If you wear rave green you can breathe a sigh of relief. The Sounders are back to scoring goals and back to winning after a 2-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes Saturday night at Qwest Field.
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Seattle Sounders FC did everything but score for most of the first half. Seattle dominated play and produced waves of scoring chances. Finally with the half winding down Steve Zakuani headed home Seattle's first goal in over 268 minutes of Major League Soccer action. A free kick by Freddie Ljungberg bounced around in the box before settling at the feet of Tyrone Marshall who sent a quick far post cross to the head of Zakuani for the finish and his second goal of the season. The 42nd minute score was more than deserved by the home side.
The Brougham End of Qwest Field supported the Sounders with two-pole banners and plenty of noise. (David Falk)
“To get back here in front of 30,000 people after we lost last week, they pushed us the whole way," said Zakuani after the match. "We feed off that energy. Tonight, I think, again, every time we’ve won, we’ve scored in the first half. And that was key. And we did that today. So after that, it’s about keeping them at the other end. Kasey makes a great save at 1-0, the game-winning save, and then after that we got a second goal off Brad [Evans], and I think after that, it was game over.”
Zakuani scores for the Sounders in the 42nd minute, breaking a long club goal drought. (Rick Morrison)
Brad Evans made it all look so easy when he scored just after the break and Seattle defended well to earn the shut out before another sell out crowd of 28,838 fans. In the 50th minute, Zakuani won a ball on the left flank and played it up the line for forward Nate Jaqua. Jaqua’s square pass with the outside of his right foot set up midfielder Brad Evans with an easy finish from the penalty kick spot around charging Earthquakes goalkeeper Joe Cannon. The goal followed a great diving save by Keller on a header by San Jose's Ryan Johnson.
There is much to feel good about after the win, though unfortunately Seattle's Colombian striker Fredy Montero is not on the 'feel good' list. He struggled with possession and with a wild shooting touch before being subbed out late on. On the plus side Freddie Ljungberg looked great and by far the most active we've seen him yet. His fitness level is near 100% now and he routinely schooled the Earthquakes defenders and controlled the flow of the match in the middle for Seattle.
Steve Zakuani started and again was dangerous down the left flank. His header was the breakthrough goal the Sounders have been waiting for. His assist to Evans sealed his fate as Sounders "Man of the Match."
"I think he played well enough tonight," commented Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid of Zakuani. "Certainly he deserves another start. I think with Steve, the little injuries and stuff in preseason slowed him down fitness-wise and in the end it’s still a matter of just getting fitter and fitter. For sure, he can play. And he’s also learning a little bit of a—not a different position, he’s played wide left before, but obviously in college, he was allowed a really free role. He played a lot more as a striker, so learning how to play wide left and do all the defending, sometimes that comes with that as something that’s a little different for him. But certainly based on what he did today, he’ll get another go next week. We feel good about that.”
Also standing out for Seattle were John Hurtado and Tryone Marshall on defense. Kasey Keller was solid in his return from a red card suspension. Keller set a Major League Soccer record with 389 scoreless minutes to start a season. (See Seattle Soccer Magazin'es player ratings here).
Brad Evans (left) is hugged by former Quake James Riley after putting Seattle up 2-0 in the 50th minute. (Rick Morrison)
“It’s a team. The front four are key," said Keller in spreading the love around. "I mean, you saw a couple great tackles from Tyrone [Marshall], from James Riley, from John Hurtado. Guys are putting their bodies on the line to keep this streak alive. I saw a goal today, earlier, that Chicago scored, where I saw a player not do that for Columbus. That kind of stuff…I think the guys know I’m not going to be happy if they don’t, but they also know at the same time that I’ll smash through a brick wall to try to keep the ball out of the net as well, and that’s what it’s down to: knowing that your guys are going to do the same thing that they expect of you, and everyone’s fighting to keep zeros. That’s key.”
The Sounders move their record to four wins, no draws and two losses on the season. Seattle are in second place in the Western Conference with 12 points.
Scoring Summary:
SEA -- Steve Zakuani 2 (Tyrone Marshall 1, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado 1) 42
SEA -- Brad Evans 2 (Nate Jaqua 2, Steve Zakuani 2) 50
San Jose Earthquakes - Joe Cannon, Chris Leitch, Nick Garcia, Kelly Gray, Eric Denton,
Arturo Alvarez, Ramiro Corrales (Simon Elliott 46), Shea Salinas (Quincy Amarikwa 65), Bobby
Convey, Pablo Campos (Cam Weaver 77), Ryan Johnson.
Substitutes Not Used: Brandon McDonald, Jamil Roberts, Davide Somma, Andrew Weber.
TOTAL SHOTS: 12 (Ryan Johnson 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 5 (Ryan Johnson 4); FOULS: 13
(Quincy Amarikwa 4, Pablo Campos 4); OFFSIDES: 2 (Pablo Campos 1, Ryan Johnson 1);
CORNER KICKS: 4 (Arturo Alvarez 4); SAVES: 1 (Joe Cannon 1)
Seattle Sounders FC -Kasey Keller, James Riley, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyrone Marshall,
Nathan Sturgis, Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Freddie Ljungberg (Roger Levesque 87), Steve
Zakuani (Sebastien Le Toux 67), Nate Jaqua, Fredy Montero (Sanna Nyassi 80).
Substitutes Not Used: Chris Eylander, Patrick Ianni, Zach Scott, Tyson Wahl.
TOTAL SHOTS: 11 (4 tied with 2); SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (3 tied with 1); FOULS: 8 (Osvaldo
Alonso 2); OFFSIDES: 2 (Nate Jaqua 1, Steve Zakuani 1); CORNER KICKS: 5 (Fredy Montero 4); SAVES: 5 (Kasey Keller 5)
Misconduct Summary:
SJ -- Bobby Convey (caution; Reckless Foul) 4
SEA -- Osvaldo Alonso (caution; Reckless Tackle) 30
SJ -- Nick Garcia (caution; Reckless Tackle) 41
Referee: Kevin Stott
Referee's Assistants: -Rob Fereday; Hector Vergara
4th Official: Yader Reyes
Attendance: 28,838
Time of Game: 1:51
Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-52-degrees
Match Reports:
Elsewhere: Real Salt Lake slammed New England 6-0 with six second-half goals.
Comments
Where's the "All of the above" option? :-)
OK, now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!
We need to get Fredy Montero back on track. He's really hanging his head right now. On the other hand, it was a nice step up for the other Freddie.
Before Zak got his goal I was wondering what it was going to take to stop the goalless streak. So many chances without getting one. That was a big relief to see his header touch the back of the net. Finally!
Brad Evans' goal was some real 'eye candy.' (It had to be said.)
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