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Chad Barrett magic rescues vital point for Sounders

Photo by Jennifer Nicholson/USA Today Sports

By JASON MITCHELL

SEATTLE– Hard as it was to believe, it seemed it wouldn’t happen. The Seattle Sounders, trailing the LA Galaxy 1-0 for roughly an hour, had thrown everything at the wall on Sunday night. Nothing would stick.

But as the match entered the final minute of announced stoppage time, Marco Pappa delivered one last corner kick toward the near post. Captain Brad Evans soared to flick the ball on toward the goalmouth, where a charging Chad Barrett pushed the ball into the back of the net with a raised knee.

That led to a whole lot of pandemonium from the 56,097 in attendance at CenturyLink Field — especially for a 1-1 draw — a sign of the game’s importance in the cluttered and ever fluid Western Conference playoff race as the season quickly approaches a close.

Despite earning only a point after holding off the Sounders until the 93rd minute, the draw pushes the Galaxy back to the top of the Western Conference standings, where they hold a one-point lead over FC Dallas. The Galaxy have, however, played two more games than Dallas. The result also clinches a playoff spot for the Galaxy, ensuring they will have a chance to defend their title and pursue an unprecedented fourth MLS Cup in five seasons.

For the Sounders, the tie provides a three-point cushion over the Portland Timbers and San Jose Earthquakes, who are currently tied for the sixth and final playoff spot in the West.

The Sounders fell behind in the first half off a rare mistake from longtime veteran Zach Scott, who sent a square ball across the top of his own penalty area only to find Robbie Keane waiting to pounce. Keane intercepted the pass and easily beat goalkeeper Stefan Frei, helpless and unprotected, for the 1-0 lead and his 17th goal of the season.

After a somewhat disjointed first half, Seattle attacked with increasing fury and desperation as the second half wore on, knocking, knocking some more, and eventually pounding on the door without ever finding that elusive equalizer.

Andreas Ivanschitz nearly equalized in the 67th minute, but sent a long Erik Friberg cross sailing past the post. With less than five minutes remaining in regulation, Barrett, a late substitute, sent a short cross toward Evans at the goal line, but A.J. DeLaGarza somehow cleared the ball off a fellow defender and inches over the crossbar.

It seemed that game-tying goal would never come. Until it did.

Looking forward, both teams are off until Oct. 18. The Galaxy host the Portland Timbers while the Sounders visit the Houston Dynamo.

Comments

    • it’s hard to make mistakes when you’re usually on the bench.
      I love Zach as much as all Sounders fans, but he hasn’t been a top choice CB since the USL days, and there is a reason for that.

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    • Scott struggles at times because of physical limitations, but how often does he make an actual mental mistake?

      Travis, he’s started 65 games over the last four seasons in league play alone — roughly half the Sounders’ matches — so it’s not exactly a small sample size.

      Reply
  1. When do the Sounders get to put their emblems and logos all over the field for a Seahawks game so the NFL has to look at it during one of their broadcasts?

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    • well, for one thing, the Sounders never play less than 24 hours after the Seahawks. So, that isn’t really going to happen. However, you can sometimes see faint soccer lines during football games.

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    • There were soccer lines yesterday lol. This is all Fox Sports. They were told about lines on the field and they said they didn’t care and wanted to keep that timeslot.

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  2. Speaking of lines on the field. Does anybody know what paint is used? Meaning, is that a temporary paint, or do they keep painting it back to green every time with permanent paint?

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  3. Frustrating to watch Seattle play every week. They seem to play worse than the sum of their parts every single week and lack real ideas on how to play. Really feel like they need some new blood at the head coach spot, Sigi’s ideas are just stale. His strategy basically becomes get ball to Martins or Dempsey and hope for magic, the fans should expect better than that.

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  4. Well it was only a hardnosed goal, but CB attacked the ball violently. Almost beat the ball to the net he was charging so hard.

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  5. While US Soccer is setting all these rules for division 1 in this country. How about no NFL lines please. Also fields that don’t play like a giant basketball court.

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    • Although the lines annoyed me to watch this was only the 3rd time in seven years it has happened. Which isn’t a lot considering they are the secondary tenant in a football stadium.

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      • The lines come and go, but the plastic remains. Come on, Seattle — use some of the money that comes from drawing 35,000 fans per game (not to mention the ownership’s deep pockets) and get yourself a stadium. And don’t talk to me about the wondrous replacement carpet that will be installed after this season.

      • Why on Earth would they build a new stadium when they have a perfectly located stadium right now that meets their needs. How big a stadium should they build? They drew 56k last night and have drawn closer to 70k previously. A stadium that big would be pretty expensive….

      • Yes, I suppose there is a requirement that you build to accommodate the largest possible crowd and not your average crowd. So it’s ping-pong soccer for the foreseeable future.

      • There also isnt exactly prime land growing on trees in downtown Seattle. If the Sounders were to build their own stadium it’d inevitably be in a suburb and the vast majority of fans would rather they stay downtown and deal with the turf.

      • Well don’t let any silly concerns about minor things like the quality of the actual game get in the way of your enjoyment.

      • Well don’t let silly things like economic feasibility get in the way of your idealism. Robert Kraft is on line one to take your call…

  6. So I did not get a chance to watch the game, but I was teased into reading this piece based on the promise of “Chad Barrrett Magic” in the headline. Alas, the body of the article presents a much less magical (though infinitely more believeable) account of events:

    “Chad Barrett pushed the ball into the back of the net with a raised knee”

    Cue fireworks.

    In other news, Chad Barrett still looks a lot more like Wayne Rooney than John Rooney does.

    Reply

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