Different lineup - Same result for the Seattle Sounders

By Money Mike

With the U.S. Open Cup final just three days away, Sigi Schmid made some changes in his lineup and rested a few of the key players leading up to Tuesday's Cup final match against the Chicago Fire. Despite a few shaky areas in the lineup, the Sounders still managed to come away with all three points, defeating the New England Revolution by a score of 2-1. The Sounders are now 6 points clear of Real Salt Lake for second place and are now just a point away from securing home field advantage in the MLS Cup Quarterfinal. The Sounders return home to Seattle tomorrow morning after a long traveling week to Vancouver, B.C., Guatemala City and Foxborough. My guess is they will have Sunday off and then get back to training on Monday for the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final on Tuesday night at CenturyLink Field. Kickoff time for that match is 7pm on FOX Soccer and will also be aired on 97.3 KIRO FM. The Sounders will look to become the first team since the New York Greek-Americans to win their third consecutive U.S. Open Cup title.

New England thought they had a goal in the opening minutes of the game. Benny Feilhaber's free kick was headed out of the area by a Seattle defender. Ryan Guy headed it back into the danger area and it fell to Milton Caraglio who headed it into the far post, but the offside flag was up. The replay however showed that the assistant referee got that wrong and that should've been the opening goal for the New England Revolution. In the 20th minute, Ryan Guy's delivery found 16-year old Diego Fagundez from point blank range who just tucked his shot wide of Kasey Keller's left. Three minutes later, Fagundez spun away from Patrick Ianni and Seattle were caught on a 2 on 1 break. Fagundez fed it across to a wide open Ryan Guy who took one touch and was denied by the veteran Kasey Keller. That one touch may have eluded Ryan Guy. New England started the game brightly for the first 35 minutes of the game. The only Sounders player who looked lively in the early stages of the game was David Estrada.

In the 35th minute, the young lad who the Revs are very high on, opened up the scoring in this match. Benny Feilhaber sent in a brilliant cross off the corner kick to the middle of the danger area and the man getting on the end of it was Diego Fagundez, coming in unmarked to head home his second professional goal in his fourth professional appearance. New England is very very high on this young kid, only 16-years old. He scored on his MLS debut on August 6th against Chivas USA. He will become more of a threat in years to come. If he gets a lot of playing time next season, he could end up hitting the 10 goal mark, or close to it. I may be bluffing here, but as Arlo White said, this guy has a great future as a footballer.

The lead however lasted only a minute and a half. In the 36th minute, it's the red hot Fredy Montero once again. After an error on Ryan Cochrane's attempted clearance, Montero pounced on the ball and curled it into the far corner for his team leading 10th goal of the year.

In the 48th minute, it was Montero once again. David Estrada's effort was deflected by a Revolution defender. The ball fell to Nate Jaqua who chested it to Fredy Montero who toe poked it past Matt Reis and into the back of the goal for his third brace of the season and oh yes.... to give Seattle the lead. And that goal turned out to be the difference as Seattle sweeps New England in the season series winning 2-1 in both matches.

The Sounders return home for their final homestand of the season with four matches in all compititions and let me say it again. The first of the four will be on Tuesday against the Chicago Fire in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final and I will be there to catch it. They get back to MLS action on Saturday October 8th against former Sounder Sebastien Le Toux and the Philadelphia Union.

Scoring summary:

New England Revolution - Diego Fagundez 2 (Benny Feilbaber 5) 35'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero 10 (unassisted) 36'

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero 11 (Nate Jaqua 2) 48'

Misconduct summary:

Seattle Sounders FC - Fredy Montero (caution; Reckless tackle) 28'

New England Revolution - Milton Caraglio (caution; Reckless tackle) 84'

Lineups:

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; Roger Levesque, Zach Scott, Patrick Ianni, Tyson Wahl; David Estrada, Erik Friberg (Osvaldo Alonso 79'), Servando Carrasco, Alvaro Fernandez (Lamar Neagle 46'); Nate Jaqua, Fredy Montero (Mike Fucito 68')

New England Revolution - Matt Reis; Kevin Alston, Ryan Cochrane (Darius Barnes 68'), A.J. Soares, Chris Tierney; Ryan Guy, Shalrie Joseph, Benny Feilhaber, Monsef Zerka (Pat Phelan 69'); Milton Caraglio, Diego Fagundez

Seattle Sounders FC preview vs New England Revolution

By Money Mike



The Seattle Sounders kick off the month of October on the East Coast. After traveling a long ways from Guatemala City, the Sounders are now set to do battle in Foxborough as they take on the New England Revolution. The Sounders already clinched a playoff spot last weekend and are now in the drivers seat to clinch home field advantage in the MLS Cup Quarterfinals as they are three points ahead of Real Salt Lake who have suffered a couple of embarrasing defeats, most recently at home, losing 3-0 to the Chicago Fire. I think the priorities for the Sounders are to just keep your starters healthy for the U.S. Open Cup final on Tuesday, maybe rest a couple of key players. You always want your best team out there for a Cup final match. So for this game, health is more important than winning this match.


Injury report:

Seattle Sounders FC - OK, when I say you gotta keep your players healthy, this is not what I mean by it. Even though there's one of the players I don't give a shit about. Terry Boss has a concussion, Zakuani has a broken leg and Mike Seamon has a lateral ankle tendon problem. All of them are out for the rest of the season. O'Brian White, we still don't know for sure whether or not he'll be back this season. He's had two blood clot surgeries on his leg. Mauro Rosales has a right knee MCL sprain and is listed as questionable. In fact, there's a chance they'll get him back for the Open Cup final. James Riley is also listed as questionable with a concussion. I don't want to see him on the pitch Saturday night, rest him. Pat Noonan has an adductor strain and is listed as probable, but who cares, he's not gonna play.

New England Revolution - For the Revs. Rajko Lekic has a sprained left ankle and he is out. Stephen McCarthy is out for the season after having surgery on his left shoulder. Sainey Nyassi, who scored against us in our first meeting with New England back in June, has a strained right hamstring and he is out. A.J. Soares has a left adductor strain and is listed as probable. Lastly, Monsef Zerka is listed as probable as he's dealing with a strained left quad.


Suspensions:

Seattle Sounders FC - NONE

New England Revolution - Franco Coria is suspended for this match after Caution accumulation.


What to keep our eyes on in this game:

I think what we need to focus on is the lineup Sigi Schmid will put out. The Sounders have played so many matches these past couple of months and I think he needs to rest his big time players for this game. Fredy Montero, Ozzie Alonso, Lamar Neagle, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado. I think those guys should be either on the bench or left out so they can take some time to refresh and get ready for the U.S. Open Cup final in Seattle on Tuesday, which I will be attending. I want to see guys like Michael Tetteh, David Estrada and Amadou Sanyang on the pitch this weekend. We'll see what Sigi has planned out, but the key players I meantioned, I don't want to see on the field.

Sounders defeat New England 2-1. That's now 9 points in the last 8 days.

By Money Mike



The New England Revolution got on the score sheet early, but they failed to hold on as the Seattle Sounders(8-4-7) came back with two first half goals and held on in the second half to defeat New England(3-8-6) 2-1. After two disappointing draws against the Chicago Fire and the Vancouver Whitecaps to start the month of June, the Sounders have won 3 in a row in a string of 8 days against Toronto FC, Red Bull New York and now the New England Revolution and are inching closer to the top spot in the Western Conference, only four points behind the Los Angeles Galaxy. The Revolution are halfway through their 2011 season and have only picked up 15 points which puts them in a tie for last place in the Eastern Conference with Toronto FC. With the month of July approaching means that we'll be seeing more signings, trades and more players sold through the summer. The Sounders have 5 guys on trial including Sammy Ochoa and Myron Samuel. We've had rumors and speculation about Cillian Sheridan signing with the Sounders. He was on trial for a week and did very well, but now it looks like he's actually going to sign with the Portland Timbers which was absolutely uncalled for. The Sounders didn't want him at the price he was asking for. And that's just disappointing because I was excited to see him play for this team and help with our attack and ditching him just for the price tell's me that the staff are being a bunch of pussies. I mean, what? You think you'll go bankrupt for signing him at a huge price? Stupid. Just stupid. Anyway, let's talk about the match....

In the 3rd minute, it was the visitors who struck first. Benny Feilhaber, who missed the last four games do to injury which also knocked him off USA's Gold Cup squad, took the corner from the far hash mark and played a short ball to the top of the penalty area to Sainey Nyassi ripped a hard shot on frame. Kasey Keller got a hand to it but was unable to keep it out. It was the first set piece goal Seattle has conceded in 2011.

In the 23rd minute, the Sounders started to push after Pat Phelan nailed Servando Carrasco at midfield and only picked up a yellow card, but that could easily have been and should've been a straight Red Card. Three minutes later, Carrasco picked up a yellow for his tackle from behind on Benny Feilbaber.



In the 34th minute, the Sounders would pull level off another set play. Mauro Rosales collided with Ryan Cochrane just outside the New England penalty area. The referee gave the free kick to Seattle. Erik Friberg and Tyson Wahl we're behind the ball in an area where you would think Tyson Wahl's left foot would favor it. And I was Tyson Wahl who weaved his magic and curled the ball around the wall and into the far upper 90 as Matt Reis had no clue which direction he was going. It was the first Major League Soccer goal for Tyson Wahl who became the 13th different player to score for the Sounders this season. It was also the 8th set piece goal in the last 8 matches for the Sounders.

Six minutes later, the Sounders would pull ahead. New England defender Kevin Alston broke his shoe and rather than going to the bench to get a new shoe, he stayed on the ground and played everybody onside and the Sounders took advantage of it. Mauro Rosales fed a good ball into the penalty area for Roger Levesque who tapped it to Alvaro Fernandez who finished with the inside of his right foot to put the Sounders up 2-1. Fernandez is now tied for the team lead in Goals with Brad Evans with four goals.

Lamar Neagle had a good chance in the second half to make it 3-1. Drifting out to the right, Neagle took on left back Darrius Barnes. Took a couple of touches before having a go and he wasn't far away. Neagle has one of the greatest strikes on this team, and he managed to show that on the road at Real Salt Lake.

New England had some chances as well including Shalrie Joseph who forced a save by Kasey Keller from point blank range off the corner, while forward Rajko Lukic just missed the far post with a searing volley. In the 85th minute, A. J. Soares fed Zach Schilawski at midfield. Schilawski turned and ripped one from distance but the crossbar saved the Sounders the 3 points. In the end the match ended 2-1 Sounders.


Scoring summary:

New England Revolution - Sainey Nyassi 1 (Benny Feilhaber 2) 3'

Seattle Sounders FC - Tyson Wahl 1 (unassisted) 34'

Seattle Sounders FC - Alvaro Fernandez 4 (Roger Levesque 2, Mauro Rosales 4) 40'


Misconduct summary:

New England Revolution - Pat Phelan (caution; Reckless tackle) 23'

Seattle Sounders FC - Servando Carrasco (caution; Tactical foul) 26'

New England Revolution - Ryan Cochrane (caution; Reckless tackle) 72'

New England Revolution - Rajko Lekic (caution; Dissent) 78'

Seattle Sounders FC - Tyson Wahl (caution; Delaying a Restart) 87'

New England Revolution - A. J. Soares (caution; Dissent) 90'


Lineup:

New England Revolution - Matt Reis; Kevin Alston, Ryan Cochrane (Zach Schilawski 81'), A. J. Soares, Darrius Barnes; Sainey Nyassi (Zak Boggs 62'), Pat Phelan, Shalrie Joseph, Benny Feilhaber, Ryan Guy (Kenny Mansally 62'); Rajko Lekic

Seattle Sounders FC - Kasey Keller; James Riley, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Jeff Parke (Patrick Ianni 17'), Tyson Wahl; Lamar Neagle, Servando Carrasco, Erik Friberg, Alvaro Fernandez (Pat Noonan 69'); Mauro Rosales (Nate Jaqua 89'), Roger Levesque