by Brian Anderson – blyan@me.com – @blyan on Twitter
In frustrating fashion, typical of their 2010 season so far, the Sounders FC fell by a scoreline of 3-2 at home on Thursday to a D.C. United side who have been struggling so far this season, although playing better as of late. Starting the game at the bottom of the league table, United knew they had something to prove against the club that edged them out in last years U.S. Open Cup final at their home RFK Stadium back East. If this game was not concrete evidence of just how much Seattle misses injured starters Nate Jaqua, Osvaldo Alonso, and most notably in this fixture, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, then I’m not sure what would be. It’s easy to dismiss such a loss as merely bad luck or attribute it to players missing from injuries, but when it seems to happen week in, week out, there is clearly something more going on.
From the opening kickoff, the Sounders were the better team. In fact, there was really no point at all in the game where it could be said that DC deserved to win. Once again, the Sounders came out with an absolutely dominating performance on the pitch, putting up a new team record for shots in a match, and came away with absolutely nothing to show for it. Their early play, although relatively sloppy for their own standards, was certainly still the more impressive of the teams as they created countless early chances and brought the deafeningly loud home fans to the edges of their seats (figuratively of course, as we were all standing the entire match anyway) several times. Ljungberg looked fantastic in the early going, creating a flurry of chances from what now seems to be his office, down low in the right corner.
Absolutely all of the chances, possession, and play in general were going the Sounders way, and frustratingly enough as usual, the score remained at zeroes. It’s always great to see Seattle coming forward with that deadly attack and creating countless opportunities, but they are completely meaningless if no one makes the best of those chances. The sour feeling of bygone chances quickly turned into sinking feeling of unease on the 39th minute when a Chris Pontius shot from distance deflected off a Seattle player and sailed past a diving Kasey Keller into the net. Despite the setback, the Sounders continued on the attack for the next few minutes, disrupted slightly by a yellow card caution given to Freddie Ljungberg for a fairly vicious shove to the back of a DC defender. Their unease, however, was converted to despair after another Chris Pontius strike from distance. What should have been an absolutely routine save from Keller turned into a nightmare as the ball slipped out of his hands and could not manage to tip it outside the post with a final diving attempt. By the time the halftime whistle sounded off, most of the Seattle crowd were standing in stunned silence.
The second half continued much in the same fashion as the first, with Seattle seemingly on the attack the entire time. Countless more chances were wasted and the crowd became more and more silent with each passing minute. It felt at times as if there were some sort of invisible force keeping the ball out of the DC net, because for the life of me I cannot understand any other reason for the Sounders not to at least bring the game within one. There was also a much more visible force holding down the DC net though, and that was of goaltender Troy Perkins, who had an absolute stunner of a game. He made saves when it was needed of him and did everything that DC coach Onalfo could have asked. However, there were very few, if any times where he was forced to produce true quality saves, and it was certainly not a performance reminiscent of Zach Thornton’s absolute steal of a game last season when Chivas took on Seattle under similar circumstances.
The final nail in the coffin came in the 79th minute, as Chris Pontius completed what was probably the worst hat trick I’ve ever seen (nothing taken away from the play of Pontius, but I’m sure even he would admit that none of his goals were particularly impressive, let alone intentional). This absolutely silenced the home crowd at Qwest, and hundreds began making way for the exits. All I can say to these people is: your team never gives up on you. Despite a performance which we’ve become almost accustomed to this season, the Sounders never say die. Down three goals, they continued to give it their full 90, despite the departure of several thousand fair weather band-wagon fans. The home side made things a bit more interesting with a 90th minute goal by James Riley, who spent more of the 2nd half near the top of the DC box than in his own half, and was finally rewarded with a beautiful goal to bring the Sounders a bit closer. I heard several cries of “too little, too late”, which were all but silenced when Seattle scored again only a minute later when Fredy Montero leaped up and headed home an absolutely perfect cross in from Freddie Ljungberg. It did prove to be too little, too late though, as the men in green got one more chance before hearing the final whistle bring their comeback dreams to an end.
Seattle fans have quite a bit to look forward to in the upcoming weeks though. Aside from the excitement of the 2010 World Cup, the MLS break for the tournament will also allow some ailing Sounders players to continue their recoveries. I would not be surprised to see Jaqua and Alonso back on the pitch when Seattle takes on Philadelphia on June 27th, which aside from being a massive morale boost for the club, will also hopefully be a boost in points on the table. In addition, Swiss striker Blaise N’Kufo is set to join the team around July 15th (which, coincidentally, is the same date that they next take on DC United) and looks to make a huge impact up front for a team which has been struggling to score since day one of their current MLS campaign. A few games have been absolutely stolen from them, and a few games they’ve simply stolen from themselves, but there is still a lot of time left in the season and a lot of football left to play.
In a final bit of editorial (I tried my best not to include a personal rant, but after watching this game, I almost felt like I had no choice), I would like to say to Pat Noonan: Pat, we know you were a great player, but you need to prove to us that you deserve to be a Sounder. Mediocrity and half-hearted play are not now, have not ever, and will not ever be acceptable for our club. If you’d like to play at your own pace and give up when things aren’t going your way, perhaps you should try a contract with Toronto FC instead. I want to see you (if you get the start) come out in the next match flying and show us why Adrian and Sigi chose you to fill in the role we needed. We know you’re good enough, we’ve seen glimpses of your skill and scoring ability in the Boca game. Show us you can still compete and produce when it matters. We’re all looking forward to it.
Rave green Sounders fanatic. 
