Real Salt Lake Dominates Sounders 3-0 - Second Leg Wednesday
by Dave Clark on Oct 29, 2011 9:35 PM PDT
in Sounders: MLS Cup Playoffs
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Quite possibly the worst performance that the Seattle Sounders ever occurred in the chilly, high air of Utah as Real Salt Lake netted three goals. Only Kasey Keller prevented that scoreline from being even greater. To list all of the mistakes that were made will take some time, but sadly it will happen. First, let's make something clear. This had nothing to do with a "CCL curse." Seattle's starters had played less minutes than Salt Lake's players. Alvaro Sabario had a tapper late in the first half, while his brilliant back heel in the 53rd minute was a prime example at everything RSL did right. Ned Grabavoy, a second half sub entry, sealed the first leg with goal number three.
So what happened? In no particular order;
Sammy Ochoa started. After getting physically dominated by Jamison Olave his greatest accomplishment on the evening was probably having Olave hurt himself while taking it to Ochoa.
Many Sounders decided upon seeing Ochoa that they would loft crosses into him. Said crosses didn't have the pace nor accuracy to create any problems, and Sammy wasn't able to separate from Olave or Nat Borchers.
Poorly aimed crosses at the target man got company in the bad play column. Joining them are random attempts at direct play. Seattle lacked the speed player to stretch the defense, or to catch up to the times that Fredy Montero won the 50/50 ball.
Seattle's defensive line struggled with the lateral movement and odd angles. The narrow diamond of Salt Lake flooded spaces where normally Osvaldo Alonso, Jeff Parke and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado would be able to cover two or three opponents. Instead there were four or more. Even when the Sounders won a tackle the ball inevitably bounce to someone in Claret.
When the defense won the tackle and the second ball they did not pass it out of the back. It was lumped forward, all too often just to an RSL player at about the centerline. This immediately started another wave of attacks. Jason Kreis' side constantly attacked similar to Seattle at its best.
With the central area getting dominated by Real Salt Lake the full backs of Seattle had to pinch in and help out. Which left Chris Wingert and Robbie Russell space to roam free. Those two created additional attacking angles for a team already commanding the game. Numbers favored Salt Lake in Seattle's defensive third and no counter attack was to come.
Sigi Schmid did put on the subs that could try and change the game. Possession and passing improved slightly, but only slightly. The best chances for Seattle never threatened Nick Rimando. As is all too typical the Sounders had five shots blocked, most notable Roger Levesque and Mike Fucito both fell victim to a leg or body into their way.
The hole is large. Three goals down with a quick turn around for a Wednesday night game at 7 PM. It may only be halftime. But the largest hopes for Seattle fans right now is that both of Olave and Borchers are injured, that Mauro Rosales is able to play and that Seattle returns to a playing style that attacks the ball and the goal through rapid passing up the pitch with a barrage of shots against the opposing net.
Tonight that doesn't feel too likely. Tonight the team was outplayed in every aspect of the game. It is probably their worst performance in a competitive match ever.
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an early goal
Would get our team believing, but we need Rosales there was no creativity in that midfield. We got dominated completely. And despite the injuries to rsl’s defenders its not like we put any real pressure on them.
I do think the sounders will play better wednesday and win, but ib dont know about 3 -0.
by python6114 on Oct 29, 2011 9:50 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
DO NOT PLAY ROSALES WEDNESDAY.
Getting him re- injured in a meaningless game would be the sh*t frosting on a giant shi*^y cake.
by DaveValleDrinkNight on Oct 29, 2011 10:01 PM PDT up reply actions
The game on Wednesday is far from meaningless
And if he does make the injury worse he’s got 4 months to heal it back up to full working order.
We'll be needing lucky bounces AND brilliant play
I think Rosales has to be there for the second part of that equation.
by fiftyone on Oct 29, 2011 10:06 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Does anyone really think were going to win 3 or 4 - nil on Wednesday?
Injuries aren’t always a couple of months in recovery time. I’d save Mauro for CCL. Plain and simple.
by DaveValleDrinkNight on Oct 29, 2011 10:07 PM PDT up reply actions
If it's something that takes four months of recovery, it's not going to be his current knee problem.
And you can’t not play guys because you’re worried about some freak injury.
No
But I also didn’t think the Cardinals would come back from being 2 runs down in the 9th and 10 inning.
by Roger Sounder on Oct 29, 2011 10:32 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Well...
If you mean a sliver of hope in that the Sounders can make it close at the end, yes. If you mean a sliver of hope to advance, I’m not feeling it. Mauro’s absence in the midfield spoke volumes tonight.
RSL only has to play for one goal. Against a team that will be attacking from the opening whistle, the counter will be there all night. Keller will have to play the match of his career and the defense will have to be spot-on.
Just bad timing to have a bad night. Just ask ManU (vs. ManCity). It happens. Too bad it happened tonight.
I can't figure out how that midfield did it.
They were constantly doubling up attackers and were pressing every time a Sounder had the ball. I was thinking ten minutes in that they’d have to be exhausted at the end, leaving some openings. But they were able to camp and counter in the second half, and still seemed to have more energy than the Sounders. HOW.
It's not too difficult when they just kinda kick the ball right to you
by Aaron Campeau on Oct 29, 2011 9:56 PM PDT up reply actions
speaking of which, they seemed to be keyed in on the passing routes.
Even when we weren’t passing it right to them, they were jumping routes like all all-pro cornerback.
The bad passing certainly doesn’t help, but passing would have been much easier if they hadn’t been constantly pressing, something the sounders weren’t doing (they were constantly passing to wide open targets).
Can't agree enough
RSL should have worn out with the pace they were playing, but we made their jobs easy.
passing simply, utterly unacceptable
-delivery from the wings from Alvaro and Neagle was near-useless. The back line constantly gave away possession particularly early on, with only Leo showing any sense of successfully advancing the ball over the course of the game. Evans had some useful runs but a poor game on the ball combined with uncharacteristically erratic play from Alonso conceded possession completely.
0-4-1
In playoffs. Out scored 7-1. We just don’t show up.
3 years in a row
Is an eternity in professional sports to fold in the post season after blistering seasons. Buffalo Bills, anyone?
Buffalo Bills were great in the playoffs
They just kept losing the final game, they had winning playoff records every year having to win at least 2 games to then lose the Super Bowl.
Yes, but
In the end, the only thing that matters is ending any given season by winning the last game. If your league has 18, 20, 32 teams?
17,19, or 31 teams each season are losers. It sucks, but… there it is.
We’re 3-time defending champions, and this doesn’t minimize that. We owned the CCL so far. This doesn’t minimize that.
We’re 0-2 and somewhere around 0-2.5 at the moment lifetime in MLS as a franchise. Just saying.
Probably, the worst game of the season.
Really bad timing. Sometimes, it just happens. Do not give up. Give everything on Wed., and maybe, Sounders can somehow overcome this deficit. I know there is not a lot of chance for progressing in the next round, but this is soccer and there is still 90 minutes to be played.
Anyone else have the "Ronery" song from Team America stuck in their head?
“It’s filling my heart up with rage….”
by DaveValleDrinkNight on Oct 29, 2011 10:04 PM PDT reply actions
No wonder they were so pushy about
making us renew season tickets before playoffs started.
Oh well. Ill be back next year. There’s always next year.
We peaked in July/August
Don’t you guys get it? Teams that win championships PEAK at the right time. Sounders peaked in July/August. Then Rosales got injured and our team lost momentum. RSL is clearly a team that is peaking at the right time.
RSL got HEALTHY at the right time.
Certain players certainly peaked at the right time (MONTERO).
RSL got their versions of Zakuani and Rosales back totally healthy in the last few weeks.
RSL went winless in their final 6 games
why doesn’t their momentum matter?
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
by Dave Clark on Oct 29, 2011 10:07 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
OK fine
Let’s assume that RSL is not peaking at the moment (doubtful). Bottom line: Sounders are NOT peaking right now. Too bad.
4 of our last 5 mls regular season games were wins
Going back until August we have 8 wins 1 draw and 2 losses. Peaking had nothing to do with it. We had a really bad game and they had a really good one. The combination gives you the result of tonight.
Dude. Peaking has EVERYTHING to do with it. Most of our September wins were garbage. Like, our game against Vancouver? How did we win that? We played HORRIBLY. And our CONCACAF games? Oh my word. Those were painful to watch.
How long are you gonna be in denial that tonight was just a bad game—we had this coming to us once Rosales got injured.
If we win 4-0 Wednesday and take the series
I’m pretty sure most people will be saying things like “destiny” for a week, even the Sounders haters.
And what do the last 8 months mean to you
You know, the ones where we won more games (all competitions) then any other MLS team and more MLS games then any but LA.
That was all probably just a peak huh? Or is that bad games happen and really bad games can happen. Just like really good games can happen.
There is absolutely nothing that is more annoying
than someone that decides that a certain event/month/loss of player/whatever is the irrefutable cause of a team’s downfall.
Stop it. It’s unprovable and probably wrong.
by Aaron Campeau on Oct 29, 2011 10:33 PM PDT up reply actions 3 recs
Maybe I don't get it
Unless RSL’s peak is starting with an incredible spike.
volatilelyle.com
by almost awesome on Oct 29, 2011 10:07 PM PDT up reply actions
i disagree
This result was not the product of peaking. This was a reality-shivering, twilight zone result.
This matchup makes no sense and scarily seems like it means 1) the MLS is not the competitive league we thought it was – its lacking competitiveness in the regular season and 2) we are outclassed.
This was gross. This wasnt peaking vs no rosales.
by RalfZakuani on Oct 29, 2011 10:07 PM PDT up reply actions
RSL peaked at the begining of the season
In fact this is RSLs first win since NRYB. Between that game and this one they had 4 loses and 2 draws. One win is hardly a peak.
Rosales got injured and our team went on to win 3-1.
Stop narrative hunting. We were awful and got the shit beat out of us.
by Aaron Campeau on Oct 29, 2011 10:15 PM PDT up reply actions 3 recs
For those hoping for a miracle comeback...
…the big question is: how many times have we won by a three-goal margin or greater?
(As a Liverpool fan, might I suggest showing the entire team the 2005 UEFA Finals?)
by regnaD kciN on Oct 29, 2011 10:07 PM PDT via iPhone app reply actions
i was just thinking about that liverpool result.
by RalfZakuani on Oct 29, 2011 10:07 PM PDT up reply actions
From Jeremiah on twitter
one more little ray of hope. Sounders scored 3+ 10 times and won by 3+ four times. #soimsayingtheresachance
Well, he also posted that in the gamethread
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
Don't we need to sacrifice livestock for that to happen?
by DaveValleDrinkNight on Oct 29, 2011 10:09 PM PDT up reply actions
i'll
be amazingly shocked if we beat RSL 6-2 in the 2nd leg.
If
we do manage to pull it off, it would be the first time as far as i can recall that Seattle won after being down by 2 or more goals.
Problem is, it hasn't happened against a good defense often.
And RSL will be playing camp and counter all the way.
Don't forget constant fouls and delays of game
From the opening whistle, probably.
by fiftyone on Oct 29, 2011 10:14 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Alonso was shockingly bad
And should be missing the return leg after that idiotic attack. I’m not sure what happened,but he wasn’t winning balls like usual and when he did he mostly just gave it back.
by bauckus on Oct 29, 2011 10:10 PM PDT via mobile reply actions
Is it possible that he could be suspended in review?
I’m curious.
volatilelyle.com
by almost awesome on Oct 29, 2011 10:12 PM PDT up reply actions
has
this happened before that someone gets suspended in a review for the 2nd leg playoff game. But to be honest if they are gonna suspend Alonso for that they should also suspended Russel (was it him?) on that tackle on Flaco
It wouldn’t be unjust if it happened.
by PeterJH on Oct 29, 2011 11:56 PM PDT via iPhone app up reply actions
Uh wrong
Alonso is the BEST PLAYER WE HAVE. Fernandez, Riley, Evans, Hurtado, Ochoa, all those guys are a joke. Montero is good when we decides to show up and play (other times he is too cool for school and wants to be traded to Ajax or something lol).
Alonso hustles the whole game and can actually complete a pass—something which the rest of our team can’t/won’t do.
Alonso is normally the best player (one of best, whatever) we have
but tonight he was poor.
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
Yeah Alonso made a number of bad passes tonight (but then again so did the entire team—I’ve seen U-16 teams pass better than the Sounders). But in the last 15 minutes Alonso decided to take matters into his own hand and drive the ball down field to create chances. He was sick of watching us give up possession. I don’t blame him. Alonso’s brief spurts of creativity were the only thing we had going for us. Ergo he was the best player we had (aside from Keller, who was outstanding—I’m talking about field players).
The best player we have was invisible
which was a big part of the problem
by bauckus on Oct 29, 2011 10:15 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
Yeah, and he was a gigantic pile of garbage tonight.
Maybe that’s why we lost 3-0.
by Aaron Campeau on Oct 29, 2011 10:17 PM PDT up reply actions
Hey Guys!!!
So the Manchester United Friendly was last night, and we got socked!!!
How embarassing was that.
Funny thing is I’m here dreaming tonight imagining that several months later we suffered an equally humiliating loss int he playoffs against Real Salt Lake.
I’ve never dreamed so lucidly before.
Oh well it was Man U after all and Sigi took all the player out. Sure was a fun Summer night in Seattle anyway mostly. Well, can’t wait til October and the MLS playoffs!
See ya later Sounder at Heart Dreamland.
Elite Team
I may have my figures wrong, but I think SSFC owns 1 goal in 3 years of playoff series. I think Kreis and the rest of the media were chuckling about how seriously we took our chances. Count our last three losses: RSL, Philly, Houston. Notice anything in common?
no
This has little to do with expansion mid pack team 2 year playoff failings and lots more to do with supposedly near-best in MLS playoff slaughter.
Im not worried about chronic issues. Im worried about tonight.
by RalfZakuani on Oct 29, 2011 10:14 PM PDT up reply actions
I think a few guys may have lost their roster spots for next year tonight.
by DaveValleDrinkNight on Oct 29, 2011 10:20 PM PDT reply actions
That's probably overstating it a bit
But I’d like to think this “game” will be discussed when the issue come up of who to leave unprotected from Montreal.
by fiftyone on Oct 29, 2011 10:24 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
There
is a different between loosing a roster spot and loosing a starting spot. But would it seem fair to say that 5 of the starting XI spots are up for grabs next season.
I can't
see there being more than 5 with out breaking up the core group.
The spot i see open is the 2nd forward spot, the 2nd CM spot, both outside back spots and the GK spot (only cause Keller is retiring)
I think Zak has to earn his spot back
But other than that my list is the same. Maybe Hurtado has to earn his spot if there is someone to compete with him.
by bauckus on Oct 29, 2011 11:02 PM PDT via mobile up reply actions
For the sinfigicant future
Alvaro has the LW starting spot. I don’t see Zak starting any time soon.
You might want to get some glasses then
by Aaron Campeau on Oct 29, 2011 11:10 PM PDT up reply actions
Diagree
with Alvaro having the starting LW spot for next year or Zak not starting any time soon?
Unless you mean i misspelled significant?
Sigi said if we didn't perform he would break up the team core
I believe he meant perform in the playoffs at the time.
He said that at the beginning of the season
I asked Adrian about this last week. He called breaking up the team after their performance in the full season but a playoff failure “idiotic”
I am not a Supporter | I am not a Fan | I am a Sounder
Sounder At Heart
I agree that we shouldn't break the core
The core is the second most winning team in the MLS this year. But there are certainly holes that are begging for an improvement. While we are first this year for goals scored we are also second in goals against.
Yes
This team is a couple modest improvements away from being the best team in MLS. No need to trash the whole manuscript based on one horrendous performance.
Writer: CougCenter Twitterer: @Grady_WSU
by Grady Clapp on Oct 29, 2011 11:21 PM PDT up reply actions
I blame the Zionists, a la Jack Warner
joking aside, we simply did not show. A team is allowed to show up flat—at least once. However, the post game banter does not seem to validate our Sounders’ holiday from playing RSL. That said, you have one game to make amends—we will watch and we will cheer…
by Brougham Hooligan on Oct 29, 2011 10:22 PM PDT reply actions
I LOVE SIGI !!!!!!!
I do! Sigi has done an amazing job. How about today? Did I read somewhere that Sigi was going to try to win this game? Not go for a result, but win? Look at the first half. Most of it was at 69% posession for Real Salt Lake. There is no way that that team is that much better than us. Make no mistake about it. The Sounders went into that game with the mentallity of managing the game. Bring it home 1-0, 1-1, or 1-0. Once the first goal happened, the team could not magically change their mentallity to an attacking team. This is not a new conscept. We see teams do it all the time. Kind of like the prevent defence int the NFL. I am so pissed at Sigi for employing this tactic. Why did we not just go in there and attack to win? Don’t try to blame the ref. or the luck. This was a game plan problem. As good as Sigi is. He dropped the ball on this one.
Every play off game in every sport, every team needs to be in constant "kill mode".
Until you have a blowout on any given day…
Really?
Whatever game plan the team was employing didn’t work. From what we saw, if they were trying to attack, they couldn’t. If they were trying to bunker then they failed at that as well. I just have no clue why they would try to do as you are asserting as I don’t recall them doing this at all this year.
I didn't say they bunkered down
I just think they went into the game with a coservative game plan. Keep the game close and bring it back to Seattle. Combined with Real Salt Lake playing an incredible game. A good team took us apart and our players could not adjust.
I just kiss it off. Stuff like this just happens
Nothing Seattle did or could have done would have changed this result. Salt Lake played a perfect game. It seemed that for them every pass connected, they anticipated and stepped in front of every single Sounder pass, they won darn near every loose ball, and this was the outcome.
Rosales wouldn’t have changed it, Zakuani wouldn’t have changed it, starting Fucito wouldn’t have changed it. Salt Lake hadn’t played a game like this the entire season, and I see them play a LOT. Dallas didn’t play this well all last season, and in the playoffs they had a game like Salt Lake had last night and put a righteous ass-whipping on the LA Galaxy. Does anybody believe Denver or Dallas were better teams last season than the Galaxy? Does anybody believe Salt Lake was a better team over the course of this season than Seattle?
It has nothing to do with “peak.” I don’t believe there is any such thing. Either a team plays well or it doesn’t. The Sounders had several games this season in which they were outplayed for an entire game, clearly not the best team on the pitch over the 90+ minutes, and won with late goals.
This happens all the time in sports. Some fans need to quit feeling entitled. Get the hell over it and hope the team does better in next year’splayoffs
.
by ivan. on Oct 30, 2011 6:30 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs
"Nothing Seattle did or could have done would have changed this result."
Wait, what? I completely disagree. Yes, RSL played a near perfect game, but that wasn’t the reason we played like garbage. This Sounders team has the ability to play at that level, we have seen it more than a few times this season. We had an off game, a REALLY off game and RSL took full advantage.
I also disagree that Rosales wouldn’t have made a difference. As Dave stated there were more than a few crosses that missed their mark, there were a couple early in the game that had Ochoa and Montero wide open but the cross didn’t make it to them. It would have taken one of Rosales’ perfect crosses that converts into a goal and the entire game is different.
Should we put this behind us? Yes, we have no choice. Do we hope for a miracle on Wednesday? Of course.
Sounders Fanatic | Editor Nos Audietis | Follow me on Twitter
by dano_seattle on Oct 30, 2011 9:08 AM PDT up reply actions
what's even the point of saying that?
Serious question.
Editor/writer at Sounder at Heart, MLS editor SB Nation. Follow me on Twitter. You'll Never Yacht Alone.
by Jeremiah Oshan on Oct 30, 2011 8:14 PM PDT up reply actions
Honest expression of my lack of confidence in the team pulling it off
Are we not doing that anymore?
Yes we can
The sun’ll come out
Wednesday
Bet your bottom dollar
That Wednesday
There’ll be sun!
Just thinkin’ about
Wednesday
It could be worse
At least this wan’t any other round in the playoffs.
"But who would listen to Little Old Me anyway?"
-by -Dave Clark
and -thehemogoblin
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