Obafemi Martins' first goal gives the Sounders their first win of the season

Obafemi Martins' 27th goal, the difference as the

Sounders finally get on the win column.

By Money Mike





I wasn't planning on blogging again until May, but that's changed now because of the fact that the Seattle Sounders are finally off the mark this season (their winless run had nothing to do with my absence). Last Saturday, the Sounders traveled to Colorado looking for their first win of the year, and they got it. The Sounders defeated the Colorado Rapids 1-0 on the lone goal by Obafemi Martins who scored his first goal for the Rave Green since his move from Levante last month. The Sounders have a bye week this week and then they get ready for a pretty difficult month of May. They hit the road again to take on the Philadelphia Union on the 4th of May. Then they head travel Sporting Park for a midweek match with Sporting Kansas City. Following that, they return home for a pair of home matches against the San Jose Earthquakes and FC Dallas before they hit the plane to LA for a Western Conference finals rematch against the Galaxy. And I believe they have a U.S. Open Cup match to close out the month. So there's not a lot of matches like last year, but again it'll be a bit of a challenge for the Rave Green.



In the Opening minutes of the match, Colorado had the first look at goal. DeAndre Yedlin's pass was given away in the Sounders half. Dillon Powers fed Hendry Thomas who decided to have a go from a long long way out, but the ball sailed high and wide. Thomas tried another long range effort from a similar position later on in the half, but couldn't find the target on that one either.



In the 27th minute, the Sounders broke the deadlock. Brad Evans found DeAndre Yedlin, who had a lot of room to run on the near side. Yedlin fed the ball to Lamar Neagle who whipped in a low cross which went behind Obafemi Martins. The ball bounced to Steve Zakuani who poked the ball back to Shalrie Joseph for a first timed shot which was saved by Clint Irwin, but right to Obafemi Martins who cut the ball to his right and calmly slid the ball past Irwin for his first Sounders goal to give the Rave Green a 1-0 lead.



A couple minutes later, the Sounders could've made it 2-0, but the crossbar came to Colorado's rescue. Colorado got caught on the counter as Obafemi Martins slid the ball to Lamar Neagle, who took one touch to get past Chris Klute and tried to go top corner upper v and instead struck the crossbar. Unlucky there, Neagle did everything right on the play. Clint Irwin was beat. Just unlucky is the only way to describe that. On the other side, Chris Klute was lucky that Neagle didn't go down because he did grab a hold of his jersey and he was the last defender, so if Neagle went down, I'm pretty sure the referee would've called a foul and Klute would've been shown a Red Card for clear denial of a goalscoring opportunity.



In the 55th minute, Colorado came and inch away from equalizing. Danny Mwanga fed Dillon Powers who turned and had a go with his left foot and just missed wide. Michael Gspurning was screened on the play and I don't think he had a chance at making the save. As for Dillon Powers, he's been impressive so far in his rookie season. A few weeks ago, he scored a beauty against the Portland Timbers and now coming close to getting his second of the year.



Five minutes later, Colorado had probably the best chance of equalizing and couldn't make it count. Hendry Thomas played a beautiful diagonal ball to the near side for Brian Mullan to curled the ball in with his left foot to the far post for Atiba Harris who flicked it off the bar and Danny Mwanga was right there and somehow he couldn't head home the rebound as Michael Gspurning got down and made the save.



In the 85th minute, the Sounders were once again saved by the goalpost. Brian Mullan whipped in another beautiful to the far post, this time for an unmarked Kamani Hill who volleys it off the post and the Sounders dodge another bullet.



Now onto the 92nd minute, the Rapids had one more last chance on a free kick. Jamie Smith chipped the ball to the far post for Drew Moor who got up well and directed his header towards got, Michael Gspurning was right there to make the save and that was the last opportunity the Rapids have had and the Sounders hold on for their first win, defeating the Rapids 1-0.





Scoring summary:



Seattle Sounders FC - Obafemi Martins 1 (Unassisted) 27'





Misconduct summary:



Colorado Rapids - Dillon Powers (caution; foul) 41'



Seattle Sounders FC - Djimi Traore (caution; foul) 67'



Seattle Sounders FC - Leonardo Gonzalez (caution; time wasting) 84'





Lineups:



Seattle Sounders FC - Michael Gspurning; DeAndre Yedlin, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Djimi Traore, Leonardo Gonzalez; Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Shalrie Joseph, Steve Zakuani (Alex Caskey 70'); Obafemi Martins (Mauro Rosales 61'), Lamar Neagle (Marc Burch 89')



Colorado Rapids - Clint Irwin; Brian Mullan, Marvell Wynne (Shane O'Neill 55'), Drew Moor, Chris Klute; Nick LaBrocca (Kamani Hill 45'), Hendry Thomas, Dillon Powers, Tony Cascio (Jamie Smith 77'); Atiba Harris, Danny Mwanga

Montreal Impact steal one in Seattle

By Money Mike





The Seattle Sounders came into the season opener without a few key players. Adam Johansson, David Estrada and Patrick Ianni were out injured. Lamar Neagle was left out of the lineup. Djimi Traore was left on the bench. And Ozzie Alonso and Marc Burch were suspended. So I expected play to be a little sloppy on the part of the Sounders, but I did not expect a result like this. On Saturday, the Montreal Impact came to CenturyLink Field and stunned the crowd of 38,998 in attendance as they defeated the Seattle Sounders 1-0. The Sounders had some chances in this game, but they couldn't deliver and with the first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinal on the road at Tigres coming up a couple days from now, Seattle needs to correct their mistakes and correct them fast. Since both legs of the Champions League are this Wednesday and next Tuesday, the Sounders next match in league play won't be until March 16 at home and their opponent happens to be the Portland Timbers.



In the 18th minute, Montreal had a chance to go up 1-0 and probably should've gone up 1-0. Andrea Pisanu spotted the run of Marco Di Vaio and fed him with a perfectly timed through ball in the box. Di Vaio got in behind Zach Scott and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado but he put a little too much under the ball and shot it over the bar.



In the 24th minute, the Sounders had an opportunity of their own to break the deadlock. Again, the passing was sloppy on both ends of the pitch and teams struggling to clear the ball out of their own area. Felipe Martins looked to clear the ball from danger but Jhon Kennedy Hurtado stepped in to head the ball to Andy Rose whose touch was a little heavy. Felipe slid in to win the ball back, but Rose fed the ball to the near side for Mario Martinez who looked and curled the ball to the near post for Eddie Johnson who got past Matteo Ferrari, but he flicked the ball wide of Troy Perkins's right hand side.



Five minutes later, EJ had another opportunity. Justin Mapp's misplaced pass gave Mauro Rosales a chance to catch Montreal on the counter. Rosales rolled the ball to Johnson on the right side of the box. Johnson waited for support before cutting inside and trying to curl his shot into the corner, but it was too far central and easily gathered by Troy Perkins.



In the 35th minute, the Sounders get caught on the counter and the Impact take full advantage of it and open the scoring. Marco Di Vaio found Felipe who had time and space to look up and he lifted the ball up for Davy Arnaud who settled the ball in front of him and chipped it over the head of Michael Gspurning and in the back of the net to put the Impact ahead 1-0. Just poor play on that one from Andy Rose, Zach Scott and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado. Hurtado was late trying to get back, Scott overcommits by pushing up and closing down Felipe and nobody picks up Arnaud. Just shocking defending on that play.



Just over four minutes into the second half, Montreal had a big chance to go up by two. Patrice Bernier sent Sanna Nyassi in behind the defense with the great through ball. Just as Nyassi was getting ready to strike, he starts to lose control. However, the Sounders still couldn't get it away as Zach Scott and Michael Gspurning collide in the box. Marco Di Vaio stepped in with the net empty trying to make it 2-0, but DeAndre Yedlin got back to get in the way of that shot to keep it a one score game.



In the 64th minute, the Sounders dodged another bullet. Sanna Nyassi worked a give and go with Marco Di Vaio on the near side. Nyassi made a good run forward and whipped in a very good cross for a diving header from Davy Arnaud, but the ball bounced back into play from the crossbar and the score remained 1-0.



A minute later, Seattle were denied by the frame. Mario Martinez slid the ball to Eddie Johnson at the top of the area, who poked the ball back to Brad Evans for a first timed shot that beat Troy Perkins, but the left post comes to Montreal's rescue this time.



With just under 10 minutes to go in normal time, Seattle had a golden opportunity to level the match. Eddie Johnson fed Leo Gonzalez who made an overlapping run from his left back position. Gonzalez chipped the ball to the near post for Alex Caskey who flicked the ball for Eddie Johnson who strikes the ball off the crossbar from point blank range. I'm still having difficulty figuring out how he couldn't score from that position, but that's what the outcome of that chance was and Seattle come away empty handed in the opening match of the 2013 season.





Observations:

DeAndre Yedlin impressive in his debut with the Sounders.

I was a little surprised to see this kid in the lineup for this match, but DeAndre Yedlin got the start and I gotta say I was really impressed with his performance. Yedlin remember played a year in the Sounders FC Youth academy and was signed back in January as the first homegrown player in club history after two seasons at Akron. Normally at 19-years old when you make your debut for your hometown club, you end up feeling a lot of pressure and struggle to handle it. But he didn't feel any pressure, he took his debut like it's another game. His passing was good. One on One defending, excellent. Despite all that, I'm still not quite satisfied that he should be an everyday starter at right back because on the attacking end, his crosses weren't great and on the defensive side of the ball, there were times when Sanna Nyassi beat him especially the first couple of minutes where Nyassi got in behind him and both were pulling eachothers jerseys. If Nyassi went down under that, I think the referee would've called a foul and Yedlin probably would've been sent off. But based on what I've seen out of him, he'll only get better as he gains more minutes and he will be a future starter on this team for sure.



Asside from DeAndre's performance, the Sounders attacking game was, ya know...... not good. First of all, someone on Seattle Times called Zakuani a One Trick Pony. I don't know who said that, and I don't care, but that's got to be the most bullshit comment I've ever heard or read or whatever. The wide play however, was very poor, the crosses were weak, and the guys are just getting caught out of position. Rosales needs to move back to the right side of midfield where he's most effective and they need to push Zakuani up front with EJ and move Martinez to the left side of midfield. They need to change something attacking wise until they finally get another striker.



Ya know.... first game, they lost. Big deal. Look, I'm not happy with the defeat myself, but there's absolutely no reason to panic. These guys off and on have hit a brick wall, but they find ways to bounce back and win games. So this team will bounce back from this loss, no doubt. We've got a long long way to go this season. 34 games. This was the first game, so now we have 33 games to go.





Scoring summary:



Montreal Impact - Davy Arnaud 1 (Felipe Martins 1) 35'





Misconduct summary:



Seattle Sounders FC - Brad Evans (caution; foul) 17'



Montreal Impact - Andrea Pisanu (caution; foul) 64'





Lineups:



Montreal Impact - Troy Perkins; Hassoun Camara (Dennis Iapichino 84'), Matteo Ferrari, Alessandro Nesta, Jeb Brovsky; Andrea Pisanu (Calum Mallace 69'), Patrice Bernier, Felipe Martins, Justin Mapp (Sanna Nyassi 45'); Davy Arnaud, Marco Di Vaio



Seattle Sounders FC - Michael Gspurning; DeAndre Yedlin, Zach Scott, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Leonardo Gonzalez (Servando Carrasco 84'); Mario Martinez, Andy Rose (Alex Caskey 62'), Brad Evans, Steve Zakuani (Sammy Ochoa 69'); Mauro Rosales, Eddie Johnson

2013 Seattle Sounders FC season preview

By Money Mike





It has been a long offseason for the Seattle Sounders with players leaving and new faces arriving, which of course happens every year. But with their leading goalscorer gone, how will the Sounders fare in the year 2013? I'll talk a little bit about that as I preview the Seattle Sounders 2013 season. The Sounders are coming off their first trophyless season since joining MLS in 2009. Last season, they reached their fourth straight U.S. Open Cup final only to lose to Sporting Kansas City on penalties and they also reached the Western Conference final for the first time but that was the farthest they would go in 2012 as they would lose to the LA Galaxy 4-2 on aggregate. Also because they didn't win a trophy in 2012, they won't be competing in the 2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League. So, since there's no Champions League for the Sounders this season (other than the 2012-13 Champions League Quarterfinal and beyond, should they advance), head coach Sigi Schmid won't have to shuffle the lineup around as much as last year because of depth and long travel. He won't have to deal with that.



As far as the offseason is concerned, the Sounders have brought in some veteran guys, a couple of draft picks, a homegrown player and also a local favorite made his return to the Emerald City. At the same time, they lost a couple of key players. Defender Jeff Parke was traded to the Philadelphia Union back in early December, and Fredy Montero was loaned out to Millonarios for the entire season but he signed a contract extension with the Sounders prior to the move so he should be back in 2014. Earlier this offseason, the Sounders were expected to sign Honduran defender Wilmer Crisanto. However, for some reason the deal fell through. Somebody reported that the deal for Crisanto fell through because there weren't any international roster spots available, which was bullshit because the Sounders had four international slots available at the time. Now another slot has been occupied and another was traded to the Montreal Impact as part of the deal that brought Lamar Neagle back to Seattle. The Sounders also brought in former Mali international defender Djimi Traore, was part of Liverpool's UEFA Champions League winning side in 2005, former New England Revolution captain Shalrie Josphn, defenders Eriq Zavaleta and Dylan Remick and they also signed DeAndre Yedlin as their first homegrown player. Of course, we're expecting Nigerian forward Obafemi Martins to be signed as a designated player at some point but one designated player would have to go in order for that to happen and after much speculation, it looks like it'll be Christian Tiffert. Now it's a question of how strong this years team is compared to last years? Will year five be the year the Sounders bring an MLS Cup to Seattle?





Sounders 2013 roster:



1. GK - Michael Gspurning

2. DF - DeAndre Yedlin (HGP)

3. MF - Brad Evans

4. DF - Patrick Ianni

5. DF - Adam Johansson

6. MF - Osvaldo Alonso

7. FW - Eddie Johnson

8. DF - Marc Burch

10. MF - Mauro Rosales (DP; Captain)

11. FW - Steve Zakuani

12. DF - Leonardo Gonzalez

13. MF - Christian Tiffert (DP)^

14. MF - Alex Caskey

15. MF - Mario Martinez

16. FW - David Estrada

20. DF - Zach Scott

21. MF - Shalrie Joseph (DP)

22. DF - Eriq Zavaleta (GA)

23. MF - Servando Carrasco

24. GK - Marcus Hahnemann

25. MF - Andy Rose

26. FW - Sammy Ochoa

27. MF - Lamar Neagle

29. GK - Josh Ford

30. DF - Andrew Duran

33. DF - Dylan Remick

34. DF - Jhon Kennedy Hurtado

50. DF - Djimi Traore



Notes:

^ - Could be gone before the start of the season



HGP - Homegrown Player

DP - Designated Player

GA - Generation Adidas





Offseason moves:



Acquisitions:



January 11, 2013 - DeAndre Yedlin (University of Akron; Sounders U23) - Homegrown player

January 17, 2013 - Eriq Zavaleta (Indiana University) - MLS SuperDraft 1st rd. (10th overall)

January 17, 2013 - Dylan Remick (Brown University; Worcester Hydra) - MLS SuperDraft 2nd rd. (35th overall)

January 27, 2013 - Lamar Neagle (Montreal Impact) - Trade

February 19, 2013 - Shalrie Joseph (Chivas USA) - Trade

February 23, 2013 - Djimi Traore (Olympique de Marseille) - Free transfer



Departures:



December 3, 2012 - Mike Seamon (Pittsburgh Riverhounds) - Option Declined

December 3, 2012 - Andrew Weber (Phoenix FC Wolves) - Option Declined

December 3, 2012 - O'Brian White - Option Declined

December 7, 2012 - Jeff Parke (Philadelphia Union) - Trade

December 14, 2012 - Cordell Cato (San Jose Earthquakes) - Option Declined (traded to San Jose on March 1, 2013)

December 14, 2012 - Bryan Meredith (IK Brage) - Option Declined

December 14, 2012 - Daniel Steres (Ventura County Fusion) - Option Declined

December 14, 2012 - Michael Tetteh - Option Declined

February 26, 2013 - Babayele Sodade - Released





I'm just ready for the season to start. Even though Montero is gone, I still think Seattle is one of the teams to beat in MLS this year. They've had a great preseason, winning the Desert Diamond Cup in Tucson. The new guys have come in and worked their asses off all preseason. Not that it matters heading into the regular season because that's where it really counts. I really don't have much to explain here. I'm just sick and tired of waiting for the season to start. Will 2013 be the year? We'll have to find out.