More Frustration at Home

by CarlosT on Oct 29, 2009 11:42 PM PDT in Major League Soccer Comment 10 comments

Well, more suffering for fans at Qwest. It's beyond a cliché to say that MLS referring is subpar, but there were two hugely controversial calls that will soon be reverberating over the interwebs. First is Onstad getting off with just a yellow. It's hard to see how that's not a red, and the Montero yellow is also mystifying. The second is the whistle stopping play as the ball arced toward the Houston penalty area. The advantage rule was put in place to prevent a team from benefiting from fouling. In this case, Houston got one of the biggest benefits possible.

Enough of that for now. All in all I thought the team put in a good effort, even if they couldn't quite put together a scoring move. Overall I thought we had a better performance than Houston for most of the match, but I wouldn't say that either team was truly dominant in the game for any stretch.

Here's how I saw some of the more important individual performances in this match:

In my opinion, Ljungberg was Man of the Match. Once again, he put in a world class effort and was a constant threat all over the field. It was evident that he was getting extremely frustrated but he kept it under control and kept his focus on the game.
Jaqua put in another good performance, and I'm sure he felt some déjà vu when the wrap was going on his head.
Montero had a quiet night and his miss wide in the second half was a painful and much too familiar sight for Sounders fans.
Ianni was a great presence on both sides of the ball and played with confidence. He was especially effective on corners and could have put us up 2-0 but for the crossbar and a right-place-right-time goal line clearance. Sigi will have a tough choice to make if Marshall is healthy for the next game.

Now it's all down to the game in Houston, and whether we can continue our recent road form. Both teams have a ludicrously long time to think things over and while Houston may have somewhat of an edge, I have to say this series is too close to call. Houston was very conservative tonight, and even though they did get some good chances in, they seems to be very satisfied with counterattacking and walking away with the draw. The Sounders have done well against attacking teams this year, and my sense is that Houston could feel an obligation to take the game to us in their home stadium. If they do and play opens up in Houston, the Sounders are very capable of taking advantage.

I'm sure Dave will be posting soon with some real numbers and I'll be very interested to hear his take. Tonight wasn't a dream night for the Sounders nation but it wasn't a nightmare either. We're still very much alive and Sigi and the veterans will have to pull the team together so we can push our way into the next round.

0 recs | Comment 10 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

I watched the game from home and watched the replay a few times and it seems apparent that Onstad chest bumped Montero. And in classic Freddy form, he fell to the turf like a ton of bricks, immediately Onstad realized he probably bumped the wrong guy and actually tried to help Freddie up off the ground. Montero got the card for embellishing it a little bit.

The officiating was very confusing in my mind.

by Hector on Oct 30, 2009 7:21 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Montero was not carded for Embellishment, the official boxscore lists it as Unsporting Behavior for both. And he got run over, not during a play, but in Onstad’s efforts to scream at his line.

I think the ONLY reason that Montero got a Card was due to the fracas afterwords almost necessitated both teams getting Cautioned. Montero was basically picked out of a hat for that “honor”

by Dave Clark on Oct 30, 2009 8:00 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Ljungberg stopped playing in the second half. Stopped battling. Stopped defending. Stopped pushing. He let his frustration with officials affect his play again. No way he gets Man of the Match.

by King Rat on Oct 30, 2009 9:04 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I would have liked to see Onstad try and ’bump’ Hurtado or Marshall there….

by Hector on Oct 30, 2009 9:48 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I agree with King Rat,
Ljundberg had an off night from his recent form. His passes didn’t connect, he didn’t follow through on runs, he was gassed at the end of the match. MotM is Ianni or Jaqua, ironically our ex-Dynamos.

by Jeff on Oct 30, 2009 10:01 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Salazar’s usual style of officiating is bad for the league with how much he let’s go, it encourages fouling at the expense of good jockeying/defending. Last night was more frustrating than normal with him becase of how inconsistent he was. After all that he let go, the Alonso yellow seemed to come out of nowhere and hardly seemed as bad as some of what he let go. And as you mention, failing to play advantage with Jaqua breaking in was just bizarre.

I don’t want to jinx us, but was it just me, or does Landin have a beer belly? He’s their DP? He may be skilled, but he’s slow. Wouldn’t they have been better off if they kept Kamara and Akinbiyi?

by Peter on Oct 30, 2009 10:50 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Alonso was carded for the sins of his team mates, Alsonso was the weaker, and second of two challenges on a Houston player, salazar gave the card to him because he was the most recent fouler. complete BS

by soundersfan on Oct 30, 2009 11:17 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Seattle was the better team last night. Houston had a game plan and that was to physically try to get into Seattle’s head. They had three yellows and should have had three more. They had 18 fouls to Seattle’s 6. Seattle never blinked and didn’t get caught up in the Houston thuggery like they had against LAG.

Also, Seattle had more shots, more corner kicks and the better scoring chances. Don’t forget that Houston is a very, very good and experienced team. Good teams like Houston do not allow you to play your game. People who are writing negative things are not giving Houston enough credit. This is the playoffs. This is not easy.
The people who think Ljungberg took the second half off need to watch the game again.
Sigi had a good take on the situation, "My analogy was it was a bowling ball and a bowling pin, and the bowling ball got a yellow and the bowling pin got a yellow for getting knocked over."
Houston has now played Seattle four times and has yet to win. Seattle doesn’t fear Houston and Seattle knows how to play on the road. Two weeks from now, I expect Seattle to be playing the Galaxy in the conference finals.

by Coug1990 on Oct 30, 2009 12:26 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I thought it was very open to start. Lots of chances for both sides.

About the 60th minute or so it became clear that Houston was happy to end with a draw. Onstad slowed things down, they bunkered a bit, etc.

Here’s to success in Houston. There’s no reason why we can’t take it to them there. Keller keeps saying we have a blow out in us. Might as well unleash it on Sunday.

by Conchops on Oct 30, 2009 1:08 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Agree Conchops. Seattle didn’t get the result, but they were the better team. And we all know that in soccer, the better team doesn’t always win.
Houston did what they had to do. They constently fouled to try to take Seattle out of their game and to slow it down. Now, Seattle will do what they have to do.

by Coug1990 on Oct 30, 2009 1:55 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs