Last night's match coverage: 66,848 see Barcelona beat Seattle 4-0
When Sounders FC landed the contracts to play both Chelsea and Barcelona there was a bit of celebrating in the Seattle soccer scene. Not only were we going to see some great foreign talent but it was our own club that would face them.
Now the glamour matches have come and gone and it is time to assess them. How did they pan out for the front office? The players on the pitch? Our overall momentum? Our Major League Soccer playoff chances?
The front office of Sounders FC undoubtedly see the Chelsea and Barcelona matches as great successes. Why not, they drew 66,000 average per match and brought the club name all over the globe. The Sounders are now a known quantity in new places. Further, the club attracted local fans who only follow the international game. I spoke with one guy after the match who supports Liverpool. He grew up with them before coming to the US. He says he came to see Barcelona but also get a feeling for whether or not he should adopt the Sounders and get 2010 season tickets. He liked some of what he saw, but for him supporting the Sounders is not a done deal. However, the local club did at least get his attention.
Lionel Messi's two first-half goals as captured by Rick Morrison.
The Sounders have scored only two goals in their last five matches. They were very big goals as they led to a 2-1 US Open Cup over Houston and advancement to the final. The players were generally excited to face off against Chelsea and Barcelona. Kasey Keller was quoted in the Tacoma News Tribune as saying the Barcelona friendly was kind of "a pain in the butt" timing-wise. Keller's focus is league play and rebounding from the 4-0 loss at San Jose. Just a note: Keller was the best player out there for Seattle against Barcelona.
Back to Seattle's last five: 2-0 loss to Chelsea 2-1 win over Houston, 0-0 draw with Chicago, 4-0 loss at San Jose, 4-0 loss to Barcelona. It's a bit of a mixed bag, but even if you take out the (expected) losses to the big boys, the Sounders are slumping and in need of tighter defensive play and better finishing.
Playoff chances? It's hard to know right now how these two friendlies might effect our playoff chances. The Sounders used liberal second-half substitutions to give the starters some rest. The club did have to prepare for Barca, though. The week could have been focused just on the Western Conference match. Perhaps the 4-0 loss in San Jose will be followed this Saturday with a rebound win at Real Salt Lake. Perhaps the distraction will hurt in some way. Overall the losses are meaningless but the toll on bodies and spirit could be an issue.
The international friendlies have been distractions from the major task at hand, which is to get back in league form and get some playoff race points. We can enjoy them, live with them, celebrate soccer through them, but in the end these matches can take a toll on an expansion side with limited roster size and depth.
Leo Gonzalez made his Sunders' debut.
Match notes:
- Lionel Messi is as advertised. Fun to see such dynamic play come out of such a small, average-looking package.
- Leo Gonzalez made his first start for the Sounders at left back. He looked good and very comfortable out there. This is a good sign as league play takes over again.
- The crowd was very pro-Sounders once again, with rave green ruling the color battle. About those Barca kits...yikes, I never thought our green would be out-flashed, and not in a good way...
- Finishing makes all the difference. It was true against Chelsea and even truer last night. The Sounders should have had goals when Freddie Ljunberg miskicked a one on one chance, and then also when a nice cross to Fredy Montero was also miskicked and went wide. Lionel Messi's finishing was flawless.
- As a fan, I still have mixed emotions about these friendlies. I want us to have them, but they fall in July and August to coincide with the foreign club's pre-seasons. Of course that is right when the heat of summer and the punishment to the bodies of players from half an MLS season are colliding. MLS clubs just don't have the rosters to not pay a price somewhere for these matches.
Comments
Can we host Bayern Munich and Boca Jrs? :)
Great article as usual David. I think if you love soccer and live in the city we love, you have to support the local club --- it's all we got.
Interesting comment from the Scouser.... That type of mentality, although I can understand it, is counterproductive for the future and growth of this league and more importantly, The Sounders. For me and many there is simply no choice.
Excellent reporting. Keep up the good work.
I'm happy with the friendlies but also happy the distractions are now over, at least until the US Open Cup. Go Sounders!
I don't think these two friendly matches are that much of a toll on the players. It's not like they played the whole game. Mid-week is a tough training day anyway. To play 45 minutes, against that kind of world class competition twice, has got to improve the skill level of our players. If it were some team from Mexico, or a bottom of the table European team. That might be a distraction. We always say that our National team players will be better, if they are playing against European competition. Well, there has been two games in three weeks. If the guys haven't had a few doors opened, that they didn't know excisted, then I would be surprised. The Sounders SHOULD go to Salt Lake saturday and be sharper than Real and be able to do things that Real doesn't expect. That should also continue through the rest of the season. The only way to become the best, is to play the best and learn the differences. A player may also be more signable with these games to offer.
I think the front office will view the friendlies as a huge success. but if the point was to raise local support for the Sounders & garner new fans, i don't think the experiment worked. What part of a 4-0 blowout will light a fire under new possible fans? Obviously Barca is one of the world's best (if not THE best), but most of the "new" fans at these games don't know enough to know better.
the first-timer fans around me were commenting how bad the Sounders were playing. So while it was amusing for the rest of us season ticket holders to watch premier talent, the "new" first-timer fans were probably less than enthused about the Sounders.
I kind of wish the Sounders would have at least put up a good game - something closer to what LA did against Barca. It would be less embarassing for us, and probably recruit new fans to the Sounders. all my opinion, of course.
Lionel Messi is as good as they say. The team play was that much better. There are a lot of variables, but it looks like Barca players do everything and anything to make Messi successful up front.
US soccer lags behind Spain and Europe physically and tactically, obviously, but I think most US teams lack that ultimate selflessness and cooperation that it takes to be the world's greatest team.
Too much of that independent, American spirit. America is all about the individual. Closing the world's game gap is going to take awhile.
I think that another good thing about these matches is credibility. I know the new fans were not very impressed with the play of the Sounders, but the attention and grandness of the games is just going to add more to the Sounders brand. A brand that is trying to raise attention to the professionality of the sport. 67,000 fans to watch the local team play against the best is giving the impression that we are a big club. If Barcelona played against Chelsea, then it would verify our small stature. I think it was great for the team and the city. I even think we played reasonably well in the first half. We didn't get blown off the field by their first team. They were obviously way better, but take the second half out of the equation and I don't think it was embarrassing at all.
i agree with your assessment regarding the first half, t. I thought messi looked kind of surprised a couple of times when the boys stopped him. unfortunately for us, he has several tricks up his sleeve. fun to watch. freddie/fredy both had chances. the sounders were in the zone, outmatched certainly, but not embarrassing.
I understand the gripe about these games being in the middle of our season...BUT WE NEED THESE GAMES! These games raise the Sounder profile exponentially both here, around the country and overseas. This is the only time these games can happen, so it's a matter of "do you want the exposure or not." Because Euro teams will NOT come here in their mid-season, and why would we want them here then anyway? Ever been to Chicago or Toronto in January. Yikes.
Anyway, it's been great surfing around the net reading different stories about the game, but the one constant:
the absolute glowing references about the fans and the atmosphere. I think soccer fans across the country are adopting the sounders for their uptempo-get-it-up-field-and-shoot flow and the loud, loud fans.
Friendlies against the best teams in the world are just another example of how successful the Sounders management has been. The upside of games against Chelsea and Barca WAYYY outweighs the short-term and temporary problems they cause. To say that these games are not a net positive is just silly.
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