New York Red Bulls 1 : 1 Sounders FC (Match Review)

Fredy Montero is alive and well, and terrorising defences, but Sounders still couldn’t notch that elusive (not against San Jose) win. The woodwork denied Fredy twice and Roger Levesque and Osvaldo Alonso had superb chances to win the match. Sounders showed a much steelier side and committed a commendable fifteen fouls, their second highest of the season, but more importantly went 83 minutes without a booking.

It wasn’t as pretty as the football on display in Los Angeles but on the worst pitch in the MLS, that would not have been a sensible approach. Other than the pipes, Danny Cepero made a fine save from Roger Levesque, and there were several occasions where the ball bobbled alarmingly in front of the New York goal and could have, but just didn’t, fall at Seattle feet. Alonso put a late chance over the bar, but other than that it is hard to say that Sounders did not act to rectify all that was wrong on Wednesday.

The goal Sounders conceded was comical just like on Wednesday but it’s hard to ascertain any pattern in it from which lessons can be learned. New York took the lead early on when a Tyrone Marshall clearance cannoned off Pat Ianni. Unfortunately, the angle at which the ball deflected fell right into the path of Juan Pablo Angel who found himself clear through on Kasey Keller. An experienced and capable striker like Angel wasn’t going to spurn such an opportunity and he duly rounded the keeper to give New York the lead.

Sounders had had the better chances up till then. Seb Le Toux had been given corner taking duties and Seattle’s corners were as good as they have been all season. From one of them in the 33rd minute, Danny Cepero got his fingertips to a Fredy Montero corner and just managed to palm it onto the crossbar.

However rather than let their heads go down, Sounders rescued the situation with a superb individual effort form Montero. Jeremy Hall was in possession of the ball deep in New York’s right back area. With a scooping tackle unlike anything we’ve seen form the little Colombian before, Montero cleanly and crisply dispossessed an astonished Hall, and bore down on Cepero’s goal. From a tightish angle, Montero unleashed a firecracker which left the young keeper with no chance, and Montero’s teammates slightly astonished. It was probably Montero’s finest moment of the season, and a well deserved reward for Sigi Schmid for continuing to show faith in him despite crowd anxieties.

There was no scoring in the second half though Montero hit the upright one more time. Having received the ball from a Sanna Nyassi throw in, he beat two men but his shot failed to beat Cepero’s right hand post and the ball rebounded into the arms of a grateful keeper.

It was disappointing not take all three points against a distinctly average side, they’re not a poor side at home. But what Sounders can take from the game is that they developed a toughness, showed they weren’t prepared to be physically dominated and into the bargain managed to mostly keep out of the referee’s notebook while doing so.

Now they have eight days before they play again, and Sigi may well have the fullest roster yet to select from if Zach Scott continues his recuperation, Jhon Hurtado gets bored of changing nappies and Freddie Ljungberg shakes off the knock he picked up against DC.

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Dave Clark’s Player Ratings

Seattle Sounders FC: Kasey Keller, Tyson Wahl, Tyrone Marshall, Patrick Ianni, James Riley, Steve Zakuani, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Sebastien Le Toux (Sanna Nyassi 69’), Nate Jaqua (Roger Levesque 74’), Fredy Montero

Substitutes Not Used: Ben Dragavon, Peter Vagenas, Stephen King, Nathan Sturgis, Freddie Ljungberg

New York Red Bulls: Danny Cepero, Alfredo Pacheco, Kevin Goldthwaite (Danleigh Borman 74’), Carlos Mendes, Mike Petke, Jeremy Hall, Jorge Rojas (Dane Richards 58’), Seth Stammler, Albert Celades (John Wolyniec 81’), Nick Zimmerman, Macoumba Kandji, Juan Pablo Angel

Substitutes not used: Jon Conway, Sinisa Ubiparipovic, Luke Sassano, Juan Pietravallo

Attendance: 14,313

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