Manchester United Crushes Seattle Sounders Reserves 7-Nil Final

Involves tension and drama; the anticipation and thrill that comes from unexpected outcomes or at least the possibility of them. This was not a show, this was a massacre.

which was the right move, IMO.

Pat Noonan continues to be better than his detractors recognize.

He didn’t take his several chances particularly well and he didn’t have much distribution that stood out (although he is certainly not individually responsible for the dysfunction of the second half midfield). He looks like he belongs as an MLS reserve, and I’m not sure that is any more or less than the detractors would claim.

in any way for our team, the MLS league, or for bringing positive attention to soccer in America in any way??? THIS WAS HORRIBLE in every way imaginable. Far from “exchanging shirts” with the Man U players I would probably rather punch someone in the face. We, MLS, are just a laughing stock now, and thanks to the ridiculous hype this entire event has done more than leave a terrible taste in everyones mouth, it has made me HATE Man U (where before I respected them and even envied them) and has likely turned off more fans than it might have created. PATHETIC SHOWING ALL ROUND ONE EVERYONE’S PART. I have NEVER been a fan of friendlies and this “match” has clearly demonstrated why. SO SUCK!!!

CCL & USCOC.

win you battles at home, first.

Probably the worst time to get absolutely slaughtered. Just as the Sounders begin to make a good impression throughout the league for technical and team work skills, they instead end up the team that gets beaten by the most goals in a match against a top level club this season. Instead of continuing to gain more street cred and take their unbeaten streak further, dramatic line-up changes plagued and killed the game for me. I actually left after the fifth goal. I understand that Sigi wanted to take a look at different players but it seems that Sir Alex was content with keeping a majority of the best players in the world on the pitch. People payed a lot of money to see Man U play their great players. I payed a lot of money to see a fair, fun and effort filled game. Great first half, second half…………As others have mentioned, prior experience with getting destroyed by amazing teams leads to some losses and bad games in the direct future. If we happen to lose the next couple of games I’ll be able to say “I told you so”.

no one was watching.

Rooney is a beast of a player! Beckham could not so much as carry his boots. On another level of competitiveness than certainly ANY player in our league. He is like some kind of machine that is programmed to destroy what ever is in front of him. If only there were some one that comes somewhere close to WR on our side or in our entire league!… If only

I just felt cheated when basically the majority of our starting eleven didn’t play the second half. There is plenty of time before our first CCL game and I was so pumped after the first half I thought that with that same line-up we could have grabbed a goal and played some good football. Whoever says that Noonan, Jaqua and Taylor Graham subs vs Rooney and Carrick subs are fair must be out of their minds. Does anyone remember friendlies from the past? Starting eleven mostly for each team during the entire first half. Then to be fair and balanced both the Sounders and their opponent made large amounts of substitute changes and from what I remember our reserve squads held the other friendly team’s reserves to one goal or no goals scored. I didn’t pay a large amount of money to see our reserve team play Rooney.

First team looked great. I was proud how they came out and played attacking football against some of the best in the world. Great, entertaining first half.
Second half, ManU and Sir Alex shoudl be ashamed of themselves for running counter attacks against a C team. These were guys who couldn’t play in the 3rd league in England. I don’t blame them for shooting, but I do blame them for playing attack the way they did against a group of guys who looked up to them, maybe envied them. Low class, ManU, I expect more class from a world class team. Shame.

The result does matter. Not because beating United would have won us anything, but because the way that we lost colors the perceptions of casual fans. The folks I was sitting with tonight — mostly people who don’t watch much MLS and were attending this as their only match of the year — left shaking their heads and saying “wow, I didn’t realize how much the MLS sucked”. They don’t care that it was global mega-stars — Rooney, Park, etc. — vs. our third string back line; they do care that the Sounders got blown out 7-0 in front of 67,000 people. Dave, you’re always going on about soccer evangelism — this was our chance to reach those people, and we didn’t do it.

Our first team played great. The second half result should not be a surprise. That team wouldn’t have won an MLS match, much less against some of the best in the world. But our first team played so much better than i would have thought. Rosales and Alonso were especially impressive. We should be proud. I am very disappointed in ManU coming out so hard against an inferior second half team. They should be ashamed. But heads should be held high for our starters and the prospects for an MLS Cup

Starting XI held their own against Man U in the first half. Second half not a surprise. I do agree with previous commenters — Rooney should have started, not come in as a sub. Watching an unmarked Rooney beat up our defense was not fun.

From my perspective in the upper half of Section 125, trialist Mrisho Ngassa looks like he has some potential. He was fast, and nearly had a goal in the second half. We could use some speed up front — Jaqua is awfully slow, and Levesque looked tired tonight.

Nice to see OBW back.

I hated watching the team I love get the crap beat out of them. I walked out of the stadium feeling deflated and wondering why a heavyweight vs middleweight matchup is supposed to be fun to watch. I hope Man U fans got their jollies. And I hope they lose 7-0 to Barcelona in their friendly. I’m a soccer fan, sure, but I’m a sounders fan too. I’m not sure I would get too excited watching our first team beat the crap out of a high school squad. It’s just not competitive and the second half was not competitive.

Now, one of the things that I want to see before I pass on is Manchester United regulated. It was nice to see OBW back on the field. But in the end, I really do not want to see the Sounders involved in any more mid-season friendlies at all.

But had the score been 3-2 or 4-2 I probably would be singing a different tune. It was losing in such a horrific manner that really turned my stomach. It was like watching an unfair fight…wait it WAS an unfair fight. I’m guessing numerous players on their team have salaries exceeding our entire roster.

Just watched Sky Sports on Fox Soccer Network. They don’t report the nuances of a close 1st half and scoring against the reserves in the 2nd – they just keep hammering on the shellacking that ManU gave the Sounders and the Rooney hat trick. Only positive note in the coverage is that they assume that the viewers actually know who the Sounders are.

That being said, it was impressive watching Park and Rooney score at will. I enjoyed the game for what it was – a friendly. I would actually have liked to see more of the trialist.

As an aside – my wife now wants to go to Tanzania. The halftime PSA from the Tanzanian president was effective…

But their ‘second string’ is beyond our best starters.

What’s the general consensus among the S@H writers and commentator about whether this player gets signed. I know we haven’t seen enough, and probably don’t know about his salary demands, so I understand any reticence to say anything too bold. But, was he being brought over to be looked as a possibly first team player, or just someone who they wanted to see would add something down the line. I get the impression that there is a difference between the two. Obviously, if he’s good enough and worth the money, he’ll sign.

I guess to put it this way. Is his trial to see if he has what it takes, or to confirm what Scouts and Sigi already hope/know?

out Starting XI should have more confidence after tonight’s game, not less like many are implying…they held their own against ManU and should be proud…the reserves…they’ve got some work to do ;)

People are upset our reserves got the crap kicked out of them by the 2nd best team in the world.

Game was a practice match and a chance to see some of the best players in the world up close. No big deal and in the end I think this just means that san francisco of panama are about to get the shit kicked out of them

Also try not to worry too much about this being an embarassment for our league, look what Man U did to the all-star team last year.

Colorado beat NY 4-1 today. Kyle Martino thinks if we can get out defense together, we can match them. Here’s hoping that doesn’t happen.

but this feels like a good game to put in the bank for some friendly 5, 10 years later when MLS and the team are in a stronger position, and understand how far we’ll have come WRT back end depth.

KELLER
Thoughts?) “You ever hear the cliché ‘a game of two halves’? It was kind of that a little bit, wasn’t it? Hopefully it’s a learning experience because we some young guys out on the field in the second half because everyone thinks they can play in the Premier League in America. Everybody think, ‘Oh, if I just got the break, if I had this or if I had that, that I could be there.’ Actually no you can’t, and you need to learn to figure that out. I was talking to Sir Alex afterwards walking off the field. They’re one of the best counterattacking teams in the world and we gave them all this space in the world to do exactly what they’re best at. You got to learn. You got to adapt. You got to figure out how things are going in the game and make it right. Second half was extremely disappointing, but (Ferguson) was very gracious. He said the scoreline wasn’t indicative of the result. That’s a nice little comfort because we had great chances. He knows their keepers made some good saves. You saw how clinical Wayne Rooney is in the box. You give me that chance I’m going to bury it and they did exactly.”
Read more: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/soccer#ixzz1SjAvnI7x

That I’ve gona back and forth with you guys on this. I totally agree with Aaron that friendlies are dumb, and I respect him and believe him when he says that he both doesn’t care about this result and doesn’t think it has significant consequences.

I do. I think that it does have consequences. I think people had half an eye open on this match, asking themselves “these Sounders sure seem like a big deal, should I dip a toe in the water and check them out for real?” I know some of the editors on this blog don’t care about “THOSE” people and don’t want them in the clubhouse, but I think that’s a little narrow minded.

It bothers me to see things like this: http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/07/20/sounder-vs-manchester-u

people complaining about this and saying ‘classy ferguson’ etc etc you do realise running up the score doesnt exist anywhere else in the world right? you just play and do as well as you can, if that means winning 7-0 against inferior teams then so be it. weren’t trying to humiliate anyone, just playing football

i can see why people are pissed off with the result but it aint the end of the world, hopefully you keep your good run going and it doesnt damage morale too much

and think of it this way, at least they didnt beat you by this score in an actual league match like what happened me a few years back :(

Tetteh looked bad, also lost his footing a couple times which I would say was due to the turf but I didn’t notice that with others.

I thought Estrada actually looked ok at right back and he has some speed, since he’s not getting any playing time why not give him a look there in practice and reserve games?

The first team looked good, I think everyone agrees on this. disappointed we didn’t get a goal though. I think of Montero can get the space like Rooney had on at least two of his goals he’ll be just as clinical at putting them away.

I would argue this is a good time to get crushed. We’ve been playing great lately, and that eventually starts going to your head. I’d much rather lose bad here and have this serve as a warning/learning experience that we can bring into future MLS/CCL play.

I don’t think we lost any fans with the beating we took, however, I think we did miss some opportunity to convert casual fans into STH. This is my first year as a season ticket holder and I’ve brought some friends to matches and several have wanted to come back — they were surprised by the action, loved the fact that it’s a 2 hour experience (vs. NBA/NFL) and enjoyed the environment. If this were closer for longer, and the ultimate score was 3-1, 4-1, I think some 3-game packers might opt for season tickets. All in all, I think we’re talking less than 500 people, so it’s a minor arguement.