It was a cold and windy day when the boys (and I do mean boys) in green took on the foes from the north. (Ok I'll stop trying to be writer of an 80's mystery novel)

The Sounders academy team played a rare friendly in Bellingham on Sat. Jan 8th against the Vancouver Whitecaps academy team.  They took the field and to be frank, I didn't (and still don't) know any of their names. It was also confusing because I wrote down all the numbers of players starting and subs and stats and everything, and now trying to look them up on the Sounders website is pointless because they don't have all of them up I guess. They also had two number 7's so that didn't help (although I am going to assume Okoli is the one that was playing the whole game since he is supposed to be a decent player)

Play was dominantly going the Sounders way for the first half.  There were 4 or 5 good chances from #21 (who is not listed) and play was set up by Okoli and Kovar.  They played through the wings and had, to my surprise, really good ball movement and skills at the feet.  Like I said earlier, Seattle seemed the dominate team.

Unfortunately for Seattle though, Vancouver was better and faster after the half.  Tiebert (number 7 if I am wrong, again the website wasn't complete) came out strong and set up two goals on his own (the first one I am not sure about, I didn't see it myself, but was told that he scored the first) the second goal was especially fantastic. He took the ball, dribbled from box to box, took the shot and curved it right into the top corner.  The 'Caps coach then subbed him and a few other players off and the team looked flat, if this is how he regulary plays he's going to be a special player, the team ran a lot through him and Toure(number 10).  They just weren't the same team with the new players.

The end of the game was pretty dramatic with both teams having multiple chances that should have been put away, Vancouver even had a shot when the keeper was way out of position (00 Greiling) and was saved by a defender off the line.  Seattle had a couple of those themselves, with a couple balance issues being the saves for Vancouver.

All in all I would say it was a good game, the stands had about 100-150 people (I don't think having the seahawks game helped at all), but it was still fun to be able to chat with some of the parents and learn how the academy works. As promised, I tried to write something up, and like I had said I am a horrid writer and have never tried to write a post match summary.