By JOHN BOSCHINI
The new faces of Chelsea were on full display Wednesday night as forward Romelu Lukaku scored twice in a 4-2 victory over the Seattle Sounders to open Chelsea's American tour.
For the Sounders, the loss on the night was overshadowed by the retirement of Roger Levesque, who made his final appearance for Seattle after an impressive career with the Sounders.
Lukaku opened the Blues' account just two minutes into the game when Josh McEachran forced a turnover in midfield and found the forward with a long pass. The Belgian international muscled his way past Jeff Parke and finished from close range. Lukaku, who is rumored to be close to a loan move to Fulham, is trying to force his way up the Chelsea pecking order behind Fernando Torres and Daniel Sturridge. The 19-year-old finished off his brace just before halftime to cap a first half in which Seattle surrendered all four goals.
However, Seattle did have enough offense to keep the game competitive with two goals from Fredy Montero. With the Sounders down two by the 11th minute, Montero took advantage of a McEachran turnover and calmly slotted a shot from 18 yards past Hilario. Montero doubled his goal tally and briefly brought the game level in the 32nd minute when a brilliant cross from Mauro Rosales found Montero in the box and his left-footed shot beat Hilario once again.
Newcomer Marko Marin, who joined Chelsea from Werder Bremen this summer, regained the lead for the visitors when he found space along the left flank in the 40th minute. Marin cut inside and saw his shot deflected into the net. The most high-profile signing of Chelsea's summer, Eden Hazard, also opened his Chelsea account with a deflected shot in the 11th minute.
After Lukaku's second gave Chelsea a two-goal lead heading into the locker room, the game slowed down considerably in the second half. Chelsea starters Frank Lampard, Michael Essien, Ramires, and Gary Cahill came on and controlled possession but were unable to add to the scoreboard.
The real highlight of the second half came when Levesque checked in for the final time. The retiring midfielder came on to a standing ovation in the 64th minute and made an immediate impact on the game. In the 74th minute, Levesque sent in a cross to Sammy Ochoa but he was tackled off the ball. At the final whistle Michael Seamon and Servando Carrasco hoisted Levesque onto their shoulders so the 31-year old could say good-bye to the crowd at Century Link Field
Never said he wasn’t a good mls forward just meant those aspects of his game aren’t good enough for the national team.
The overall spectacle that they put on was over-the-top, energetic, engaging, and almost downright EPIC. It was everything that I always dream a soccer match in the USA could be!
Great Job Seattle!
If Kasey Keller was your GK the game would’ve been much different. Merideth is BAD. Wow.
Dude is a frickin BEAST! 6’3″ 22O# with speed. I think he might do ok this year for Chelsea…
I don’t think he is ready for the USMNT at all, but he has been getting better and better as the season has progressed. I just had to inform Amru that his assumptions were garbage.
I think we need to see EJ for the whole season first before we ask the NATS to take a look at him, but so far so good. I’m happy that he’s playing well.
i can’t believe lukaku is 19. i mean, i knew he was, but still.
And you know this how? If you have watched EJ at all this season, you would know he has a great first touch. His passing has been very impressive and the guy can flat out beat people off the dribble.
I want him no where near the NT. He has a terrible touch and poor dribbling skills. He can’t do anything that someone else can’t do better
EJ for the national team. Been watching him all season and he has looked incredible
I agree, 3 of those were definitely morales fault
Don’t forget that also went to Stanford. So, provided he graduated from there; a BA from Stanford and MBA from UW will look quite nice on a resume. He’ll make more his first year out of college than he’s ever made playing soccer.
Then again, this is Roger, he’ll probably work for peanuts for a non-profit to continue his community work
I would love to have seen Johannson start at RB to see how he would have matched up.
Scott can have some good games and has some qualitities, but should not be a starter in the MLS and as expected is greatly overmatched vs Chelsea.
He’s 19?!
Because he will start his Masters degree in the fall. He said he could have worked it out to do both but I think realizing that he is not getting minutes much anymore, he might as well help the team out by opening a spot and then focusing 100% on school.
presumably, levesque has mentioned his pending retirement from the game and SSFC asked him to do it before the end of the summer transfer window to make space for new options. He wasn’t playing much any more. He’s had a great career but i don’t blame him for hanging up the boots. He’s got goals beyond the pitch and the pitch isn’t paying the bills anymore…
Opens up a roster slot for the Sounders, as well as offers them some cap space. It’s a classy thing to do, and Roger’s a helluva guy.
Actually, 3 of the 4 goals started by Rosales turning the ball over. Having said that, whenever I see Zack Scott play, he is getting torched.
Jeff Parke, Zach Scott, Hurtado…
Yeah, and why retire in the middle of the season? I never understood why players do that (unless it’s an injury.)
He’s going to business school at UW. Turns out that being a lower-end MLS player — even a hugely beloved one — doesn’t pay very well.
I know I’m out of the loop here, but why is he retiring at 31? Recurring injuries, doesn’t want to play NASL or USL Pro? What’s the (summarized) story?
Entertaining game, looked like a great atmosphere! The peeps at Century Link do it well. Mazel Tov.
Parke got smoked, but the two deflected goals were unfortunate.
Despite the score, it felt like the Sounders had more scoring chances. They just dont have the quality of Chelsea to finish them.
Chelsea destroyed Zack Scott at RB; someone tell Sigi that boy is a CB and has no business being out wide. 3 of the 4 goals started by Zack being beaten easily on the right side and Jeff Parke was unable to recover and make the save for the equally hapless keeper.
Per Evans himself on Twitter last night, it’s not serious. “Rub some dirt on it” was how he put it.
It is amazing to see the difference in technical abilities for both sides up close, how much less time/space there is when a team like Chelsea is on your field.
Any word on Evans? It did not look good when he went down, hopefully nothing major
Montero is SO good when he’s engaged mentally.
Entertaining game for the fans to see; although the Chelsea strikers did wipe the field with Jeff Parke. Fredy Montero played his best game of the season…too bad it was in an exhibition match.