Good evening folks. Tonight is the night MLS fans have been waiting for. It is the start of the 2009 MLS season and the debut of the Seattle Sounders FC in Major League Soccer.
We are still sometime away from kickoff but the excitement here at Qwest Field is palpable. There is a sea of Emerald green starting to fill the lower bowl of Qwest and I must say it is an impressive look.
I will be providing commentary throughout the evening so please feel free to follow along here. As always, feel free to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
Let's start with the lineups, which include at least one surprise for Red Bulls fans.
Enjoy the match!
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FINAL– That's all for me tonight. Look for more coverage on Friday from this match, and also look for the SBI interview with Jeff Parke. I will post that on Friday. For now, feel free to share your thoughts on tonight's match in the comments section below.
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FINAL– Sounders 3, Red Bulls 0. A dream debut for the Sounders and an absolutely awful start to the season for the Red Bulls. Who was the expansion team tonight?
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90th minute– Sigi Schmid deserves some credit. He has put himself together quite a team. And Qwest Field is NOT going to be an easy place to play.
Roger Levesque comes on for Montero and Montero gets a loud applause. The kid got it done today.
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87th minute– Danleigh Borman loses possession and here comes Seattle again. You know, for all the stick I've given the Red Bulls defense, the midfield has been beyond careless with the ball and put the defense in bad spots over and over again.
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85th minute– And the Sounders? Their biggest "problem" will be figuring out how to get Ljundberg on the field. Brad Evans and Nate Jaqua will have to step up their games to stay in the lineup.
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84th minute– So why shouldn't Red Bulls fans be jumping off buildings right now? Well, for one, you will probably never see that starting lineup again. Ever. Secondly, the Red Bulls should welcome a host of new players in the next two weeks, including Albert Celades, Alfredo Pacheco, Carlos Johnson and Khano Smith.
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83rd minute– There is Le Toux again, almost setting up Seattle's fourth.
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81st minute– To be fair to Angel, Montero's supporting cast has been extremely good and active. Angel's supporting cast has been invisible.
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79th minute– Not blaming this loss on Angel, trust me, the defense and midfield for the Red Bulls has been atrocious, but Angel has had some chances and didn't finish while Montero has made the most of his chances.
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76th minute– You can point to Seattle out-hustling the Red Bulls, and showing more skill, but the difference between Montero and Angel tonight has been considerable. Angel has been off and Montero has been amazing.
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75th minute- GOAL SOUNDERS!!! and it's Fredy Montero, stripping Petke and beating Cepero on the breakaway. That wasn't even fair. The kid is just plain nasty. Sounders 3, Red Bulls 0.
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74th minute– Good game from Alonso tonight. It should be noted that the Red Bulls had Alonso in spring training camp last year but would only offer him a developmental contract. So much for that.
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73rd minute– How good is Montero? Yes, I know, the Red Bulls defense is looking like a set of traffic cones, but Montero is doing some great things with the ball.
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72nd minute– SAVE CEPERO!! Montero starts a Seattle break but Cepero comes up huge.
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71st minute– SAVE KELLER!! A great shot from Rojas forces a one-handed Keller save. The corner is caught by Keller.
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70th minute– Angel just doesn't look sharp tonight. He has gotten the ball in some dangerous spots but his touch has let him down a handful of times.
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68th minute– Steve Zakuani comes on for Nyassi. No rest for the Red Bulls.
SAVE KELLER!! He stones a good Kandji shot from close range.
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65th minute– Seattle's defense has been steady all night. USL veteran Zach Scott has stood his ground against Dane Richards and Hurtado has held his own against Angel, who has been a non-factor tonight.
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64th minute– Montero takes a kicked ball to the face. Petke with another potential goal-saving play.
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63rd minute– Juan Pablo Angel just got completely whiped out by Le Toux. Angel is up.
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61st minute– Keller with his first quasi-dangerous situation and he catches a cross. Keller hasn't had much to do all night.
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61st minute– Red Bulls corner kick.
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58th minute– Nyassi definitely has a Shaun Wright-Phillips look to his game. Steve Zakuani is going to have a tough time taking the job from him.
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55th minute– While Montero has been the star tonight, Le Toux has been thoroughly impressive as well, and Nyassi has been dangerous all game.
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54th minute– Jeremy Hall tracks back to help break up a Seattle break. He's looked pretty good since coming in.
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52nd minute– Seattle has slowed down a bit but Montero looks like he has at least one more goal/assist left in him.
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51st minute– So who has actually played well for the Red Bulls? Mike Petke has done his best to limit the damage and helped stop two other would-be goals. Other than that though there hasn't been much to point to from the Red Bulls.
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50th minute– Apologies for the late start. I was interviewing Don Garber at halftime. You haven't missed any goals. Danleigh Borman is in for Sinisa Ubiparipovic.
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HALFTIME– Admit it, When you saw that Red Bulls back four before the game you know it might get ugly today. The funny thing is most would have worried about Pietravallo today but it has actually been the back-line that has looked a hot mess. Credit to the Sounders. Their ball movement and movement off the ball has been beautiful to watch.
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HALFTIME– Sounders 2, Red Bulls 0. Seattle has been dynamic in attack and solid in defense while the Red Bulls have been shambolic defensively and unable to string any passes together in the final third.
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45th minute– Ubiparipovic has not had the best first half. None of the Red Bulls have for that matter.
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45th minute– Jhon Kennedy Hurtado has looked good matched up against Angel tonight.
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43rd minute– Goldthwaite with an ill-advised pass right to the top of his own 18. He is looking like 2007 Kevin Goldthwaite and that's not a good thing for the Red Bulls.
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41st minute– Sounders corner kick.
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40th minute– The Montero-Nyassi-LeToux trio is pretty nasty. I can't imagine what it will look like when Freddie Ljungberg gets healthy.
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39th minute– Richards took a ball ricochet in the face, but he's walking now and looks okay.
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37th minute– Sinisa with a great pass to Hall, who springs Richards, but Richards cross is blocked. At least that was a decent passing sequence by the Red Bulls and that's why Hall needed to start this match.
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35th minute– Boyens was not happy with being replaced. He's probably wondering why he came out and not Goldthwaite. That's simple. Goldthwaite is the only left back on the roster.
Nyassi almost beats Cepero to the ball but Cepero interrupts him enough to prevent another goal. Seattle is shredding the Red Bulls defense.
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34th minute– Mendes will slide into central defense and Hall will be the right back.
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34th minute– Juan Carlos Osorio has seen enough. He's putting in Jeremy Hall for Andrew Boyens.
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33rd minute– Rojas took the shot and hit the wall.
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32nd minute– Montero is making it look too easy.
Hurtado with a handball at the penalty arc. Another dangerous free kick opportunity for the Red Bulls. Can Angel make this one count?
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29th minute– You knew the Red Bulls back four was going to have problems tonight but this has been awful. Alfredo Pacheco and Carlos Johnson can't get into the New York lineup soon enough.
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28th minute– Seattle looks extremely sharp tonight. They are attacking with purpose and Montero has shown in less than 30 minutes why he is regarded as such a special player.
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26th minute- GOAL SEATTLE!!! And it's Brad Evans with a finish of a Montero pass. What a great pass and Evans puts it through Cepero's legs. Bad goal to give up. Sounders 2, Red Bulls 0
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23rd minute– Richards with a nice run into the area but he's dispossessed 15 yards from goal.
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21st minute– Goldthwaite gets a yellow for a foul upfield.
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19th minute– Nothing comes from the corner kick and the Red Bulls are still searching for the first real chance.
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17th minute– Red Bulls corner kick.
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16th minute– Goldthwaite cannot handle Nyassi's speed and the Sounders are sending numbers forward every time Nyassi has the ball. The Red Bulls need to find some possession ASAP.
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15th minute– Nyassi torched Goldthwaite again but the Sounders waste a great chance.
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14th minute– Angel skies the ball into the stands. Waste of a great chance.
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13rd minute– The kick is in Angel territory.
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13th minute– Yes, that was Goldthwaite in the area. He didn't close Montero down.
Red Bulls Kandji draws a foul and the Red Bulls have a dangerous free kick in the arc.
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12th minute- GOAL SOUNDERS!!!!!! And it's Fredy Montero with the finish. Perfect finish. Sounders 1, Red Bulls 0.
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11th minute– Nyassi is working the right flank, with Le Toux on the left. Nyassi's speed is going to be a problem for Goldthwaite
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9th minute– Pietravallo with another nice touch to create some space. He's playing with confidence tonight.
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8th minute– Petke avoids danger with a bit of a lucky touch to keep Montero from getting a golden chance.
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7th minute– The Red Bulls are pumping balls to Richards, but he has yet to do much. Angel has yet to get involved either.
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5th minute– Petke is matched up with Montero early on.
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4th minute– Alonso whistled for a foul on a crunching tackle. He's setting an early tone.
Pietravallo has had some very good touches early. And still no cards.
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4th minute– Don't expect beautiful soccer the first 15 minutes. Expect a frenetic pace.
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2nd minute– Alonso with a good tackle on Rojas early.
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1st minute– And we're off
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PRE-GAME– We are close to kickoff.
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PRE-GAME– If you read the SBI Match Preview you know what the keys to the game are. The one unexpected factor is the inclusion of Pietravallo. He provides more bite than Sassano, but he's also prone to getting cards. Referee Jair Marrufo will determine how much Pietravallo gets away with tonight.
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PRE-GAME– Seth Stammler and Carlos Johnson were left off the bench for the Red Bulls while Freddie Ljungberg is not on the bench for Seattle. And yes, I did forget to include Ljungberg in the match preview.
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PRE-GAME– Here are the benches for both teams:
Red Bulls– Alec Dufty, Danleigh Borman, Jeremy Hall, Matt Mbuta, Dom Oduro, Luke Sassano, John Wolyniec.
Sounders– Ben Dragavon, Patrick Ianni, Stephen King, Roger Levesque, Nathan Sturgis, Tyson Wahl, Steve Zakuani.
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PRE-GAME– The pre-game ceremony is still going. Don Garber is speaking. Drew Carey spoke and said "Let's kick some Red Bulls butt."
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PRE-GAME– Former Red Bulls defender Jeff Parke is at Qwest Field. I just spoke to him at length about his suspension, his trials in Europe and his experience the past six months. He was very contrite, honest and willing to discuss every aspect of his experience surrounding the suspension and his departure from the Red Bulls. He is in negotiations with the Sounders, but has yet to sign. Look for a detailed story on the interview with Parke after the match.
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PRE-GAME– Seattle owner Joe Roth takes the gratuitous shot at the now defunct Seattle Supersonics as he promises the fans that the Sounders aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
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PRE-GAME– Osorio has gone with the back-line of Goldthwaite, Petke, Boyens and Mendes. Not the fastest back four ever, but a veteran group.
In fact, it is interesting to note that 10 of 11 players in the Red Bulls starting lineup were on last year's team. Mike Petke is the only new player in the lineup.
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PRE-GAME– There is a pretty elaborate pre-game ceremony taking place right now. It has a mini-Olympic opening ceremonies feel to it.
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PRE-GAME– The Red Bulls will look to attack Seattle with Dane Richards and Jorge Rojas spearheading the attack in midfield, while Seattle should be able to put pressure on the Red Bulls flanks with Sanna Nyassi and Sebastien Le Toux.
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PRE-GAME– Here is the Sounders starting lineup:
————–Montero——–Jaqua—————–
Nyassi—————–Evans—————-Le Toux
————————Alonso————————
Scott——–Marshall———–Hurtado——Riley
————————-Keller————————
Yes, that's the same starting lineup in our match preview.
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PRE-GAME– Yes, Juan Pietravallo is in the starting lineup. That's a bit of a surprise. We knew Seth Stammler was unlikely to start (in fact, he's not in the 18) but most thought Luke Sassano would get the call ahead of Pietravallo.
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PRE-GAME– Here is the Red Bulls starting lineup:
————————Angel————————-
Kandji—————–Rojas——————Richards
————Pietravallo——Ubiparipovic————–
Goldthwaite—Petke——Boyens————Mendes
———————–Cepero————————–
Man, Seattle was awesome. Does anyone know if the Sounders have a mascot? Do they prove that team’s marketing efforts are better spent elswhere?
http://www.footsmoke.com
I’m not to worried about this lost, I’m pissed but not worried. If we had lost with stammler, celadas, johnson, pacheco, khano smith and we weren’t playing our first game of the season against a brand new expansion team in a stadium with a crazy atmosphere, than i would have to be worried, but i don’t think this team was any were near our best squad so i’m fairly positive we will do better.
I must say the atmosphere was electric. Those of us in the stands were all rooting for 2-1, knowing any win would be great. NYRB just didn’t seem together at all and couldn’t get anything going. Was very impressed with SSFC team speed. Nyassi and Le Toux will be hard for everyone to deal with, especially with Montero to focus on.
Those of us in the stands thought the Sounders didn’t play all that great, just overwhelmed the Red Bulls at times. There weren’t long periods of good possession and some chaotic moments and bad passes at the back. Ljungberg in the middle should help with the possession and should really take advantage of the speedy players.
Was very impressed with riley getting up in support of the attack all night. Hurtado more than held his own against Angel. I’m sure Parke will want to be part of this.
I think what’s clear is that the brass at SSFC, among doing everything else well, are great talent evaluators. There weren’t many players in green last night who couldn’t be had by any other MLS team. Four from USL-1, three from expansion draft, two young foreigners and one MLS vet, plus local star returns in goal. Many more good things to come.
oops,.. not Evans I mean Alonso
Aside from Fredy.. Evans was my man of the match. When LJburg is fit, along with evans in the middle? good luck MLS
Ives, your pregame analysis was a treat, and so was your PBP. I didn’t read either until after watching the game. It is an obvious point, but Evans scored the second goal, not Le Toux.
Alex: I assume that response was to me and not Kizz? your line that if “mls teams could play with Chmapionship rules, they could compete” well, no duh. if they played with La Liga structure and budgets, they could compete there. Give me ManU’s budget (their annual debt payments are larger than MLS’s annual budget combined, and they still make a profit) and I will build you a superclub. it’s a ridiculous comparison. if my aunt had a penis, she’d be my uncle. doesn’t make it the case, right?
I think there are too many RBNY fans who sound like they’re ready to jump off a bridge. The team isn’t as bad as it looked last night. Nor do I think that the team failed to show up or failed to work.
I think what happened was a case of Seattle getting an early goal, totally ruining RBNY’s scheme, Montero causing fits all night and so the team was on its heels for the entire game, struggling to create order, coherence and grab a piece of the match back. So nearly everyone looked bad. But that’s what tends to happen in a team game–when you lose by a couple of goals in the run of play, the entire team looks bad.
Montero is going to cause everyone fits. Even with starters missing, it’s going to take a very athletic central defender (and Boyens or Petke don’t qualify) to match up with him–sort of an Eddie Pope in his prime.
I think the single biggest issue for your team is that offensively, you’re relying too much either Rojas or flank speed to create chances. When Rojas isn’t on (and last year wasn’t very encouraging) or the flank attackers are Kandji/Mbuta/Richards aren’t creating chances off counters with their speed, than Angel is starved for good chances and the attack looks dead. Maybe Ives and JCO are right and Rojas is the real deal. Or maybe the speed merchants will make RBNY the best counter team in MLS. But if those options aren’t true, given the absence of Van den Bergh (and I understand he requested the trade so that’s not a bash of the front office), I think that offensively there could be some very lean times.
Laughing at all the RBNY fans who said there is no way that all these dilusional Sounders fans would be enjoying a dominating victory. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
The Sounders deserved to win last night and were well prepared. Unfortunately, it seems to be the same old start for the Red Bulls. Perhaps Osorio should spend a few extra days in Seattle and learn from Sigi had to create team chemistry. The Red Bulls have a lot of individual talent that never seem to play together as a team.
the marching band is a great idea.
a) it is much better than GnR paradise city being blared
b) the thing that makes a marching band is its drum line, which is a natural fit for any soccer match
c) it is an inoffensive american sports tradition… a rarity?
d) i grew up going to Huskers fottball games. i can’t even begin to tell you how much atmosphere they bring to an event… thge vibe is enahnced, peopple can sing along, the band can be a focal point when things are down.
keep the band.
Its great to have Montero, he’s obviously fantastic……unfortunately we wont be able to keep him around too long, you’d think.
Well, I didn’t get to watch the entire game, but in the last 20 minutes or so I did see, Seattle TOTALLY dominated the midfield, and moved the ball around at will against New York’s defense. The Sounders have a great coach who obviously prepared them well, and I think their future opponents this season would be well-served not to view them as an expansion team that “should be” an easy win, or they will be very disappointed with the outcome.
I Love Jones Soda!
Kizz, Wow!! didn’t mean to hurt your feelings but no you don’t speak the truth because until these teams play eachother all of this is just speculation! Besides if MLS teams get to play with championship rules then YES!! they can compete and win, you can’t argue apples to oranges when the two leagues are structured differently. Besides if you made a hampionship team play here with a limited roster and the travel they wouldn’t make the playoffs. Thats not a fact its just my opinion.
*nodding thankfully at JCH and kpugs*
Again, I say it comes down to preparedness. It’s one thing to assemble a team. It’s quite another to have them ready to play. The players played poorly from one end to the other. Ultimately it has to be Osorio who takes the responsibility for putting out a team that’s ready to play. He failed at that last night. He now has to do what it takes to make sure that the players come to each match ready. Blown coverage and not marking should have been and immediate benching.
This defense is no better than the porous one we had last year. I know we are missing Pacheco but geez!
Too bad they won’t be able to tempt any other teams with Pietrafoulo, but I can’t see him around much longer. We were called the speed team in preseason, but Seattle was sooooo much quicker.
These guys need to get their butts busted in practice!
The only thing I could say last night was WOW.
WOW to the crowd. WOW to Fredy Montero. WOW that Seattle does not look like an expansion team.
Something tells me that both Vancouver and Portland will end up having the same passion.
Who needs Beckham? I think MLS is building its market.
Ives hyped up the pink cows so much but they haven’t changed much from their sorry ass ways. Making Rojas the focal point of the attack is dumb. Rojas neither has the ball skills or mentality to be a player the rest of the team can depend. Sometimes he shows flashes but you cannot depend on him for the whole game, and he slows down the attack and allows the opposing defenders to regroup and setup.
Kpugs: watch some video? how about in person, does that count? no MLS team would compete for promotion in the Coke. none. (among other things, we don’t have the depth, take Reading, sitting in third. they played a match every four days so far this month, that’s 6 matches between the 3rd and this saturday. they get a week off, and play another six in april. no MLS team could handle that sort of schedule, when none of the matches can be ignored (since they are all league matches)
if you let new england or columbus hire ten more players, they might have a shot at a top half finish.
Nice analysis on Boyens and Petke having trouble in the game preview Ives. It’s like you knew more than Osorio.
Caldwell
what i said was 100% correct, sorry you rather blieve in fantasy
HA! What was all that crap you Red Bulls fans were talking about Seattle’s defense?!? They’re eating up everything NY throws at them! 3-0! Man, this is so sweet.
Watch out MLS. There’s a new team in town, and they just smoked the MLS runners-up like IT AIN’T NO THANG.
THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! People don’t understand how long it’s been since a Seattle team has had so much hype around it and delivered on it so decicively. Not since Ichiro arrived in 2001!
GO SOUNDERS!!!!!!!!!
what else Joey… I mean it seems like you didn’t complete your analysis on this game… what else is missing…
the same goes for Kizz… what else do you have to enlighten us with…
I know this is not the only crap people can come up with to complain about the MLS… Just curious what is holding them back is all..
I need something to wipe my a$$ with so come on now fellas, what else…
It was a great game with a great atmosphere… What a great way to start off another exciting MLS season…
Red Bulls will make the adjustments in given time and if Sounders can keep this up they will be an exciting team… Man I can’t wait for Saturday to come around to catch some good old MLS games…
Great times ahead for us that enjoy the beautiful game stateside in the MLS… Everyone else keep wasting your breath by coming here and complaining because you are so pathetic this is the only way you can get some attention…
My Summary:
ESPN camera work is crap.
Level of play was below 2nd division in Spain (no wonder Alitdore is having a hard time )
Field turf does no jutice to soccer
Sounders uniform and field turf are about the same color, doesn’t look goood on tv
At least should have made the field 74-75 yards wide. 70 yards is narrow.
The Red Bull’s midfield was awful tonight. The Keeper sucked. If they can get service to Angel it’s over. It might be a long year for New York. I’m going to wait to see how Seattle does when they play Chicago, but it was a really solid start.
Oh & i hate that montero was not available when i chose my fantasy players…
great atmosphere. it drew me into a game i might have only watched in passing. i liked the band. wished the announcers would let us absorb the atmosphere more. lalas bugs. turf bugs. it is no where near the same as grass. the stadium when that full is good. not great. montero.. what’s that guy doing in MLS? Hopefully he sticks around for 1-2 years. Beckham got too much camera time. Looking forward to the NW rivalries.. Add in SJ and thats 4 teams worth.
Kizz we are spoiled because we get to watch the best leagues on the planet on TV.
At best, MLS is a top 10 league on earth. I truly believe that.
But at WORST it’s a top 15. What kind of quality do you think is out there? The best leagues are so far above everyone else that you forget that the more complete teams like New England and Columbus could compete for promotion in the Coca Cola championship.
I’m not saying any insult was warranted to you but open your eyes. If you think MLS “sucks” as a league then you either have known knowledge of any league outside this country that isn’t purely great, or you don’t watch MLS.
Americans are playing in worse leagues than MLS because they make more money, that’s understandable. If you want to talk about the quality of soccer in said leagues then do some research and watch some video. Until then, YOU chill out you ignorant fool.
Well I was wrong…I appologize. While the SSFC put 3 up with 2 from Montero were the correct picks…NYRB were not able to get 2 up…Sorry.
On that note everyone I’m a NJ native but a DC man all the way. I know I’ve had season tickets since the MetoStars have existed, but I just prefer teams that win rings. Sorry. I’m not a frontrunner at all, I swear.
kpugs7@gmail.com by the way, I won’t run from my comments.
Matt Y, congrats, you mentioned nothing in that post that gives you any credibility when it comes to soccer, MLS, analysis, etc.
Especially that first sentence, where you mentioned how you are a fan of a team 3000 miles away that coincidentally was the best team in the league for years when it was formed.
Congrats on choosing the best team to become a fan of. Must have been a very tough decision. Hmm…should I support the closest team to me, or the team that wins championships? You are as bad as a kid from Jersey supporting D.C. I pity the soccer education your son is going to receive and hope you at least have the good grace to let him become a Sounders fan.
@ Alex,
Easy on the insults, is it because I tell the truth and it hurts? You can’t face the fact that these American players are below average and MLS sucks, deal with reality dude.
sorry guys…you suck.
i’m a Seattle native but DC united man all the way.
i did hang for a second with two red bull fans…they even took a picture with me because i was wearing a Quaranta jersey with a DC scarf….kinda wierd cause the whole damn stadium was crazy green.
Terrible guys…even my 5 year old was asking why the red bulls didnt win cause in 5 year old logic….”the red bulls have been playing for a long time and the sounders are new so i think the red bulls should win right??”
uhhhh…..yeah…but you guys are the new york franchise….ane will always be…well ya saben…
Cheers….
well seeing as noone can post how i “stir up the pot” or “stir up the posts” im assuming this was merely a poke at a fire fan from a NJRB fan(s)…. im outie
“Montero is on loan from deportivo Cali whose President is popping the bubbly as his phone is off the hook. Too bad Seattle didn’t have the balls to buy him outright.”
Really, don’t they have an option at a set price? If they don’t, they blew it big time.
I think Montero is going to have his pick of the ladies in Seattle tonight 🙂
osvaldo alonso absolutely owned the midfield. so impressive. i have never been to a game like that in my life. i am so excited and i believe there were 32000 that were as well. thank you sounders. for real.
lol Doug^^
top class support in seattle,why can the galaxy be greeen like seattle and like my celtic?=
its great seeing tons of green scarves across an area,reminds me of parkhead
Funny how my comments weren’t posted…
Montero is on loan from deportivo Cali whose President is popping the bubbly as his phone is off the hook. Too bad Seattle didn’t have the balls to buy him outright.