CHAMPIONS!

Sounders won the US Open Cup on a memorable night in Washington DC after a 71st minute goal by Fredy Montero settled a compelling cup final. Any hope DC United may have had of coming back from that were dashed in the immediate aftermatch by a crazy assault on the goal scorer by DC keeper Josh Wicks. The keeper jumped in the air and deliberately landed on the prone goalscorer, all seen by both the cameras and referee Alex Prus, who red carded Wicks after he got up from treatment. But Sounders had to survive a nervous last few minutes after they allowed DC to pull a late goal back after Roger Levesque had added a second.

17,329 including a sizeable contingent from the Pacific Northwest witnessed the action on a perfect night for football on the east coast.

Neither Nate Jaqua nor Brad Evans made Sigi’s starting eleven, so there were starting line up positions for Pete Vagenas in midfield and Seb Le Toux up front. Freddie Ljungberg made his first start in the US Open Cup. DC’s line up was at full strength and as expected. Seb Le Toux was playing fairly withdrawn, almost in a 4-5-1 formation.

A raucous atmosphere from both sets of fans illuminated the evening, with DC having the better of the early possession. Chris Pontius beat Leo Gonzalez in the air in the fourth and won his own header, to drill wide of the unprotected Keller. Seattle’s first chance came in the eighth minute. Steve Zakuani fed Fredy Montero but he fired well wide. On ten, Zakuani fed Montero again feet away from the goal, and the Colombian wasted a superb chance by hitting Josh Wicks.

DC hit back but a long range effort was easily grabbed by Keller, as the first quarter of an hour passed with Fredy Montero having missed easily the game’s best chance. Christian Gomez fired a 35 yard free kick wide after Vagenas had been tricked by the lively DC number 10.

Freddie Ljungberg missed an even better chance after Le Toux easily robbed Fred in the 19th minute. The Swede was clean through on Wicks and hit his outstretched leg just before the 20th minute. Two minutes later, and Montero fell predictably in the DC penalty area. Sadly the defender hadn’t arrived yet and Mr Prus was unimpressed. 25 minutes had passed when Pat Ianni picked up the game’s first yellow for a somewhat weak foul on Emilio, in a surprisingly clean game.

The half hour mark passed with no goals, DC having had slightly more possession, but Sounders had created two magnificent chances, both of which had been fired at the fortunate and well placed Josh Wicks.

Keller made his best save so far after Osvaldo Alonso turned over the ball to Ben Olsen for a second time in a minute. He tricked Vagenas and shot on target for Keller to tip over, in the Sounders keeper’s only real save of the match so far.

As half time approached, Sounders were still fighting and matching their oppoennts, though there was a dangerous moment when Christian Gomez was allowed to dribble into the Sounders D and shot wide with Keller’s goal in sight.

After that an impressive Tyson Wahl found Le Toux on the right. He produced a great right wing cross which Montero met on the full, but his header was too close to Wicks as opposed to straight at him like before, and the grateful and alert keeper tipped it over. It was the last chance of a goalless first half.

Gonzalez tugged at the shirt of substitute Santino Quaranta, on for Fred, and received the game’s second yellow to kick off the second period’s activity. Gomez wasted yet another free kick blasting way over Kasey Keller’s bar.

James Riley gave away a dangerous free kick in the 54th minute and was nearly booked, but from the set piece, Burch found Emilio’s head, but his header doddled into Keller’s arms. Gomez blasted yet another shot over from 30 yards. The impressive Marc Burch did better from the same distance forcing Keller to move sharply left to hold. Le Toux shot tamely wide soon after, three minutes before the hour.

Just after the hour, Chris Pontius wriggled free in the area and found Emilio who shot tamely at Keller in what may have been DC’s best opportunity so far. Steve Zakuani went worryingly down injured in an accidental collision with Quaranta. He looked to be about to come off but Levesque had to sit back down after nearly stripping ready for action.

On 71 came the two game changing moments. Zakuani headed accurately into Ljungberg’s path. His flick beat Dejan Jakovic to the ball but Wicks saved bravely. The ball rebounded out into Montero’s path and he was on hand to net the rebound. Montero was rewarded for his bravery with Wicks cynically stamping on his prostrate body with his full weight, and was correctly sent off for a needless act of thuggery. Milos Kocic the reserve keeper came on for Gomez. The cameras caught it all and Wicks can have no complaints, especially after his outburst against his own team mates in Chicago caused such controversy.

Substitute Roger Levesque headed a Gonzalez cross over with eight minutes to go. Le Toux dispossessed Jakovic in the lead up to Sounders second. He fed an unmarked Roger Levesque who rattled it home into an empty net for the second with three minutes left, before Rodney Wallace netted a consolation after being left unmarked at a Quaranta free kick to set up a tense last few minutes including five minutes of injury time for the Sounders. But finally referee Alex Prus blew the whistle and the night belonged to the Seattle club. They held on and the final whistle sparked celebrations both on the pitch and after.

As a postscript, after the match, Sounders GM Adrian Hanauer said that it was “almost certain” that the Open Cup victory would get Sounders a place in the CONCACAF Champions League qualification round. But that’s for another day, tonight belonged to the 13 men who had served on the pitch, their comrades in the squad, the club ownership and the 300 plus Seattle Sounders fans who witnessed an unforgettable night!

DC United: Josh Wicks; Bryan Namoff, Dejan Jakovich, Marc Burch, Fred (Santino Quaranta 45′); Clyde Simms, Ben Olsen (Rodney Wallace 82′), Chris Pontius, Christian Gomez (Milos Kocic 71′); Jaime Moreno, Lucanio Emilio

Substitutes not used: Avery John, Andrew Jacobson, Devon McTavish, Danny Szetela

Sounders FC: Kasey Keller; James Riley, Tyson Wahl, Pat Ianni, Leo Gonzalez; Freddie Ljungberg, Steve Zakuani (Roger Levesque 73′), Osvaldo Alonso, Pete Vagenas; Seb Le Toux Fredy Montero (Brad Evans 76′).

Substitutes not used: Terry Boss, Nathan Sturgis, Zach Scott, Lamar Neagle, Nate Jaqua

Attendance: 17,329

Referee: Alex Prus

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