Wahl free kick is headed by a defender and lollipops into the goalie’s arms.

30 – corner on right to Sounders. Wahl again to take. Headed out for another corner.

32. GOAL. Ianni heads second corner against the bar and Clark nods in the rebound. 2-0

A big hello to our friend in an internet cafe in Beijing. Thank you for joining us.

33. Defence is having a quiet night. Wahl has looked good taking set pieces. But at 6′ 2″ on quite a short roster, one wonders if he might be more use inside the box.

Scott doesn’t look out of place. Jaqua is going off and on comes Roger Levesque.

38. It’s eight shots to one for the Sounders.

39 Thank you Joe for those kind words. A right sided FK to SFC, just inside the UP half. Again Sounders fail to win loose ball in penalty area. Substitute for UP Daniel Polanco replaces Frankie Lopez.

41. King makes room for himself on edge of penalty box but fires over the bar with his left foot.

42. Atmosphere is rowdy but not boisterous. 90 TA fans behind Guerrero’s goal are noisy

45. Roger gets on the end of a Nyassi cross but good pressure by defender stops him directing it. Half time whistle goes.

Atmosphere is not in any way hostile. Everyone behaving and Nyassi and Brown looking among the best Sounders.

Been for a walk in the crowd. Good mix of Sounders fans sprinkled in. Many thanks to our hosts at UP who have been wonderful.

Second Half

Le toux in for Nyassi, Eylander for Keller, Forrest in for King.

49. Pictures coming soon. Roger is fouled but UP clear

59. Roger working hard but no clear chances.

60. Almost all the Sounders subs seem ready to come on. Le toux burrowing in down the right but rides only the first tackle. Wholesale changes as eight go off and go on. Arriving are Alonso, Riley, Montero, Sturgiss, Zakuani, Evans, Graham and Marshall are now on.

63. UP score as a shot from ten yards beats Eylander’s right hand. Logan Emory is the scorer.

65. Fredy Montero tries an ambitious volley but it loops over the bar.

67/ Montero beats a defender easily and slides the ball just wide of the right hand post. Jose Romero nearly jumps for joy. He likes Fredy and says his accent is easier to understand than Osvaldo Alonso’s Cuban.

70. PENALTY. Zakuani beats the whole UP side, reaches the touch lines, returns and drawas a foul from th ekeeper, who is booked.

71 GOAL. Montero blasts the penalty right down the middle. 3-1 for Seattle.

72. Le Toux and Levesque working well. Sturgiss left foot free kick from right and Graham heads towards goal. Good save by Austin Guerrero.

74. Jaran van Schaik runs uncontested into Sounders box but fires wide. Substitute Patrick Journey on for Polanco, and Brian Irwine for Michael Nielson, Krause for Davidovic.

75. GOAL 4-1 as Graham’s header is knocked in by Brad Evans.

78. Zakuani has pace and feeds Le Toux who switches onto his left foot but fires over.

79. Le Toux looks pacier than last year at attcking right midfield.

80. Montero is buzzing around the UP box. UP subs Chrostek and Bayan in.

87. Sounders playing possession football but the clock is king now as the team plans for Vancouver Caps on Sunday.

88. Roger makes space but fires straight at the keeper.

Whistle sounds for the end of match play.

Interviews with players to follow.




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145 Responses to “Portland Pilots v Sounders FC (Live Blog)”

  1. Editor

    We’re back now. Thanks to all of you who wrote in and contributed to a very enjoyable evening down there.

    Your support is appreciated.

    #183
  2. gstommylee

    Romero*

    #182
  3. gstommylee

    Okay Romemo updated us on vinni and he is no longer with the team. He also said he was never given a guaranteed a spot but only a camp spot. Bojang didn’t make the trip to portland but Romemo isn’t sure if Bojang is still on the roster.

    #181
  4. Ironthumb, that is too bad.
    When do you expect to be able to see it?

    #180
  5. gstommylee

    bah curses oh right its after 9pm this is typical of me to make typos after 9pm

    #179
  6. asoc

    responded? :-p

    #178
  7. gstommylee

    make that responsed

    #177
  8. gstommylee

    i asked Romero regarding any more cuts. He reposed no further roster cuts announced immediately after the game.

    #176
  9. Ironthumb

    Good to see the Sounders working well together. As for the home opener ECS Capo, I’m afraid I won’t be able to watch it live. Anyway, thanks again Prost Amerika, your site rocks!

    #175
  10. Well, it was a college team against MLS/MLS prospects, so I would imagine that they wouldn’t care much.

    #174
  11. They are used to it. lol

    #173
  12. asoc

    When its us, versus them, you can always count on me.

    When its us, versus them, its a Sounders Unity.

    #172
  13. gstommylee

    How are the TA crowd taking this loss to seattle?

    #171
  14. as far as I know…

    #170
  15. Good to hear. Marine flares, eh?

    #169
  16. gstommylee

    I wonder what that was all about.

    #168
  17. Oh my GAWD, they’ve got STEVE! lol

    #167
  18. She hangs up, but has praise for Fredy Montero and the hustle of Roger Levesque.

    #164
  19. Well, as long as nobody or no property was hurt.

    #162
  20. KH one of those cuffed and escorted out…to?

    #161
  21. Yes, flares and security and handcuffs. Jenni thinks possible arrests. We’ll see. Silly Seattle boys…

    #160
  22. Maybe just escorted out of the grounds…but who knows…

    #159
  23. Jenni on the phone…some ECS boys are off to the klink, perhaps?

    #158
  24. The Whitecaps should be a good test.

    #157
  25. I received an anonymous voice mail that mentioned something about flares…any pics?

    #156
  26. loko_suache

    Great win, I expect the whitcaps 2 b a tougher test.

    #155
  27. gstommylee

    We’ll see its possible they already made the cuts prior to today’s game

    #154
  28. I guess the ECS lit up the place?

    #153
  29. I hope Roger makes it through.

    #152
  30. A successful evening. Now…for some cuts. :(

    #151
  31. gstommylee

    Good win for seattle.

    #150
  32. I guess my +3 stood.
    And I don’t even gamble.

    #149
  33. gstommylee

    LOL@this from seattlefc.com game blog

    84 – Montero is toying with the defense with the ball at his feet … they are sending guys at him in bunches and he doesn’t even flinch.

    #148
  34. gstommylee

    I think the 14 other MLS has something to fear now that’s Montero

    #147
  35. yea, but there is still time left…I think we can get +4

    #146
  36. gstommylee

    capo you called that one the 3 goal lead.

    #145
  37. 4 – 1…nice

    #144
  38. gstommylee

    UP GK was given a yellow card on the hard foul.

    #142
  39. gstommylee

    I saw MLS extra time video show and they rated montero a 6 out of 5

    #141
  40. Monterooo es en fuego! Way Oh! Way Oh! Way Oooohhhhh!
    Monterooo es en fuego! Way Oh! Way Oh! Way Oooohhhhh!
    Monterooo es en fuego! Way Oh! Way Oh! Way Oooohhhhh!

    #140
  41. gstommylee

    GOAL! Montero on the PK 3-1

    #137
  42. Montero should put this in

    #136
  43. gstommylee

    The lasted Sounders player signing which is a CB defender will join seattle on their next road trip.

    #135
  44. Kara

    They scored right after the huge line change.

    #134
  45. I can’t wait to see Montero

    #133
  46. gstommylee

    That’s not bad since it took 63mins for UP to score.

    #132
  47. gstommylee

    This could get interesting now with Montero and Zakuani in.

    #131
  48. Evans should give us a little more offense.

    #129
  49. gstommylee

    ball possession in first half for seattle 70% according to soundersfc.com game blog

    #128
  50. Kara

    Roger is working really hard out there, running around like a banshee and is finding some great plays with his old companion, Sebastien Le Toux

    #127
  51. loko_suache

    Lets score some more goals

    #126
  52. Singing Bluest Skies on the cell with my ECS friends in PDX!

    #125
  53. Eylander on!

    #124
  54. Kara

    Hey guys! Photos are coming soon, but to keep you tuned in here are the first half stats:

    SHOTS
    Sea: 9
    UP: 1

    CORNER KICKS
    Sea: 3
    UP: 0

    SAVES
    Sea: 1
    UP: 2

    FOULS
    Sea: 1
    UP: 7

    #123
  55. Bluest Skies will be sang by the ECS to kick off the 2nd half

    #122
  56. Hey Ironthumb, are you going to be able to view the home opener live?

    #121
  57. Ironthumb

    Thanks ECS Capo.. 2-0 at the half and no injuries, so far so good I’d say.

    #120
  58. I think he knows, he just doesn’t find them relevant.

    #119
  59. gstommylee

    Portland

    #118
  60. gstommylee

    Timber Army Portal Timber fans

    #117
  61. Kara

    TA are the Timbers Army.

    #116
  62. Ironthumb

    Who the heck are the TA? Go Sounders! Get one more before half!

    #115
  63. I really hope we get a USOC match down there this year…

    #114
  64. I hate not being there.
    It’s not even so much about how the TA is reacting, as it is the overall mood of the match.

    #113
  65. Joe

    Ooops! Didn’t see you ask b/f me, Capo. Guess we’re on the same page.

    #112
  66. gstommylee

    i’m curious to know how the TA crowd is handling it?

    #111
  67. Joe

    Can we get a general ‘atmosphere’ update at half? Sorry to ask, but it’s a killer to not be there…

    #110
  68. Any singing, chanting, booing?

    #109
  69. gstommylee

    8 shots to 1 ouch.

    #108
  70. How is the atmosphere?

    #107
  71. Ironthumb

    Thanks for doing the live game cast. Good to see the boys in rave green are sharp. I’m actually in Zhenjiang (next to Nanjing), but thanks for the shout out!

    #106
  72. Joe

    In regards to score, I’d say a win’s a win. Although I’d love to see a shutout, given our recent defensive concerns. Great updates so far. Best I’ve seen of the three I’m following. Thank you Prost!

    #105
  73. Thomas513

    Thanks so much for the coverage. I am on the 17 and wishing I was there!

    #104
  74. Come on Roger!

    #103
  75. +1 for Mr. Clark. ;)

    #102
  76. gstommylee

    GOAL! Clark on a rebound 32min

    #101
  77. Well, I guess I should ask more often!

    #100
  78. Let’s get another goal!

    #99
  79. Ironthumb! Good to see you here!

    #98
  80. gstommylee

    Hows the seattle defense looking so far prost?

    #97
  81. Ironthumb

    I’m following this game at an internet cafe in China. Go Sounders!! Kick some ass!!

    #96
  82. gstommylee

    Looks like seattle has control of the game so far.

    #95
  83. Thanks for the feedback Prost!

    #94
  84. I hope the Seattle support is loud down there!

    #93
  85. I would hope for at least 2 – 3 before the half.

    #92
  86. gstommylee

    I wonder how many goals seattle will have before the first half is over. It’ll be pretty ugly if it was similar to the game where seattle goes 5 in the first half.

    #91
  87. gstommylee

    Well tell that person that was a good one.

    #90
  88. yea, I am also interested in Caugherty and Theobald.

    #89
  89. I can’t take credit for it.
    It came from a fellow ECS member though.

    #88
  90. Can you give us a feel for Clark? Short, tall, fast, slow…?

    #87
  91. gstommylee

    lol good one capo

    #86
  92. Kara

    We’re more interested in watching the rave green as opposed to the TA green.

    #85
  93. He’s Big! He’s Tall!
    He’s a Mother F’n Wall!
    Kasey Keller!
    Kasey Keller!

    #84
  94. Meaning if UP sores 1, the Sounders socre 4

    #83
  95. +3 goals to SSFC

    #82
  96. gstommylee

    so hows the TA crowd reaction to sounders first goal?

    #81
  97. gstommylee

    Yea that too.

    #80
  98. Win and stay healthy.

    #79
  99. gstommylee

    so what would be your guess of margin of victory? 5 goal win 6 goal win?

    #78
  100. gstommylee

    at the 4th min mark according to soundersfc.com came blog.

    #77
  101. I meant Jaqua…

    #75
  102. Nyassi already!

    SSFC!SSFC!SSFC!

    #74
  103. There are a few guys in the SSFC line up that need to make an impression. They need to step up tonight.
    There are also around 7 that are MLS starting quality.
    This should be interesting.

    #73
  104. gstommylee

    so much for home field advantage for UP

    #72
  105. Kick off…and down goes the shot of Jameson.

    #71
  106. And the home of the….SOUNDERS!

    #70
  107. gstommylee

    only 6 TA? Good grief and i thought they would have a bigger presences.

    #69
  108. Yea, ECS in the house!

    #68
  109. Come on Sounders!

    #67
  110. ^^^^^
    What he said!

    #65
  111. Who Are Ya! Who Are Ya! Who Are Ya!

    #64
  112. Resplendent. Someone owes someone else a fiver. ;)

    #63
  113. ECS will be there.

    #62
  114. I know Bill and Jenni are there. :)

    #61
  115. Nothing organized, just some people that could take the day off work

    #60
  116. How dare they have a Band! Its blasphemy!

    ;)

    #59
  117. No organized Seattle fan presence was planned, right?

    #58
  118. There goes the assumption that starters would go 60!

    #57
  119. Looks like Clark gets another chance to prove that he belongs in MLS.

    #56
  120. Scott needs to do well, and I hope he does.

    #55
  121. Protecting Montero, and not starting Roger…

    #54
  122. Don’t let the TA side story distract you. The game is on the pitch.

    #53
  123. You think that they have jobs

    #52
  124. Alan Hudson

    Six TA? Must not have been able to get the night off from the 7-11 :-)

    #51
  125. I hope Roger puts in 3 and does a nice little dance in front of the TA

    #50
  126. Battles at CB and RW for the starting lineup.

    CB battles in depth, and to see if Levesque makes the club.

    #49
  127. Let’s Go Crimson!

    #48
  128. This could be an important night for a few of the guys on the bubble

    #47
  129. Abe

    are the TA making a spectacle of themselves?

    #46
  130. Are the ECS still drinking in the parking lot? ;D

    #45
  131. Any word on the Starting 11?

    #44
  132. So Steve, any confirmation on new cuts…such as Vini Oliveira?

    #43
  133. Wish I was there….

    #42
  134. History? Some one has a high opinion of himself.

    #40
  135. Editor

    Hi all. Welcome to Seattle soccer history.

    #39


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