Toronto FC 0 : 2 Sounders FC

Records Tumble as Sounders Go 3 and 0

April 4

Seattle Sounders are now officially the most successful expansion side ever. A whole host of records and statistics were generated as goals from Freddie Ljungberg and Steve Zakuani in the first half led Sounders to a surprisingly comfortable win against an out of sorts Toronto FC side.

In the 77th minute, with Toronto having failed to score, Sounders FC became the longest running MLS side to not concede a goal, beating Chicago Fire’s 11 year old record. They are the first expansion side to win their first three games.

Sigi Schmid is now unbeaten in seven games against Toronto. On the playing side, Freddie Ljungberg’s well taken goal was his first in the MLS and Nate Jaqua’s assist his first. Steve Zakuani opened his account with a well taken and opportunistic goal just before half time. Sounders become the first side to open with three wins since Kansas City in 2006.

Sounders Player Rating for Toronto FC Match. YOU Vote for Man of the Match – Vote aqui por el jugador del partido

Sounders opened the scoring in the 11th minute and the goal was a work of art. The move started, as so many of Sounders movements do, with the two hardest working men in the team, Sebastien Le Toux and Osvaldo Alonso. The latter found the mercurial Swede Ljungberg just inside the Toronto half. He looked up and dribbled forward relatively unchallenged. Prodding the ball forward to targetman Nate Jaqua, Ljungberg continued his run into the box. Jaqua with his back to goal flicked the ball with the outside of his boot finding Ljungberg’s running perfectly, and the Swede gave the unprotected Greg Sutton no chance with the finish.

The goal seemed to affect Toronto perhaps a little more than such an early setback should have. The game degenerated into a scrappy affair and both managers will be concerned about the number of turnovers. A strong wind was at Toronto’s back and they would have hoped to do a little better with this advantage than a one goal deficit. But things were to get even worse just before half time. Ljungberg created a little havoc, albeit at a manageable level, down Toronto’s left side. He found Jaqua, whose shot cannoned off a defender, straight at the feet of an alert Steve Zakuani. The young Congolese showed a great deal of composure for a 21-year-old and slotted the ball home. To be fair, 0-2 was a little harsh on Toronto. They had enjoyed good possession but it wouldn’t be unfair to say that this hadn’t turned into enough concrete goal chances.

Sounders Player Rating for Toronto FC Match. YOU Vote for Man of the Match – Vote aqui por el jugador del partido

Seattle Sounders FC (3-0-0): Kasey Keller; James Riley, Tyrone Marshall, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Zach Scott; Sebastien Le Toux, Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Steve Zakuani (Nathan Sturgis 79’); Freddie Ljungberg (Sanna Nyassi 78’), Nate Jaqua.

Subs not used: Ben Dragavon, Patrick Ianni, Stephen King, Roger Levesque, Tyson Wahl

Toronto FC (1-1-1): Greg Sutton; Jim Brennan, Adrian Serioux,Marvell Wynne, Kevin Harmse; Dwayne DeRosario, Amado Guevara, Rohan Ricketts (Sam Cronin 45’), Carl Robinson; Chad Barrett (Danny Dichio 65’), Pablo Vitti (Joahnn Smith 85’).

Subs not used: Brian Edwards, Emmanuel Gomez, Fuad Ibrahim, Marco Velez

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