Published: Sunday, June 14, 2009
Sounders feast on lowly Earthquakes
Ljungberg, Montero score and Seattle holds off San Jose for first win in 7 weeks
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Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald
Freddie Ljungberg (center) is congratulated by teammates after scoring a first-half goal.
SEATTLE -- Seattle Sounders FC was desperately in need of a tonic to cure its case of the blahs.
Nothing like a visit from the lowly San Jose Earthquakes to serve as a pick-me-up.
Seattle ran riot over cellar-dwelling San Jose for two-thirds of Saturday night's game, then survived a late San Jose push to prevail 2-1 for its first win in seven weeks.
The victory was Seattle's first since April 25, which just happened to be the last time the Sounders played host to the Quakes. In the interim the Sounders endured a frustrating stretch that included five ties and a loss.
"When you're in a streak where you're not getting wins, you take the win," said Sounders coach Sigi Schmid, who was relieved his team didn't squander the lead during a shaky final 25 minutes. "There's been games where we've played well and came away with a loss and probably played a better complete 90 minutes than today. But at the end of the day it's a good solid win."
Freddie Ljungberg and Freddy Montero found the net for Seattle (5-3-5), which sent the boisterous sellout crowd of 28,999 at Qwest Field home happy.
"I don't think it was a must win because we weren't playing badly or anything like that, we have confidence in the team," said Ljungberg, the team's star Swedish midfielder. "But I felt it would be nice to have a win at home. We want this to be our fortress. We don't want to draw here, we want to have just wins at home, so in that way I thought it was really important to get that back. People should be scared to come here."
San Jose's goal came from English star Darren Huckerby, making his first start since April 11 because of a quadriceps strain. The Quakes remained at the bottom of the MLS's Western Conference standings at 2-8-3.
The game also got a little chippy, particularly toward the end as the fouls became more cynical both ways. A total of seven yellow cards were handed out, four to San Jose and three to Seattle.
Seattle, which had struggled to score goals recently, opened the game with an agressive three-forward formation, using wide forwards Montero and Steve Zakuani to cause havoc down the flanks with their speed and skill. That strategy allowed the Sounders to dominate the first half and create several good scoring chances. San Jose goalkeeper Joe Cannon had to be at his best to twice deny Montero from close range.
But it required a San Jose mistake for Seattle to finally cash in its opening goal. In the 42nd minute Quakes defender Jason Hernandez, under no pressure, slipped while attempting to control the ball in his own territory, allowing Ljungberg to nip the ball away. Sebastien Le Toux played Ljungberg back through, and Ljungberg delicately chipped the ball over an onrushing Cannon, giving Seattle a 1-0 lead with his second goal of the season.
Seattle continued to control play in the second half and doubled its lead in the 59th minute. Patrick Ianni got a headed flick to a Ljungberg corner kick, the ball finding its way to Montero all alone at the far post. Montero had time to control the ball and tuck it into the corner, making it 2-0 with his team-leading fifth of the season.
It seemed like Seattle would coast home from there, but San Jose made it interesting by getting one back in the 68th minute. The Sounders were lackadasical trying to clear the ball from their own penalty box, and that kept the ball alive for Ryan Johnson to center it into the path of Huckerby, who redirected it past Keller from 6 yards out to make it 2-1.
San Jose then had a golden opportunity to tie it up in the 84th minute, but Johnson curled his shot on the turn wide from the edge of the goal box while under pressure from Seattle goalkeeper Kasey Keller.
"It was probably a game of two halves," Schmid said. "I thought in the first half we pretty much dominated and created a number of opportunities, but only came away with the one goal.
"In the second half we got the second goal and sort of lost the plot a little bit," Schmid continued. "They became more aggressive, we had a few too many guys who didn't come back defensively for us."
Spot kicks
Seattle had two regulars unavailable as forward Nate Jaqua and central defender Jhon Kennedy Hurtado were each serving one-game suspensions. Jaqua was suspended for his two yellow cards in last week's 1-0 loss at Chivas USA, Hurtado for accumulating five yellow cards total. ... Seattle also got two players back. Central defender Tyrone Marshall returned from a one-game suspension, while holding midfielder Osvaldo Alonso came on as a second-half substitute after sitting out two games with a quad strain. ... Because backup goalkeeper Chris Eylander was out with a knee bruise, Monroe High School graduate Ben Dragavon was back on Seattle's bench. Dragavon is a part of the league-wide reserve goalkeeper pool. ... San Jose was without midfielder Bobby Convey. The U.S. national team member was out with a hamstring strain.
Nothing like a visit from the lowly San Jose Earthquakes to serve as a pick-me-up.
Seattle ran riot over cellar-dwelling San Jose for two-thirds of Saturday night's game, then survived a late San Jose push to prevail 2-1 for its first win in seven weeks.
The victory was Seattle's first since April 25, which just happened to be the last time the Sounders played host to the Quakes. In the interim the Sounders endured a frustrating stretch that included five ties and a loss.
"When you're in a streak where you're not getting wins, you take the win," said Sounders coach Sigi Schmid, who was relieved his team didn't squander the lead during a shaky final 25 minutes. "There's been games where we've played well and came away with a loss and probably played a better complete 90 minutes than today. But at the end of the day it's a good solid win."
Freddie Ljungberg and Freddy Montero found the net for Seattle (5-3-5), which sent the boisterous sellout crowd of 28,999 at Qwest Field home happy.
"I don't think it was a must win because we weren't playing badly or anything like that, we have confidence in the team," said Ljungberg, the team's star Swedish midfielder. "But I felt it would be nice to have a win at home. We want this to be our fortress. We don't want to draw here, we want to have just wins at home, so in that way I thought it was really important to get that back. People should be scared to come here."
San Jose's goal came from English star Darren Huckerby, making his first start since April 11 because of a quadriceps strain. The Quakes remained at the bottom of the MLS's Western Conference standings at 2-8-3.
The game also got a little chippy, particularly toward the end as the fouls became more cynical both ways. A total of seven yellow cards were handed out, four to San Jose and three to Seattle.
Seattle, which had struggled to score goals recently, opened the game with an agressive three-forward formation, using wide forwards Montero and Steve Zakuani to cause havoc down the flanks with their speed and skill. That strategy allowed the Sounders to dominate the first half and create several good scoring chances. San Jose goalkeeper Joe Cannon had to be at his best to twice deny Montero from close range.
But it required a San Jose mistake for Seattle to finally cash in its opening goal. In the 42nd minute Quakes defender Jason Hernandez, under no pressure, slipped while attempting to control the ball in his own territory, allowing Ljungberg to nip the ball away. Sebastien Le Toux played Ljungberg back through, and Ljungberg delicately chipped the ball over an onrushing Cannon, giving Seattle a 1-0 lead with his second goal of the season.
Seattle continued to control play in the second half and doubled its lead in the 59th minute. Patrick Ianni got a headed flick to a Ljungberg corner kick, the ball finding its way to Montero all alone at the far post. Montero had time to control the ball and tuck it into the corner, making it 2-0 with his team-leading fifth of the season.
It seemed like Seattle would coast home from there, but San Jose made it interesting by getting one back in the 68th minute. The Sounders were lackadasical trying to clear the ball from their own penalty box, and that kept the ball alive for Ryan Johnson to center it into the path of Huckerby, who redirected it past Keller from 6 yards out to make it 2-1.
San Jose then had a golden opportunity to tie it up in the 84th minute, but Johnson curled his shot on the turn wide from the edge of the goal box while under pressure from Seattle goalkeeper Kasey Keller.
"It was probably a game of two halves," Schmid said. "I thought in the first half we pretty much dominated and created a number of opportunities, but only came away with the one goal.
"In the second half we got the second goal and sort of lost the plot a little bit," Schmid continued. "They became more aggressive, we had a few too many guys who didn't come back defensively for us."
Spot kicks
Seattle had two regulars unavailable as forward Nate Jaqua and central defender Jhon Kennedy Hurtado were each serving one-game suspensions. Jaqua was suspended for his two yellow cards in last week's 1-0 loss at Chivas USA, Hurtado for accumulating five yellow cards total. ... Seattle also got two players back. Central defender Tyrone Marshall returned from a one-game suspension, while holding midfielder Osvaldo Alonso came on as a second-half substitute after sitting out two games with a quad strain. ... Because backup goalkeeper Chris Eylander was out with a knee bruise, Monroe High School graduate Ben Dragavon was back on Seattle's bench. Dragavon is a part of the league-wide reserve goalkeeper pool. ... San Jose was without midfielder Bobby Convey. The U.S. national team member was out with a hamstring strain.
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