By JASON MITCHELL
SEATTLE, Wash. – In case anyone was wondering, the Seattle Sounders are back.
In a nationally-televised marquee matchup plump with playoff implications, the Sounders struck early, poured in goals in the second half, and trounced the LA Galaxy 4-0 at CenturyLink Field.
The Sunday night win might have also avenged an infamous 4-0 thumping the Galaxy gave the Sounders here two years ago. The Galaxy are now winless in two matches against Seattle this season, and have been outscored 6-0.
"We talked about how they've been our 'bogey-team' for awhile," admitted Sounders coach Sigi Schmid, "and had seemed to get the better of us over the last few years prior to this one. That was something we talked about that we thought we could turn around."
If it was a redemption story, the Sounders didn't hesitate to start writing it.
In just the sixth minute, Mauro Rosales pegged Eddie Johnson near-post with a soaring deep cross that Johnson cleanly headed in for his 10th goal of the season. If Johnson hasn't bought Rosales dinner yet, he might want to get that scheduled: six of Johnson's goals have come courtesy of the Argentine playmaker's deft passing.
Although the Sounders eventually gave the raucous 60,908 in attendance plenty more to cheer, Johnson's score would be the only goal Seattle needed.
With the victory, the Sounders (10-5-7) held onto third place in the Western Conference against the hard-charging Galaxy (10-11-3), who had gone 4-0-1 in their last five matches to pull within a single point of the Sounders in the standings.
Seattle blazed out of the gates to open the season before a nine-match winless streak sent it tumbling back into the pack. They've slowly worked themselves back into form in recent weeks, unbeaten in their last eight matches across all competitions (5-0-3). Sunday's win would seem to indicate they're all the way back.
"I think it sends a message to the other teams, as well," said Schmid. "That streak that everyone was talking about is behind us, and we're moving forward."
But Schmid seemed to think the most important message was the one the Sounders sent to themselves.
"It's us knowing that, 'Hey, here's what we can do,'" said Schmid. "'Here's the commitment that we have. This is the potential that can we can achieve. This is what we can do as we continue to move forward.' It's about ourselves. It's about getting confidence in our ability to be able to take on big challenges, big games—we have another Wednesday—and to respond to those challenges."
Although Seattle scored first, the Galaxy generated more possession in the first half. David Beckham sent cross after cross from midfield and beyond toward the top of the penalty area, doggedly working to release Landon Donovan or Robbie Keane behind Seattle's back line, or at least to find them windows between lines. Beckham also had far more set pieces and corner kicks than any team in the world would want to give him, but he was never able to find that magic moment.
For their part the Sounders generated plenty of good buildup throughout the first half, and threatened repeatedly on the counter. Seattle effectively found creases and angles for through-balls and overlapping runs, but were unable to find the insurance goal.
Until the second half.
Fredy Montero put the Sounders up 2-0 in the 51st minute, chasing down a deflected shot and blasting a volley off a diving Josh Saunders' outstretched arms. Saunders had come off his line to clear a shot and struggled to get back in net before Montero could collect the deflection.
Rookie Alex Caskey made it 3-0 with a deep one-touch chip that, once again, caught Saunders off his line after the keeper had raced out to deflect a shot.
Andy Rose capped the scoring in the 88th minute, receiving a rolling cross from late sub Marc Burch and tapping a shot into the back right corner of the net.
Galaxy coach Bruce Arena didn't see much on the pitch that didn't merit complaint. His team's performance. The referee. The artificial surface.
Asked about the officiating, Arena was frank.
"It changes the game, no question about it," he said. "That’s part of playing in this league, you have to deal with the officiating.”
The Galaxy seemed particularly irate over a Leo Gonzalez tackle in the box that LA thought merited a penalty kick.
Asked about how the match got away from his club, Arena added, "I thought [it was] a little unlucky, too. On this surface, the ball moves in funny ways. We got caught off balance on a few of them."
Arena did not, however, excuse his team's play.
"We didn't help Josh [Saunders] today," said Arena, "and we weren't good enough. It took us 84 minutes to get a shot on goal. We had a bunch of possession. We were very poor in executing in the final third of the field. Didn't get a good cross in, didn't have runners in front of the goal. We didn't do a lot of things well today."
The Galaxy are off until a Sunday match against Chivas USA, while the Sounders will defend their US Open Cup title at Kansas City on Wednesday.
As a Seattle resident, I fully understand the reason why the stadium has turf. It would be literally impossible, with an uncovered stadium to maintain a grass field here. All of the public use fields in the area are turf, all of the school fields are turf, and the only ones that are grass are used for 3 months and then locked away to maintain the grass. The only reason the mariners can do grass is cause they have a retractable roof. Look at say Wigan’s stadium in England. They have soccer and rugby in the same place and are susceptible to the English climate. Their field is atrocious.
Just to upset some people I’ll throw in that I don’t think the officiating was bad. The ref was generally biased toward a free-flowing game. There was not a lot of inconsistency there, although some may not like that style.
Andy in Atlanta is “Ryan” too?
If you’re packing 60k in you can afford to maintain the grass for once-a-week games. Grass is objectively better.
That said, I’ve been to a Sounders game as a tourist and the stadium is great. Wish they served Rainier, though…
I play on turf all the time and I prefer it to torn up grass.
We should all continue to criticize turf until there is grass for every professional soccer game. Even 10 star turf sucks! Play on it sometime and you will agree. I understand why they have it (overuse due to football), but it sucks and deserves criticism.
Arena. That was not a penalty. Leo had inside position and got ball befor Del lagarza flopped. Come on, play the game and don’t make exuses. They were outplayed and were not prepared, hopefully they continue this path. It would be fun to watch the LA Galaxay flop.
Blah blah blah.. Enjoy this one because we all know what happens when we meet in the playoffs.
???
Are you kidding? With the amount of money they have spent and the number of years they’ve been in the league, 2 MLS Cups is a huge disappointment.
Especially when they have no chance of repeating this year.
As a NYRB supporter, I’m always jealous when I watch Seattle games on TV. 61k in a metro area with a population a fraction of New York’s. Meanwhile, NYRB have sold out their 25,000 seat stadium exactly once this season. Come on NYRB, it’s time to put some butts in seats!! Getting rid of Chris Heck is a heck of a start!
Can people shut up about the freakin turf? you clearly dont live in seattle so you wouldnt know that centurylink is going to have 2 football teams playing on in the same time as the sounders, at the same time it will decide to start raining again. the field would be a mudpit by october, and crappy by the end of august. actually, grass would barely grow to begin with because we basically only get 4 days of sun up here. besides, the turf is 2 stars which means it’s good enough for WORLD CUP matches! so stop with the turf comments, its getting extremely old. even david beckham didnt say anything about it for once.
haha Vic give it a rest. You complain about the stupidest sh!t. Century Link is a soccer stadium and a world class one at that. Its in a perfect location downtown. Seattle is averageing 40k fans a game. Even Chelsea fans have praised the stadium when they made the trip from England. Teams play harder against LA’s stars? Im guessing you mean Robbie Keane(dont consider him a star) the player that b!tched and complained all game and did absolutley nothing to help the offense or Beckham the player that drifted to the right every time leaving a gaping hole in the middle for seattle to exploit and did nothing with the ball except launch it forward and kill every attack. Pre injury Omar Gonzalez is the only “star” on that team
I’m not a fan of either side but the ref wasn’t doing either side favors – how Gaul finished the game without being booked is beyond me.
Arena should complain, because that’s what managers do, but he shouldn’t use officiating as his latest excuse.
we would like an MLS Cup, but for a 4th year club 3 lesser trophies isn’t bad.
Just ask PT, toronto, and philly
It was on the other side of the field from me, but from what a friend told me he said Leo got the ball.
Even if he didn’t every team at different times has bad calls go against them. Get over it and move on.
LA was complaining about everything.
I was…. and even said I would come back and laugh when he showed all the haters that he in fact improved in Europe despite the tough time he had… also that he still had value and would even work his way back into USMNT contention…
I was there then… I am certainly here now…
The refereeing in that game was atrocious, and absolutely affected the result. LA had an obvious penalty denied in the first half, and a pretty god case for at least one more. If Arena complained, he was fully justified. That being said, they were definitely outplayed in the second half.
60,000+ fans in attendance. Man, the MLS has come a long way 🙂
They have never been. Anyone that has been loves it for what it is, the best soccer stadium MLS has.
People like this are beyond ignorant, they have no clue that the Sounders in USL used to play there in front of 5k fans and of course have played the first game there and the most games there.
Bruce Arena ? Hey thanks for joining us.
For everyone I’ve seen on boards here and elsewhere, giving us crap because of Drew Carey…
Guess who paid our ENTIRE bar’s tab before the match?
Hell yeah.
I hear our new shiny thing got onto the field. Any word on how Tiffert faired?
meant to ask Old School.
Ever been to Clink?
So tired of this. CenturyLink IS a soccer stadium. Always has been. Always will be. The only people saying Seattle needs a new stadium are people from outside Seattle. The sight lines are great. The fans are right next to the field. The location is fantastic. Give it up!
Sounders paid their yearly DP wages on the gate total for tonight match.. lol
rent… ? You need to do your homework Old School..
Playing here is a decision Gulati makes. It’s obviously better for the NATS to play in ALabama. Must be…
Nothing to prove here.. big crowds.. educated fans .. Grass installed for major matches..
Screw him.. they guy is clown who takes orders from cable channels
61k is awesome, but if Seattle seahawks were playing at a soccer stadium with a great amount of fans, guess what would happen. Sounders need grass and their FANS deserve better.
Yes, they really do.
Has nothing to do with it’s strong supporters. Has everything to do with the club being a rental tenant inside an American Football Stadium that does not cater to the club (which it’s fans deserve).
I mean, if you like playing on carpet and not having national team games being hosted regularly more power to you.
Until Portland expands it’s pitch and Seattle has a true SSS, the Pacific NW will continue to be the most pro-American market untapped by our National Team matches.
Columbus is nice for Mexico but I’d rather see our boys up there in the NW going nuts.
We can start with getting rid of TFC.
Sorry supporters. You are the Washington Generals of MLS.
Let me guess, when he was clubless, you were on here praising his ability.
Wait…you weren’t?
“Where are the EJ haters now?” question is as retarded as “Where were you when he was being hated on?”…because I can guarantee you weren’t here defending him.
Until Seattle shows up in the playoffs, LA is still #1. They have the (real) trophy to prove it.
That’s coming from a non-LA fan, too.
Open Cup trophies at home are nice but let us know when you raise MLS Cup.
I have to laugh at people trying to blame the turf for the outcome of games.
Most professional teams practice on turf all the time. Not just in MLS, but in England, Spain, etc. A lot of professional players spend more time on turf than they do on grass.
Oh well, it’s an easy way for a fan to avoid admitting that their team was outplayed.
“As a matter of fact Seattle Sounders need a their own soccer stadium”
61K came out to watch this game.. Are you serious? new stadium GTFO
People, every Mls team plays harder and tougher against la galaxy, new York red bul due to their star power. In contrast visitor teams playing in a tough environment such as Seattle, Portland, Red bull arena play harder due to the atmosphere enjoyment. It depends the way a soccer fan looks at it but I think La galaxy were tired and Seattle is use to the artificial turf. As a matter of fact Seattle Sounders need a their own soccer stadium, clink is nice but they need grass and a stadium that will put the fans on top of the visitors team such as livestrong park. They got the fans, why wait. Check out the future stadium of liverpool, monterrey rayados or even allianz arena.
go ahead and hate… it just fuels more goals.
If they only had 12 teams they might not have all of the exposure, revenue, appeal… not to mention the fact that smaller rosters means less chances for unknowns to become known…
I do not really like this line of thinking.. 🙂
i still hate him
Arena and the rest of the team spent the game complaining about every single thing. He has a few choice words for the ref after the game. When you lose 4-0 you shouldn’t be complaining.
i sometimes wonder how good mls would be if it only had 12 teams instead of diluted rosters. mls’ future looks great regardless.
Looking forward to our match-up next week. #SSFC
ahhh so where are the Eddie Johnson haters now?
I spent the better part of the second half trying to explain why Seattle’s total dominance in this game doesn’t necessarily mean that SKC is screwed on Wednesday–but man, I’m not sure I convinced even myself. Seattle is definitely peaking at the right time.
wonder if ives will keep la ranked #5 and SSFC 10th or whatever
lolz
I want a fukcing refund.
Robbie Keane needs to quit whining and crying so much. It’s embarrassing and looks pathetic!
Do the fans have to pay double to have witnessed such a beatdown?
As an SJ fan, was hoping for a 0-0 draw. But watching LA get beat like a drum is always a good thing. Looking forward to the excuses from Arena.
That was some beautiful football right there.
Ives – About the Dynamo being the team of the month and LA Fan giving you crap???? This about covers that.