Quick Review: Celtic over Sounders 2-1 - Updated with Stats and Quotes

I was going to be the anti-Churchill and say "Never has a game meant so little to so few" but the implied double negative ruined things. And there have been worse friendlies on a American soil.

There isn't much to take away from the game. Yes, the Sounders played better and lost, but when down a man tieing 1-1 is a solid "result."

Blaise Nkfufo is as good as advertised. He works well with Montero, and we'll be seeing a Target Forward challenging as the best in MLS at that role. He moved a lot more than expected, but a lot of that is probably due to the fact that Seattle had a midfielder who rarely gets forward with the ball too much.

Sanna Nyassi continues to show that he deserves more time, and not just as Steve Zakuani's clone. With Sanna on the pitch Seattle played an aggressive, high pressure defensive scheme that only works when there is a lot of speed on the pitch overall, but particularly in the attacking roles. Seattle's upcoming expected starting lineup should be able to use that high pressure quite well.

David Estrada is rapidly becoming this year's Mike Fucito. Early in the season in Reserve games all he did was score. Now late in the season he's on the injured list with an injury that doesn't seem readily apparent when he does play. Here's to hoping we see a bit of Estrada in the CCL group stage (although it might be quite amazing to start him on the road at Metapan).

Everything else went basically as expected, at least by each player.

The Red Card was the proper call within the Laws of the Game (In fact CR Ward mentions Law 12 doesn't give him the choice), but likely should have been let go in a Friendly. It did lead to local boy Jordan Jennings having what will probably be the best day of his life. Now here's the question, do I add him to the Sounders roster for this site?

Stats and Quotes when we get them

All Statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial.

Seattle Sounders FC vs. Celtic FC - July 18, 2010 - Quotes

Sigi Schmid - Sounders FC Head Coach

(General Comments...) "It still ended up being a decent game. It could have been a good game. Sort of like that book, A Good Walk Spoiled.  It was a good game spoiled by I thought a poor decision. It is what it is. I'm proud of how our team continued to play. I'm glad we pulled a goal back. I'm disappointed with the second goal we gave up because I felt we were a little lazy on our defending on that, but I was proud of our mentality and the way we played in the second half."

(On Terry Boss' red card...) "My two things were this: one is the guy scored the goal and he could have let the goal count. He didn't have to go back and give the penalty. He said that he had blown the whistle, so he felt he needed to call the penalty. I asked if he needed to red card the guy and he said that those are the rules. So I said that you've ruined the game for 40,000 people. Then I asked him where their communication was because normally the fourth official with the guy in the middle and the linesman as well. Maybe it was US soccer's frugality or whatever the case, but they had no communication system. I said that'd be like us showing up without uniforms. I just left it at that. I figured I was close to getting thrown out and Adrian [Hanauer] said he wouldn't pay any fines, so I figured I couldn't do that."

(On Jordan Jennings...) "Jordan, for a kid who isn't normally on our team and has been playing PDL, which is a couple of division below, I thought he did well. It's unfortunate that Boss needs to continue to get game time and he missed out on the game time. Jordan equated himself well and came up with a couple of good saves. He snagged a perfect one going to his left. Last night he played in front of 25 people and today he stepped on the field and played in front of 40,000."

(On Blaise Nkufo...) "When you have a new payer, you have to integrate with him and he needs to integrate to the team and we need to understand what he can do. He showed that he can be a forward for us and bring other players into the game, which is a good attribute to have. The one cross that [Fredy] Montero hit to him early was a good cross in the box at the right spot and he got clobbered from behind on the header. He's been off since the World Cup, so as his fitness improves and his touch improves, I think we're going to have a lot of joy."

(On effect Nkufo had on game...) "In the 2^nd half I told Blaise to stay a little more central since we were playing a man down, but sometimes he likes to come off and look for the ball, but he gets back in. In the first half when we were playing 11 v. 11, sometimes we took too many touches before we played the ball back in, but certainly as he holds and occupies the central defense, that will open up spaces for our wide players."

(On Michael Seamon being out...) "He's much closer. He's played the last two games at 75 to 80 percent. We felt there was no reason to push him today and weekend of rest should help him as we go into training net week."

(On taking out Montero...) "Because we were playing a man down. If I take out one of the other guys, then Fredy's going to end up playing midfield and I was going to have Blaise drop wide right and play midfield. I felt there was no point in having Fredy play wide right or wide left in midfield and run up and down. We have a game next week that matters and is important for us. He's played a lot of minutes lately and has put forth a great effort, so I thought he was the appropriate guy to rest and let some of the other guys run a little bit more."

(On David Estrada goal...) "He hit a bomb. I don't know if [Dominic] Cervi ever saw it. He stepped up. It was one of those balls that sits right for you and he took his chance. He was a bit unlucky in hitting the post at the very end as well. He needed to get around that a bit more and hit it far post.  I think he would have gotten another goal maybe. But certainly he scored a great goal. He's very happy and it was a great shot."

(On Estrada getting more opportunity...) "As a young player, when you're trying to make your way forward, every time you get an opportunity you try and make an impression. Obviously, today he made an impression and when you do that, it means you're going to get another opportunity."

(On Estrada playing through injury...) "He can play. He has a chronic toe that sort of comes and goes, but he can play in Open Cup games and he can play in CONCACAF games, so there's opportunities that are there."

(On Fredy Montero...) "He's brought a lot of energy into the game the last two games. There's been a little bit of space available underneath the forwards that he's taken advantage of. He got to play a few games with [Nate] Jaqua, which helps because Jaqua is a different style of forward. We asked Roger [Levesque] to do his best Nate Jaqua imitation and he did. I think that helps, having that kind of forward next to him. That allows him to bring him game out a little bit more. It's mainly him and the effort that he's brought onto the field the last two games."

(On Nate Jaqua...) "We'll see on Tuesday. He feels better each day, but he hasn't really been tested. We don't want to push it right now, so we will give him another day of rest tomorrow and then we'll see where he is at Tuesday."

(On potential additional roster moves...) "That's something that I don't know the final answers on. There are things that we're working on it. As to when that might happen or not happen, I really can't tell you. My job as the coach every day is to go out and work with the group that is out there every day and that's what I try and do."

Blaise Nkufo - Sounders FC Forward

(On making his debut...) "I was happy to finally play in my first game with my new teammates - fun. I can now move on and focus on the next game."

(On his teammates getting to know him so the team can play better...) "We are going to work together on the field. I like to play two touches. We have some time. This was my first game and we showed some good signs today. Fredy Montero and I will play together and get better each week."

(On the competition level of the MLS to that of the Dutch League...) "I never compare the two leagues because it changes a lot. We can work on doing better and play to keep position."

(On the surface of the pitch...) "In Holland we have a team that plays on artificial too, and they were very successful. Hopefully we can be that way too. It is difficult but gives it some time and everything will be good."

David Estrada - Sounders FC Forward

(On the message Coach Schmid gave him entering the game...) "He said we needed a spark and I knew once I came out on the field to take a shot. Fortunately it went in. I almost got a second one. [Steve] Zakuani had a good combination with Roger [Levesque] and laid it right off to me and the keeper just got a touch on it."

(On being on the IR, but playing in a friendly...) "Yeah, it is something they talked to me about it. I'm still eligible for Open Cup and other tournaments, which they can give me an opportunity to play."

(On playing with a man down...) "I think it was unlucky considering it was a friendly and people want to see a good game. To see Terry Boss leave so early was unfortunate. Everyone pulled together and we tried to cover as much ground as we could and the defenders did a good job."

(On Jordan Jennings nerves entering the match...) "I think he did a good job, after that free kick. He did a good job the whole game. I think it was 40,000 today, a big professional debut for him today."

Jordan Jennings - Sounders FC Goalkeeper

(On playing the Washington Crossfire and the Celtic FC in 24 hours...) "A very different atmosphere, unfortunately we probably got knocked out of the playoffs last night. This was a great experience and I will remember it for the rest of my life, for sure."

(On the discrepancy in attendance size from his past two games...) "Last night we had about 20 or 30, instead of 50,000. It is a big jump. They gave me the game ball. I didn't want to leave anything in the locker room."

(On his emotions going into the game...) "I saw the red card come up and I was extremely nervous, and thought,'Is this really happening?' When you get onto the field, the penalty scored on me, but once you make a couple of plays everything just goes away. I started feeling more comfortable then I thought I would be. You wouldn't think you would feel comfort like that but I did. The butterflies went away after I made the first save."

(On watching Georgios Samaras in the World Cup...) "Yeah, I was like, 'Wow, that guy? Is the long haired Greek guy really taking a penalty on me right now? I do remember him from the World Cup. Unfortunately I guessed the wrong way."

Neil Lennon - Celtic FC Head Coach

(General Comments...) "A lot of pleasing performances. It was really a worthwhile exercise. I'm pleased we won. I thought we should have won the game more comfortably. I'm disappointed in the goal we conceded. Overall, I'm pleased with the workout."

(On red card...) "I thought the referee should have just let the goal stand and common sense prevails, but I think he had already made the decision to give the penalty. Sometimes it's worthwhile to play against 10 men to see how we adapt although I probably would have preferred 11 on 11."

(On impressions of team's performance...) "They're proven. I'm not disappointed about the score because we've had a heavy schedule. We had a hard game on Friday night against Manchester in Toronto and then the travel, so you have to take into consideration the fatigue element and watch for any lingering injuries. Thankfully, we picked up a couple, so we should be OK. The ones that didn't play today should get on in the next match."

(On MLS...) "It's a good standard. I like the American players. I like their temperament and like their professionalism as well. They're very athletic and in open space the level of technical ability for the majority of them has been good in the couple of games we've played against them."

(On Cha Du Ri...) "He needed to go back and sort out his visa. Hopefully we can get him back as quickly as possible. Hopefully he'll join us next week. We've been watching him, even before the World Cup, we were aware of him. We watched him in a couple of friendlies before the World Cup and he obviously did very well in the World Cup. He was very impressive. I like his style of play. I think he'll fit the style of Scotland and I think he'll be a good asset for us to have. We needed to get the balance better in the midfield area and I think he'll increase the quality of that."