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Seattle Sounders vs. Real Salt Lake: Match Night Commentary

The race for second place in the MLS Western Conference is a tight one, and tonight’s clash between the Seattle Sounders and Real Salt Lake (10pm, NBC Sports) will go a long way toward determining who the No. 2 seed in the West will be.

Real Salt Lake has a three-point lead on the Sounders for second place, but Seattle has a game in hand and can pull even with a win tonight.

U.S. National team forward Eddie Johnson won’t play tonight for Seattle after starting for the U.S. in last night’s win vs. Guatemala, but Kyle Beckerman and Nick Rimando are in the lineup for RSL after being on the bench for the national team in Kansas City.

SBI will be providing live commentary on tonight’s match so please feel free to follow the match here. As always, you are welcome to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action (Tonight’s commentary is after the jump):

Comments

  1. Saw this on Twitter, bears repeating: “If Sigi placed stray dogs & cats as well as he places blame, Sarah McLachlan wouldn’t be on TV anymore.” Another week, another bout of whining from Sigi & Seattle fans and attempts (by Hanauer) to intimidate the referee assigners at PRO. What 3rd grade garbage from SSFC & esp Sigi. Have some honor! The referee is part of every game for every team and maybe the Sounders would win more if their manager quit looking to blame the ref for every little thing that doesn’t go his way. If your team doesn’t have the stones to overcome the inevitable couple bad decisions a game from the ref, then you don’t deserve to win. What a clown.

    Also, Seattle, it’s long past time to SHUT UP about the USOC! It was more than TWO MONTHS ago! You’re continued whiny denial & blaming just proves what a bunch of entitled insufferable jerks you are.

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  2. Props to the four RSL fans that sat together in the away section. Sorry we couldn’t hear you. Watching the play on the field, you would have thought that RSL was down a man with the way the Sounders took it to them.

    Also, Salazar is a douche, but that is nothing new.

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    • Sounders would only sell us four tickets. Ha ha. Look at possession and shots on goal. How can you say the sounders took it to them? Sounders fans are passionate more than they are logical and reasonable.

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      • I believe that Seattle had more shots than RSL although that may have changed in the last 10 minutes. RSL destroyed seattle on possession like 60/40 I believe but that is expect when playing a man down. I would have expected more from RSL after going a man up and seattle using evans and seamon in the backline, thought three were there for the taking.

  3. It doesn’t seem to have occurred to many people that RSL only needed the single point to guarantee a top 3 finish since they have the tie-breaker against LA. I think that is why they seemed to be playing more to ensure the tie than to win.

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    • RSL has the tie-breaker in LA? And what might that tie-breaker be? Head to head? That’s not the first tie-breaker in MLS. Goals scored is (as crazy as it sounds). If RSL loses to Vancouver, if LA wins out and if Seattle beats Dallas on Saturday, all three teams will be tied on points and RSL will have scored the fewest goals of all three teams. That scenario is far from unrealistic.

      Given all that, to not even try and attack for 35-40 minutes with a man advantage just seemed odd. It may not come back to haunt them, but if Seattle goes on a roll and wins the West, we’ll be looking back at this game as the one that they survived and rode to a final.

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    • Everyone cries. But Sigi is flat out unprofessional. The announcers agreed with both yellows. The announcers also kept talking about the Sounders playing through so much adversity I thought Ty Peddington was going to build them a new house. Hopefully, the new house has grass. The only thing Seattle had to play through was RSL. And they didn’t. A draw away is a win.

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    • Yeah, hope that fine is big too, Sounders fan are a bunch of whiners and feel entitled to win because they have a big crowd every game, whoodiy doo.

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      • Your right. Small crowds are the best and all the teams who draw big crowds should have to forfeit 3 points in the standings. Because that’s good for soccer.

    • Plenty of people like and respect Seattle and diving is a problem with every team, not just Seattle. Espindola went down easily once or twice tonight considering how big he is. Morales goes down easily. It is a problem with every team, dont say that is a Seattle exclusive issue.

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      • “Plenty of people” in the state of Washington only. Seattle fans live in an alternative fantasy world where the Sounders are Man United. Fact is, the Sounders are a slightly above average team that has done well in the regular season but struggled in the playoffs since joining MLS as an expansion franchise. The crowds at CenturyLink are a thing of beauty, and we all respect that, but the product on the pitch (and I must use “pitch” loosely) is nowhere near as spectacular as Seattle fans believe or purport all over the internet.

      • I am sorry it isn’t a world class product after four years, admittedly the playoffs haven’t gone well but anyone would be happy with their team going to the playoffs their first four years or winning 3 Open Cup titles. Isn’t that right Vancouver/Toronto/Vancouver/Chivas etc.? Didn’t it take RSL like 4 or 5 years to even make the playoffs?

      • You obviously take a realistic view of your team. Good for you. Seems like you’re in the minority among Seattle fans, though. And that’s my point. The reason why Seattle’s detractors poke fun at you for “inventing football fandom” is because of the general smugness and arrogance of the garden variety Sounders fan.

  4. Another week another game where Salazar feels the need to get way to involved and ruin the game. Scott commits two fouls and gets two yellows with neither being particularly harsh (second one was worse). 95% of refs talk to the player, Salazar just goes straight for the book every time.

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    • That first play is a guaranteed yellow EVERY TIME.

      The guy was beat and the RSL player was in toward Seattle’s goal and the Seattle player took a tactical foul from behind to stop him. It’s hands down a bonafide yellow card 100% of the time. You don’t get a talking to for those fouls since they are professional fouls.

      The second was a very late scissor tackle from behind. Are you seriously claiming that isn’t deserving of a card, especially for a player already given a warning?

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      • I am saying that most reasonable refs will not give two yellows for two fouls in the first 30 minutes. Not only is the game now 10 v 11 but he now has to give out a ton more yellows to be consistent and fair and this has been a physical game. Salazar routinely gets far to involved, watch any game he referees.

      • I agree Salazar gets way too involved and I think Sigi is right with him being RSL 12th player. If you see any games Salazar has refereed against Sounders, Seattle always gets the bad end of the deal.

      • Tough call to make, but I think Salazar got it right. The SEA hates him, but he has resolve to call it as he sees it and not be swayed by crowds or emotion. A good ref, and the pink ribbons compliment his biceps.

  5. Sigi Schmidt claiming Ricardo Salazar is a player for RSL.

    Because it sure wasn’t your player’s fault for leaving his feet to scissor a guy from behind very late when he was already sitting on a yellow. Yup, never a Seattle player’s fault.

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  6. You can have no argument with that red card. No argument.

    You’re sitting on a yellow in the first half hour and you decide to come in a full second late from behind while leaving your feet and scissoring the player’s legs after already being given a last chance warning?

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    • Please Scott didn’t leave his feet, and the first one doesn’t happen if the AR calls the ball out like we all saw on the replay. Was the second a foul, but with as much as we have seen Rosales get hammered over the last 2 seasons with little to no punishment to the opponents that card was a joke.
      Salazar always makes crap decisions against Seattle, see open cup final

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  7. Seattle’s had an extraordinarily high hit rate on their recent foreign acquisitions. Rosales, Gspurning, Tiffert — all very good players who have fit in well with this team/league.

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