SEATTLE – A little piece of history came back to hurt the Seattle Sounders Sunday in more ways than one.
A year after helping the Sounders to the United Soccer Leagues championship, Brent Whitfield and Preston Burpo returned to Seattle as members of Chivas USA to hand their former team a 1-0 loss in front of 5,633 fans at Qwest Field.
Whitfield scored late in the first half and Burpo kept the Sounders out of the net while also taking out one of Seattle’s top offensive threats. Burpo collided with Cuban defector Mikael Galindo late in the second half, breaking Galindo’s nose and sending him to Virginia Mason Medical Center. It’s unclear how long Galindo will be out.
Burpo said there was nothing intentional about the play and that it was just a part of soccer.
“I had to come out for it because I thought it was going to get to him,” said Burpo, who spent the previous nine years with the Sounders. “I thought I headed it a little bit and protected myself and got my arm somewhere in his face. I just got up a little higher than he did. Hopefully he recovers quickly.”
The exhibition game was played in front of a largely pro-Chivas crowd and the Major League Soccer team gave them plenty to cheer about. The Los Angeles-based club – the sister team of popular Mexican League team Chivas (of Guadalajara) – forced the action from the start. But it wasn’t until Whitfield headed in a Francisco Mendoza cross in the 43rd minute that Chivas finally got on the scoreboard.
Mendoza handled the ball on the left side of the field and crossed it to the far post, where Whitfield headed it past Sounders rookie keeper Chris Eylander. It was a sight Sounders fans knew well. As a rookie last season, Whitfield was Seattle’s second-leading scorer.
“The ball played across the middle, I made that run and got my head on it,” said Whitfield, who got his first goal for Chivas. “I put it right over Chris’ hand.”
Any thought that Burpo would feel nostalgic about his time with the Sounders ended with about 15 minutes to go. Burpo came charging out of the box on a 50-50 ball and collided with Galindo. Galindo was on the ground for three minutes with blood coming from his face, and Burpo received a yellow card. Galindo, who had played just a few minutes to that point, was helped from the field and later carted off on a stretcher.
Galindo, who came on as a reserve in the 70th minute, had forced a foul just outside the penalty box a minute earlier and was giving Seattle some of its best offense of the night.
Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer wouldn’t speculate how long Galindo would be out, but said that he broke his nose once and returned to play a week later. That would be nice for the Sounders, who have their home-opening league game Saturday against Minnesota.
Seattle had few opportunities to score, but missed a good chance in the 89th minute. Forward Craig Tomlinson found a loose ball at his feet near the left goal post, but his shot to the far side of the goal rolled just wide. Seattle had one final effort in injury time but Jake Besagno headed a corner kick over the cross bar.
Burpo, who signed autographs for close to a half-hour after the game, said he didn’t like the fact that much was made of his and Whitfield’s return. He did say that the partisan crowd made it feel more like a Chivas home game.
“I wanted to do the work and slip on out,” Burpo said. “But it was great to see a lot of people.”
Schmetzer said he was happy with what he saw from his team, which was clearly outmatched physically but still played a strong match.
“I told them not to hang their heads because it was a pretty high standard,” Schmetzer said. “As long as we can raise the bar Saturday against Minnesota, we have a good chance of winning. Minnesota is not Chivas USA. It was a fun game.”
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