Seattle Sounders FC 2, D.C. United 1
A role reversal Saturday at RFK Stadium completed an intense inaugural set of matches between D.C. United and Seattle Sounders FC.
While the upstart expansion team played the confident, patient and opportunistic victor, Major League Soccer’s first and most storied champion was gritty and determined but again stunned, as the Sounders used bookend goals to beat United for the second time in ten days by the same margin, 2-1, this time in front of 19,592.
“I’m definitely pretty disappointed that they came in to our house and they beat us twice,” said United forward Jaime Moreno.
What’s worse, this loss may hurt worse than the U.S. Open Cup final defeat on Sept. 2, as it gave Seattle (9-6-10, 37 points) a crucial tiebreaker over D.C. (8-6-12, 36) in the battle for MLS playoff berths. The two teams tied, 3-3, in their first regular season meeting in Seattle in June.
After Steve Zakuani needed less than five minutes to open the scoring, Fredy Montero capped a stellar night with a quick turn in the box to deliver the visitors’ game-winner six minutes from the end of regulation – his third goal in three games against D.C. – and ruin an otherwise solid performance by defender Julius James. Montero’s blast took a deflection off James and United goalkeeper Josh Wicks’ fingertips on its way into the upper right corner.
“Games are defined by one or two plays, you know,” said James. “It just sucks that – I did what I could, you know. It took a deflection, and it went straight up in the corner. That is just our luck right now.”
United entered the evening in a position for the postseason with just five games remaining, and with a boost of confidence from a four-game unbeaten stretch. But the first half offered only evidence of a wide variety of lingering concerns.
First, there was Peter Vagenas’s threaded 50-yard pass through the United back line to Zakuani. This year’s top college draft pick blew by rarely-beaten D.C. veteran right back Bryan Namoff and needled the ball through the legs of charging Wicks to put the Sounders ahead, 1-0.
Equally as troubling was the lack of an offensive threat posed by a four-man United midfield without a central playmaker as its usual fifth member, and in-game tactical changes produced little. Fred was ineffective in three out of four midfield spots – on both wings and during a spell in the middle in which he put Ben Olsen in the uncomfortable position of running out wide.
Even Santino Quaranta, D.C.’s most dynamic weapon of late, was reduced to tracking backward to receive a pass only to shank a full-field cross out of bounds.
Meanwhile, up top, forwards Moreno and Luciano Emilio struggled in possession, failed on low-percentage individual attacks against multiple defenders, and hardly connected with one another.
“I don’t think we were sharp enough, especially myself,” said Moreno.
Rodney Wallace’s 54th-minute equalizer was a high point of a determined effort after halftime. But it was mitigated by Emilio squandering multiple open attempts later in the half – although on one he lost his left shoe and had defender Jhon Kennedy Hurtado’s arm wrapped around him.
“You need to score those,” said United head coach Tom Soehn. “You’re at home, and regardless of where you’re at, these games are going to be tight now, from the rest of the time on, and you’re going to get chances like that. They have to be goals.”
*Note
Former D.C. United academy goalkeeper Bill Hamid, who was recently signed by the first time, was unofficially added to the team’s travel roster for Tuesday’s CONCACAF Champions League game at San Juan Jabloteh in Trinidad. Due to MLS roster restrictions, Hamid is ineligible for regular season games but could make is his first-team debut in Champions League play.
