Sounders top DC United

Published 9:28 pm Saturday, September 17, 2011

SEATTLE — For a game that saw three records broken and the Seattle Sounders pick up an important late-season Major League Soccer win, the atmosphere after the 3-0 victory over D.C. United Saturday was somber.

And it had little to do with the rain that fell for much of the match.

With just two minutes remaining in regulation and the game well out of reach, D.C.’s Daniel Woolard ran into the back of Sounders’ star Mauro Rosales’ right knee, taking down the Argentinian midfielder well away from the goal and forcing Rosales from the match.

Now the status of one of the league’s leading candidates for Most Valuable Player is up in the air. He was diagnosed with a MCL sprain of unknown severity in his right knee and will have a MRI on Monday.

“I was very frustrated about this because there was nothing to lose, nothing to win, and I get hurt,” said Rosales, who had two assists to break the franchise record for assists in a season with 12. “The knee is always a bad thing. If it’s something like the ankle, it’s no problem but if it’s something like the knee, I’m really worried about what’s going to happen.”

Rosales walked slowly off the field after the match under his own power with ice wrapped around his knee. Sounders coach Sigi Schmid said Rosales would not play Tuesday when Seattle plays Herediano in a CONCACAF Champions League match.

That wasn’t all Schmid said. The Seattle coach believes the league must do a better job of protecting Rosales.

“We’re up on top of the game 3-0 and he’s got the ball at his feet and it’s a tackle that’s just meant to get a little kick in and who knows how long he’s out now,” Schmid said. “We have a talented player in this league, a player who’s a good player, a player who fans want to come out and watch play, and then we let thugs hit him. We don’t protect him enough.”

Prior to the Rosales injury, things couldn’t have gone much better for Seattle, which set a franchise record with its 14th MLS win, improving to 14-6-9 with its seventh victory in its last eight matches. The win keeps Seattle in second place in the Western Conference with five regular-season matches remaining.

In the stands, 36,242 fans braved the rain, Seattle’s 47th-straight sellout. The crowd also gave the Sounders 553,987 fans this season, breaking the league attendance mark for the third year in a row.

What they saw was a Seattle team that controlled D.C. scoring stars Charlie Davies and Dwayne De Rosario while attacking steadily before breaking through.

In the 35th minute, Rosales passed to Mike Fucito, who blew past D.C. defender Brandon McDonald, sprinted into the box and finished to the far corner of the net for his second goal of the season, giving Seattle a 1-0 lead. Then just before the halftime whistle, Rosales sent a beautiful one-touch pass threading through the goal box to an on-running Alvaro Fernandez, who beat keeper Joe Willis for a 2-0 lead.

“We kept them at bay a bit and hitting that goal right before halftime made a big difference,” said Seattle keeper Kasey Keller, who had six saves, including three athletic diving ones in the second half. “But they never quit. They kept coming and coming and coming.”

Seattle made it 3-0 in the 60th minute when Rosales crossed right to Fredy Montero’s head at the far post and while Montero’s header was saved, Fernandez followed up into an open goal for his team-leading eighth of the season.

From that point, it was about hanging on for Seattle. D.C. pulled both Davies and De Rosario but actually attacked with more success without them, but weren’t able to prevent Seattle from picking up its 12th shutout of the season.

Schmid said he was pleased with all aspects of his team’s play from front to back, but couldn’t quite enjoy it because of Rosales’ injury. He said referees must take more responsibility.

“They have to look at it and say ‘I missed that call and that was wrong and I have to make sure I do it better,’” Schmid said. “Sometimes when it happens, the call gets defended as to why a bad call gets made. Let’s just call a spade a spade and say it was a wrong call and leave it at that.”