Photo by Jane Gershovich/JaneG. Photography
By JASON MITCHELL
If conventional wisdom says the Seattle Sounders will go as far as Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins can take them, the 2015 season is looking ever so promising for the men in Rave Green.
In a battle of shorthanded heavyweights, Dempsey and Martins lifted the Sounders to a 3-0 win over the New England Revolution in front of 39,782 at CenturyLink Field on Sunday night.
Dempsey opened the scoring in the 25th minute, earning a penalty after Juan Agudelo tripped him up in the box. Dempsey then easily beat goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth, driving his shot into the upper right corner of the net for the 1-0 lead.
Martins added the insurance goal in the 41st minute, soaring to head home a cross from newcomer Tyrone Mears. Dempsey was credited with a second assist on the play.
Dempsey capped the scoring in the 68th minute after a beautiful through-ball from Marco Pappa put both Dempsey and Martins behind the Revs back line. Martins had the ball at point-blank range but tapped a pass to his fellow forward for the easy score.
The Revs, missing Jermaine Jones and Lee Nguyen to injury, clearly missed both players. The visitors actually outshot the Sounders 8-6, but never really managed a clean look on goal.
Perhaps the closest the Revolution came to scoring was a 39th-minute long distance shot from Kelyn Rowe that goalkeeper Stefan Frei managed to finger away for a corner kick. Brad Evans, making his first appearance as a converted center back, committed a bad turnover that led to the opportunity.
The Revolution now have just one win in five visits to Seattle.
Nguyen, who finished last season with 18 goals and 5 assists, was listed as questionable on the injury report but was sidelined by a right-groin injury. Star midfielder Jermaine Jones did not travel with the team as he recovers from sports hernia surgery.
For their part, the Sounders were without Designated Player Osvaldo Alonso as he recovers from groin surgery.
Both teams are back in action next weekend. The Sounders host San Jose (0-0-1) while the Revolution visit New York City FC (0-1-0).
Also Oba scored in the first half, not the 49th minute. You should be able to at least get the basics right…
Expectations for SBI in 2015 should not be so high. Don’t get me wrong – I think Ives is still one of the best in the business, but this site has taken a dive in quality.
I’m sorry. I can’t take an article seriously that says a keeper “fingered” the ball away. I have never heard that terminology used and it’s just plain silly. Who edits these articles any more? There wasn’t a better way to phrase that? To highlight the fingertip nature of the save? Surely there was. I’m tired of being distracted by poor writing on SBI. Used to be the BEST place for soccer news.
get over yourself…
I watched two games this weekend: Seattle vs. NE on Fox 1 and the Orlando vs. NYCFC on ESPN.
I have to say the difference in the quality of the broadcasts was very noticeable. Fox1 kept cutting to closeups of players at the expense of understanding what was going on in the game. Alexi Lalas was terrible as announcer. I miss the old days when I only had to fast forward through him at halftime. I hope Fox 1 game coverage gets better. There is a lot of room for improvement.
I actually thought Fox’s coverage was pretty good – yes, Alexi is annoying. The studio portion was good, and overall the game calling was very strong. JP Dellacamera and Friedel were great in the Red Bulls KC game.
The only thing that bothered me about Fox’s coverage was the screen shrinking pop in ads they flashed for a few seconds….though they did at least do them at lulls in the play.
+1
And their mid-game screen-shrinking advertisements were making my blood boil
I don’t want to rail on “American” announcers but the play-by-play announcers talk too darn much for my liking during a match. I feel like I’m watching a hockey game at times because of the rapid cadence of telling me every single action going on the pitch. It’s one of the reasons I can’t stand JP Dellacamera. He’s too hockey for me.
A part of the beauty in watching soccer is the tranquility of watching the players work the pitch like artists (not having someone tell you every second of the match what you’re watching take place).
Less is more, for me, when watching matches.
Have to agree on the camera work. I feel like unless a superstar is on the ball, they should be showing at least a third of the field. Even if all that’s happening is a ball kid running to retrieve it, watching how they are setting up to defend the free kick or throw is still of interest.
But that’s nothing on what I’ve deemed “Old Man Cam”. I am not tuning in to a broadcast of soccer (or anything else) to watch an old man sit on a bench. There’s NEVER a reason to focus on the coach. NEVER. (Not saying only American broadcasters do this; it happens in every league and broadcast. It does seem more likely with US broadcasters that when the announcers talk about a particular player a closeup of that player is sure to follow, even if he’s nowhere near the play.)
Agree 100%. We’ve resorted to muting whenever Alexi is involved, or searching for a spanish language broadcast. Get the message Fox.
Agreed, but I don’t think that you can discount the rise of the quality American non-DPs.
Neagle was handful and looked like he could sprint a marathon. Evans is going to be a good CB, and wasn’t perfect, but did great first time out. Azira really knew when to go forward and get back. He made Seattle NOT miss having one of the best players in MLS out.
supposed to be a response to Old School.
Agreed on Neagle. He has improved every year I’ve seen him play. Also, Evans appears to be capable of playing anywhere. Perhaps even GK.
I don’t disagree, though Azira’s not American.
Off-topic — Fox Sports kept showing a promotion for an Algarve Cup game between Germany vs. Brazil during the games last night. Why would they show that game over the US/Iceland game which is on at the same time? You would think the US women’s game would get a much better rating.
What a difference quality DP’s make on an MLS match/entertainment value watching as a fan.
Welp my first ever fantasy round was a learning experience (only 50 points) but I’m ready to bounce back.