Sounders lay another egg at Qwest Field

New York goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul reacts as the ball heads for his face. Red Bulls defender Mike Petke is at right. (Rick Morrison)

First it was a blip. Then it was a string. Now it has become a trend. Seattle Sounders FC can't score goals at Qwest Field.

The latest goose egg presented to the faithful came Saturday night when the New York Red Bulls shut out Seattle 1:0 before another huge crowd of over 36,000 fans. Now supporters have an Easter basketful. At some point soon the Sounders are going to have to stop sending home their hordes disappointed. Take a look at the numbers, many of which are zeros.

The above graphic takes into account all matches played at Qwest Field, including playoffs, and international and local exhibitions. When those rave green fans grab for their tickets on match day they do so knowing there is a 43% chance that not only will the Sounders not win for them, but they won't even score a goal. In the last ten home matches that chance has ballooned to 80%.

Seattle put in a barely-inspired performance against New York. It wasn't a general lack of effort, but rather a lack of cohesion. They found it hard to connect with each other in the final third. Noticeable by their poor play were James Riley, back from a red card suspension and committing numerous turnovers, many unforced, and Fredy Montero, who once again wandered to midfield and stuck himself there for most of the night. Sigi Schmid had praised Montero for getting and staying forward against Philadelphia. Against the Red Bulls he was a non-factor, rarely staying in his assigned attacking forward position.

Meanwhile, Freddie Ljungberg was having trouble delivering adequate service. So without a true 'striker' up front, the Sounders were left attempting 'pretty ball' in an effort to pass the ball into the net. When that works well (hello, Arsenal) it is a thing a beauty. When it doesn't? Well...don't the numbers speak for themselves?

Steve Zakuani unleashes a second-half blast that nearly tied the match. (Joseph Armand)

Seattle's best chance at a goal came in a second half race down the wing by Steve Zakuani, who cut towards the middle and blasted a shot that New York goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul had to quickly parry away.

Looking for a bright spot? Recently-signed attacker Pat Noonan came on for Roger Levesque early in the second half and instantly looked dangerous. He also seems to be building a quick rapport with Freddie Ljungberg. Noonan beat defenders one on one several times on the right side.

Other than that, it was more frustration and another zero for the club and its followers at Qwest. It is becoming clear that solving the away defenses is an issue. Even clearer is this: the Sounders have got to start rewarding their huge crowds. It's just more fun for everyone when goose eggs give way to scrambling the opponent.

New Sounder Pat Noonan gets the choke hold from New York's Roy Miller. (Rick Morrison)

Seattle Sounders FC Media Department match coverage:

SEATTLE - Macoumba Kandji scored the game's lone goal to give the New York Red Bulls a 1-0 victory on Saturday night on the Xbox Pitch at Qwest Field. 

Seattle Sounders FC (1-1-0, 3 points) set club records with nine corner kicks in the first half and 12 for the game. Bouna Coundoul made five saves as Red Bulls (2-0-0, 6 points) posted their second straight shutout and snapped a 27-game road winless streak.  

New York scored in the 21st minute. Seattle knocked down a corner kick that forward Macoumba Kandji gathered. Kandji's left-footed strike bounced off of the crossbar before landing in the net. 

Sounders FC finished with a 17-10 advantage in shots. Steve Zakuani nearly equalized shortly after the goal, but in the 23rd minute his drive from 18 yards was deflected over the crossbar by Coundoul. 

Two chances in the 5th minute nearly gave Seattle an early lead. Zakuani beat his defender down the left side and found Fredy Montero in the box. Montero's shot was deflected by the Red Bulls' defense and Brad Evans collected the rebound for a shot that Coundoul saved. 

A flurry of opportunities midway through the second half nearly tied the game for Seattle. In the 66th minute, Ljungberg's pass across the box found Montero who lined up a shot that was deflected by Red Bulls' defense. 

Then in the 69th minute, Ljungberg found a streaking Zakuani who drove into the middle of the box. His shot was deflected out of bounds by the diving keeper. Minutes later, a free kick by Ljungberg was headed by Tyrone Marshall at the far post but missed wide left.

Freddie Ljungberg started tonight's match after suffering a lower back injury ten days ago against Philadelphia Union. Ljungberg was issued a yellow card in the 10th minute for a reckless foul in the midfield. 

New York head coach Hans Backe was not on the sideline for tonight's match. Backe experienced stomach pains in the morning and was taken to a local hospital for examination before returning to the team hotel. Red Bulls played under the direction of assistant coach Richie Williams. 

James Riley also started after serving a one-game suspension in the opener. 

Pat Noonan, making his Seattle debut, entered the game in 56th minute for Roger Levesque. Noonan, a two-time MLS All-star selection, signed on March 31.

Rookie David Estrada made his MLS debut, entering the match in the 83rd minute for Leo Gonzalez. Seattle selected Estrada with the 11th overall selection in the 2010 MLS SuperDraft. 

Saturday night marked the first time that New York defeated Seattle in MLS play. Sounders FC topped the Red Bulls 3-0 in last season's opener and drew 1-1 in New York in June. 

Seattle travels to Sandy, Utah, on April 10 for defending MLS Cup champion Real Salt Lake's home opener at 6 p.m. PT.

Post-match Quotes

Sigi Schmid - Head Coach

(Opening statement...) "It's the beauty of the game for the fans that statistically sometimes you can dominate the game and you come out with nothing at the end of the day that's the way soccer is more so than any other sport. For sure I thought we had some good opportunities. Coundoul came up with a  couple of big saves, the one on Zakuani and the one that he went up to his left. Ljungberg had a good opportunity with the header. We had a ton of corners, we had a ton of free kicks, we need to be more effective on those things so that's something we've got to make sure we go to the training ground and make sure we become more effective on that. I'm not displeased with our effort, I'm not displeased with our ability to get forward but I am displeased with our ability to finish."

(On whether this was a better New York team than last year...) "For sure. Like I said in the week, they are a much better organized NY team defensively. They're more disciplined. Lindpere gives them some bit in midfield. You look at the foul totals and obviously they were a lot more aggressive than we were in that regard and that slows it down. Some of those are tactical fouls to basically stop you from countering on them too quickly, get the attack going. Overall I thought we got into the final third, even though defensively they were better, I thought we got there."

(On Noonan...) "He's been with us a short period of time but he crossed the ball to Ljungberg's head, he was the one who served that ball in. And on the right side on a little combination, had a shot blocked. From that standpoint, with the little bit of time he was with us, he's helped us."

Late second half sub David Estrada tries to get around New York's Danleigh Borman. (Joseph Armand.)

(On start...) "I thought we started flat maybe the first five, and then we came and got a couple counters on them. Zakuani broke in on the left hand side and we were right around it after that, but we didn't start well again that first five."

 
(On physical play...) "That's really a question more for the referee. I think in the NBA  you foul out when you have six fouls. I see on the stats sheet someone has six fouls. But you don't foul out here. But it's something that we just have to deal with and adjust. Sometimes we draw fouls because maybe we hold the ball an extra touch, and we need to lay the ball off sooner. Sometimes teams are taking us physical and the protection isn't there, I think that's important whoever is officiating the game has to see it and read it. does he think it's tactical, that's his judgement."

(On shots...) "I thought a lot of attempts like Zakuani's coming inside was a good attempt, he made a good save. The one where Montero turned and hit it I thought he had Noonan open on the flank and should have maybe laid that ball off. That's the thing in maybe laying the ball a little sooner. But overall it was one of the those days, if one goes in, one or two will go in, but we needed one to go in first."

(On free kicks...) "We're going to work on it."

(On NY's goal...) "It was a corner kick and Leo Gonzalez got turned around in there and couldn't get a good clearance on hit. The ball just fell to Kandji and turned and hit it on goal. He got it up, usually expect a guy to drive it. Kasey was down a little bit and he got it up and came up on the other side of the crossbar. Obviously we have to do a better job clearing the first ball."

"Disappointed that we weren't able to get one. We did enough work to make that happen. When we went to three in the back, we actually had less of the ball. Sometimes it might have been better to stay with the four because we were applying a lot of pressure. Guys were pushing up out of that. You've got to roll the dice sometimes.

Kasey Keller - Goalkeeper

(General...) "I'm extremely disappointed obviously. I think there were a lot of chances for both teams. A credit to both teams they kept going forward, trying to make the game exciting. Like I said, we had our chances to level it up and get back in the lead and we just couldn't take advantage of it. It's frustrating, we're all extremely frustrated but I don't think you can fault the guys' effort. Everyone worked extremely hard and it's a frustrating day. It will challenge us to get better and make sure that we can get those goals. I'm looking forward to the next week or two of training, and we'll up that intensity and make sure that we make it happen."

(On if NY was a lot better team than last year...) "It's night and day between that team and last year. The way they're organized, the way they're fighting for one another and the way they worked out. Kandji and Juan Pablo up front were a handful. I think they got tired there at the end but for 70 minutes they were amazing, the way they worked on both sides of the ball. It is a very well organized team. But on another day, we score three goals and maybe they score three goals. It's very frustrating but at the same time it's the second game, no panic stations. We'll make it happen."

(On NY's goal...) "We just didn't clear a ball. They were whipping some good balls in the box and we didn't quite clear it. He turned extremely well and I don't know if it took a deflection or not but it ended up flying off the underside of the crossbar. It was a very opportunistic goal. A good goal all the same.

Pat Noonan - Forward

(On playing for Sounders FC for first time . . .) "It was good to get the minutes in. It was disappointing that you come out with a loss but a lot of good possessions and some good chances but just couldn't convert."

(On connecting with new teammates . . .) "It's a learning experience. Before the game, I was kind of asking around, seeing that there was going to be some movements and adjustments. Freddie [Ljungberg] likes to hop out wide so just trying to get into that rhythm of finding holes and getting out of the way when Freddie comes out wide or whatever it might be. You try to go out there and try to be creative and I was trying to get some crosses in, maybe get some chances, and get some shots on goal or something."

(On his header late in game . . .) "Poor header. I got caught in the middle of maybe flicking it on because I was kind of deep and then maybe try to catch the goalie out and get one near post. Just a bad header."

Steve Zakuani - Midfielder

(On not finishing on goal . . .) "I think you saw last week that once you score one it is easy to get a second one. I think some of them were good saves by the keeper and some of them  we have to go back to training and execute better. We created some very good chances. That's a good sign. I think we played better this week than we did last week actually and against a better team. But they got one goal from the one clear chance and after that I think it was one-way traffic but we couldn't manage to score."

(On Red Bulls defensive strategy . . .) "They have got a lot of speed obviously and they kind of sat back there and once we lost the ball they would kind of counter us. That was their one tactic. But I think we came in here at halftime and said let's just possess the ball a little bit better. We did that in the second half. I don't think they had many chances. I think we could have scored three or four on another good night. It just wasn't to be. So I think we played our game."

(On being concerned over loss . . .) "No, second game of the season. We knew we wouldn't go undefeated. We were going to lose a game at some stage and we have lost now. It definitely hurts. We are definitely going to go home to think about this, losing at home in front of those fans is never good. Had we performed poorly and been outplayed by New York, we would be concerned. We just know if we had put one away it would maybe be a different story."

Brad Evans - Midfielder

(On best practices to score goals...) "It comes  from both ends. It could be better service and it also could be better runs.  And also we have so many set pieces that we vary it a little bit. Instead of swinging it every single time, maybe we try playing short a little bit more and see what happens.  We can always work on those things in practice. I guess it's just a concentration thing."

 (On this year's New York team compared to last year's...) "Much more organized. But still, 17 shots, it's one of those where we should have had three points, at least a point. This will probably be one of those where you work back and say 'should've had that one'.  But definitely a way better side for sure, improved."

(On getting fouled more than the average team...) "For me it doesn't really bother me. It's going to happen anytime you have really good players. We used it to our advantage though. We got a number of set pieces off of it. A couple times I thought he could've let it play because we were in advanced position. It's his decision overall. The best we can do is draw fouls and get some chances off of set pieces, bottom line. If they're going to foul you're going to fall down every once in a while. It's just a matter of finishing our chances.

Richie Williams - Assistant Head Coach

(On the status of Head Coach Hans Backe...) "He is doing fine; he needed some rest and will be back with us next week."

(On coming out with a win in tough environment...) "You have to give our guys credit; this is tough place to play with great stadium and fans. They have a good team and come and get a good result, everybody from front to back played hard and deserved 1-0 win."

(On embracing the challenge of getting a road victory...) "Nobody wants to have 29 road losses and we wanted to put an end to it and it be a different year. We battled and play intelligent and wanted to win. It was an excellent overall team effort."

Mike Petke -  Defender

(On having a different outcome this game than last year's match...) "Everything was different, from the form we played to the physical nature of the match. We deserved to win this match, they are a great team. They are a very good team and very good at home and this is a big accomplishment for us."

(On the team playing more crisp and precise...) "As opposed to last year we don't have four guys playing defense and four guys playing midfield. It is 11 guys playing defense and 11 guys playing offense and that is the biggest difference and why were able to get a win tonight."

Macoumba Kandji - Forward

(On the league starting to take them for seriously...) "Of course, when we played Chicago at home and they are a very good team. We got that one goal and we defended really well tonight. If we get a shutout and they way we defended meant we had a good chance at winning the game tonight."

(On scoring the goal in tonight's match...) "The goal is just like we practiced, I started at the goalkeeper and backed away. Whatever comes out is mine and I just hit it with my left foot and then it went in."