Sounders v Columbus Crew – After Match Coverage

Reds, Tyson Wahl and Great Crowds

May 31

In the aftermath of the match last night, there were talking points a plenty both in the press box, the locker room and the bars frequented by the faithful. Usually this season, there has been one focal incident that has concentrated all minds. Last night, there was so much drama; so many sub-plots and so many discussion points, that it is easiest just to run one article and cram it all in, allowing the reader to take their pick.

Red Card Thoughts – Best Ty of the Season – Unashamed Pandering – Player Ratings

Four Red Cards – Is it Time to Look Internally?

Tyrone Marshall picked up Seattle’s fourth red card of the season. Previously Kasey Keller, Fredy Montero and James Riley had been expelled from matches, seemingly all under varying circumstances.

Looking at the incident that saw the Jamaican ejected, substitute Steven Lenhart did indeed flick out his elbow behind him into Marshall. He made little contact and Tyrone to his credit did not embellish it and roll around on the floor. Unfortunately he took an even worse option. He took a swing at Lenhart, who also to his credit didn’t make anything of it, choosing to stay on his feet. Tyrone Marshall was very honest about the incident in the post match interview:

“I guess Kasey was saying that the referee said I punched a guy, the striker. The guy who gets the red card, you always see what happens afterwards. I didn’t see the incident happen before…he was coming in being very aggressive. I think he ran into me with his elbow. Being the competitor that I am, I’m not going to take that, you know? I’m going to let him know…But the retaliation, the lineman saw that part, but didn’t see the first part of it, because it happened at the same time. It kept going. He’s throwing his elbows, we’re battling out there. We kept playing, and the play stopped for some reason and I thought they were giving us a call. Then all of a sudden, they had a free kick. [I thought,] ‘What’s the situation here?’ To see him reaching for his back pocket, I was like, ‘Are you really kidding me with this? Giving me a red card?’“

Tyrone is right. The officials very often only see or choose to punish the retaliation. The point is, Tyrone knows this. He’s 34 and has experience at all levels of football. Of all Sounders red cards, only Fredy Montero can claim inexperience or lack of appreciation of the vagaries of local refereeing as an excuse.

Tyrone went on to say,

“It’s a tough situation to be in, obviously, because we’ve been taking a lot of red cards and it seems like we’re not disciplined. But I don’t think that’s the case. I think we’ve been getting unfair calls, really. I think we’re very competitive, we want to win games, and emotions definitely kind of spill over a little bit, but that’s part of the game.”

That’s where we partially disagree. Sometimes you just have to let the opposition get away with something, even if you’re irritated the officials missed it. It goes against the grain to let Greg Berhalter cuddle the ball and stop Sounders taking a free kick. It goes against both a natural sense of justice and the desire, even passion, Sounders FC’s players have to play flowing aggressive football. It goes even more against human nature to let Steven Lenhart shove an elbow in your face and not hit him back. But sadly sometimes in football, you just have to. It’s the officials’ jobs to enforce natural justice on the pitch and when they are wrong or absent, players can’t step in and fill that vacuum. We need passion, but a more disciplined application of it.

That said, fans should be very appreciative of the passion our current crop of players are showing for the franchise. Not just our old friends who were here last season, but new recruits like Tyrone himself and James Riley. The Coloradan full back has already won himself a sea of admirers both for his on-pitch performances, and his willingness to attend fan functions off it. So much so that one fan group raised the money to pay for his recent fine.

After the match yesterday, the atmosphere in the locker room was beyond sombre. Everyone, those who played, club staff, non-playing staff, seemed absolutely gutted that Sounders have failed to win. It made asking questions difficult. But somehow Prost Amerika left reassured that the passion and love for Sounders FC pouring noisily out of the Brougham End is suffusing all the way through the club. It’s a good sign.

Tyson Wahl – Grounds for Optimism

On a different note one player who has largely been appearing below the fans’ radar this season is Tyson Wahl. Talk in the press box was very approving last night, so we caught up with the Newport Beach native after the match to see what he thought.

PA: Was it your best performance this year?

TW: This year, definitely, because it was the majority of my minutes were logged in tonight. So definitely my best. I’ve been in the league for three years, so I came in with some confidence so I made a good impression with my first start here for the Sounders. I could have done a couple of things better as always. I’m dissatisfied with tieing. I think everyone on the field feels we could have come out with three points. That’s a little bit of a let down. There’s some things I need to clean up.

PA: What gave you most pleasure about your own performance today?

TW: My passing was pretty good. In the Open Cup we played on a really tight field, so it forced us to, especially as an outside back, to play very quickly, so last Tuesday it was tough to complete as many passes as I would have liked to. Then you come out here (Qwest Field), and the field is much more open, so I saw a couple more passes that I wasn’t able to find at Starfire.

PA: Did you feel your team mates kept giving you the ball today?

TW: A little bit. I feel that teams like to play down the right hand side so I’d still like a little bit more of the ball. So, hopefully I’ll get some more games, and get some more of the ball.

PA: Which is your favourite of the two, left back and centre-half?

TW: I think I enjoy playing left back more because you get more of the ball and I think I can show a little bit more there. I’ve played more games at centre-back so I’m a little bit more experienced there. As long as I’m fit enough to get up and down the side line, I’d like to play left back.

One win in Eight and 29,000 are Still Showing

On the field, Sounders are experiencing unexpected difficulties.Teams are refusing to just lie down and let us win as happened in March, an unexpected turn of events which is confusing a few of us. Injuries have bedeviled the franchise since before the season began, and the plethora of suspensions has impeded Sigi’s hopes of achieving any sort of consistency in team selection.

One thing that is consistent however is the number of people flocking to Qwest Field to cheer, yell and (almost) sing the team on. Many scoffed at Toronto fans who abandoned their post well before the end of the 0-2 home defeat to the Sounders in early April. Toronto had been proud and not solely self-appointed recipients of the best supporters in MLS monicker. They were seemingly somewhat put out by the new kid on the block. But after some needless rave green gloating at their fickleness in defeat, wiser heads counseled that we wait and see how many show up at Sounders games when the honeymoon begins to ebb.

Last night scotched any possibility that Seattle’s increasing band of enemies would have some ammunition. 29,126 packed the ground and provided an atmosphere that people are frequently describing as European. (Quite why I don’t know. It was never like that at Partick Thistle v Kilmarnock).

So in the spirit of unabashed pandering to the fanbase and our readership, a quick tip of the hat to Seattle’s football fans (real football) is in order to round off our post match thoughts.

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