Sounders-Dynamo has turned into intense rivalry

SEATTLE — For the second time in four games against Houston, Sounders FC forward Nate Jaqua finished the game light a few ounces of his own blood thanks to an opponent-inflicted head wound.

Maybe that’s just how it’s going to be when the Sounders FC and Dynamo play from now on.

Pick your word: chippy, physical, intense, spirited, bloody.

All apply when these two teams battle, and all were on display as they played to a scoreless tie at Qwest Field Thursday night in the first leg of the Western Conference semifinals. And thanks to both team’s success, Houston vs. Seattle is shaping up to be an intense rivalry for years to come.

Thanks to a U.S Open Cup matchup and now their Western Conference semifinal pairing, these two teams have already faced off four times this season, and a fifth game is coming on Nov. 8 when they play the second leg of the playoff series.

And while a 0-0 final score may be the rallying cry for every soccer loathing American, the game was not without its exciting moments, because, well, these teams just seem to either dislike each other or be sick of playing each other.

Houston, which won MLS Cup championships in 2006 and 2007, and also won two titles in San Jose before relocating, is the established Western Conference power. Yet in four tries this season, they’ve gone 0-2-2 against the expansion Sounders. Seattle, meanwhile, would love nothing more than to make a deep playoff run in its first season and do so by going through an established league power.

“We see a lot of each other, so there gets to be some chippy and intense battles,” Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid said. “I think it’s a good competition, it’s a good rivalry, because they’ve been the dominant team in the Western Conference for the last three or four years, further if you think of their days as San Jose. And we’re the new kids on the block, we’re trying to have people take notice of us. They don’t want to give away any of their prestige and we’re trying to take some of it, so that makes it a good rivalry.”

When the two teams last met in the Northwest, Seattle beat Houston in a U.S. Open Cup semifinal that featured five yellow cards for Houston, three yellows and a red for Seattle, and bloodied heads for both Jaqua and Sebastien Le Toux. There was even a little dust up in the late going of that game that led to a yellow card, but nothing more serious.

It didn’t take long Thursday for the two teams to pick up where they left off in Tukwila last summer. In the 16th minute, Freddy Montero, who has a knack for getting under the skin of opposing players, said or did something to set off Houston goal keeper Pat Onstad.

Onstad walked straight at Montero and gave a firm chest bump to the Seattle forward. Montero, not exactly known for his propensity to sustain verticality following contact from an opposing player, went down hard — though in this case Montero probably wasn’t doing as much embellishing as usual — setting off a brief skirmish in front of the Houston goal.

Pushing, shoving and the usual shenanigans ensued, though no punches were thrown. The frenzied crowd of 35,807 was expecting a red card for Onstad, but instead both he and Montero received yellow cards. It was one of many decisions made by referee Ricardo Salazar that irritated Schmid.

“My analogy was it was a bowling ball and a bowling pin, and the bowling ball got a yellow and the bowling pin got a yellow for getting knocked over, so I couldn’t quite understand that,” Schmid said.

From that point on, fans made a point of booing Onstad the rest of the night, and on each of his goal kicks most of the crowd shouted a particular phrase at the Houston player. As the game went on, Onstad was the target of more verbal abuse.

There was plenty more physical play in the first half, which Salazar was content to let go. Finally in the second half Salazar seemed to realize the game might be getting away from him, and he handed out four yellow cards in an 11-minute span, with two going to each team.

But despite any bad blood — or spilled blood for that matter — the Sounders say they enjoy facing Houston and are looking forward to round two next weekend.

“It’s a good soccer rivalry,” Sounders midfielder Steve Zakuani said. “I don’t think it’s anything nasty. They don’t like to lose, we don’t like to lose, so on a game like tonight with a fantastic crowd, it’s a playoff game with so much on the line, emotions come into play. But I think it was a fair game. The referee let the game go, and we’re just disappointed we didn’t get the win.”

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com.