SEATTLE — Less than an hour before game time, Chad Barrett was sitting in the CenturyLink Field press box, finishing a Coke and about to start into dinner.
Then he got the word: He was being added to the game-day roster.
Barrett went down to the locker room, changed into his uniform and was on the bench as the Sounders fell a goal behind rival Los Angeles.
In the 85th minute, Barrett was sent onto the pitch, and in stoppage time he scored the goal that ignited the crowd of 56,097 and produced a 1-1 draw with the Galaxy.
“Great ball by (Marco) Pappa, great flick by Brad (Evens),” Barrett said. “We had been putting great balls into the box, and nobody had been crashing. So I was like, ‘Just take a chance.’ I beat my man … just perfect ball right to me. All I had to do was run into it.”
After the game, Seattle defender Zach Scott sought Barret out to thank him. That’s because the Galaxy’s lone goal followed a conspicuous error by Scott, who had gotten the ball at the side of the penalty area, and sent a rolling pass across the front of his own goal. The pass was intended for teammate Gonzalo Pineda, but Los Angeles goals leader Robbie Keane swooped onto it just atop the area, touched it into the box and fired past goalkeeper Stefan Frei.
Before the net could stop shaking, Scott had his head in his arms, regretting the decision. But there were the Galaxy celebrating, there was the scoreboard showing the visitors with a 1-0 lead.
The Sounders had several chances before and after – especially after when the Galaxy fell into more of a defensive shell. In the 84th minute Clint Dempsey put a shot on goal, but L.A. keeper Donovan Ricketts made the save. In the 86th minute, Chad Barrett sent a ball from the end line to the front of the goal, where Brad Evans couldn’t quite redirect it in. In stoppage time, Dempsey chipped a shot just over the crossbar. Finally, the equalizer came: a corner kick from Pappa, touched on by Evans.
Barrett had gotten onto the 18-man roster when Nelson Valdez was scratched after warmups due to a calf strain. That moved Lamar Neagle into Valdez’s spot at midfield, and Barrett into Neagle’s spot on the bench.
Scott also was in the lineup due to injury. In this case, both of Seattle’s usual starting central defenders were out: Roman Torres, lost for the season with a knee injury, and Chad Marshall, unavailable after suffering a neck sprain last week in training.
The result moved Los Angeles (14-9-9) back alone atop the Western Conference, and clinched their entry into the playoffs for the seventh straight season. Seattle (14-13-5) remained fifth in the West, four points behind L.A. and three point above the playoff cutoff line.
The Sounders are off next weekend before returning into MLS play Oct. 18 at Houston.
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