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Well, if you are in a competition where the home team gets a near goal per game advantage and you start on the road, is a 2-1 loss really a surprise?
Yes, but only because for a stretch in the middle of the first half the Sounders had a solid chance at winning - about 50% with a draw at 25% as well.
A 75% chance to take points on the road in the CCL is HUGE.
A questionable PK call is bigger.
I'm not going to argue that it was the right/wrong call. I am going to declare that I was disappointed to see Tyrone Marshall on the pitch. Patrick Ianni has been doing quite well paired with Parke, and while Marshall does need to see the field soon, I'd rather that be in a double week (like next week, or the week after or the week after or the week after or the week after or the week after) and not now.
Seattle put up a solid showing. This was not a disappointing result. In fact it was the expectation going into this match. Home teams average two goals. Away teams average one.
But, there was a time when we, the Faithful, thought that victory was obtainable though not certain.
Next Wednesday Seattle is going to have to capitalize on that home advantage and pick up 3 points against a team that is stronger than they are.
And that's really what this loss means. Two road matches remain for Seattle to get 3 points on their path to 10 (2 wins and a draw at home).
Tonight Fredy Montero looked brilliant. Osvaldo Alonso as well. Nathan Sturgis still can't pass to the left and so Roger Levesque only managed to get the ball because the two forwards worked with him. Alvaro Fernandez was solid.
The substitution pattern still leaves something to be desired. There was youth and speed and ball-handling on the bench, but it went unused. The fascination with Flat-Corner Sturgis only makes sense because of his decent defensive ability and the shift from the Arrow into something more like a 4-2-3-1.
I'm ready to see the Arrow again. I want Michael Seamon as the Center Mid so that the left side of the offense gets the ball on occasion.
The loss sucks, but it was what we expected.
The graph provided is Win Probability in Soccer form. Graham has done a ton of work on his site setting up how it works. Go there for more.
That one call changed a ton. It may have been the right call, but the shift there was enormous.
Stats and quotes when we get them. NOW
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Seattle Sounders FC |
1 |
0 |
1 |
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CD Marathón |
2 |
0 |
2 |
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Scoring Summary: SEA - Roger Levesque (Blaise Nkufo, Fredy Montero) 17 MAR - Orvin Paz (Randy Diamond) 27 MAR - Nicolas Cardozo (penalty kick) 45+ |
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CD Marathón - Shane Orio, Astor Henriquez, Adolfo Machado, Erick Norales, Nicolas Cardozo, Hector Amarilla (Rony Flores 45), Randy Diamond (Carlos Will Mejia 69), Orvin Paz, Carlos Palacios, Milton Palacios (Luis Santamaria 77), Mario Berrios.
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Misconduct Summary: SEA - Tyrone Marshall 43' MAR - Mario Berrios 49' SEA - Leo Gonzalez 62' |
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Referee: Juan Carlos Guerra |
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Referee's Assistants: Hermenerito Leal; Ariel Mendez |
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4th Official: Jose Molina |
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Time of Game: 1:50 |
All Statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial
Sounders FC Postgame Quotes
Sigi Schmid - Sounders FC Head Coach
(Opening Statement . . .) "We gave up two goals. The penalty I thought was a harsh call but it is what it is. In the second half I thought we pretty much had control of the game, dominated more of it, had four or five good chances in the second half. But obviously didn't score, hit the post a couple of times. So we are disappointed that we didn't come out with a point."
(On the goal . . .) "[Blaise] Nkufo got a touch on the ball that [Fredy] Montero knocked across. It was a great goal. Roger [Levesque] had another chance to score and change the course of the game. We need to do a better job when we are up by one."
(On moving forward from this match . . .) "We will take a look at what we did well and what we didn't do well. Their side obviously did their job."
(On the team's effort . . .) "I think our effort in the game, we didn't do well in the outset with [Carlos] Palacios on the one side and [Randy] Diamond on the other side. I think we were disjointed offensively. The last 20 minutes, 25 minutes of the game I thought we had very good energy. In the beginning of the game we didn't have good energy and we didn't see an awful lot of the ball. If you want to see the ball a lot you need to play hard. We need to be better next time."
(On team playing better from behind . . .) "In the first half, even when we got the goal in the first 20 minutes, we weren't doing well. We weren't focused. But I thought in the second half we made some good adjustments and I thought were able to sustain some pressure. The surface slowed the ball down a little bit for us. Our forwards dropped off a little too much. That was definitely an issue for us."
Kasey Keller - Sounders FC Goalkeeper
(On the game . . .) "We score goals and we are fine. When we don't, people beat us. It's frustrating. You figure, three points is three points. You get three at home, you get a couple draws. It's just disappointing. We thought we had changed it already but our energy in the first 20 minutes was a bit more selective. We have got to get more pressure on them. We all learn from experiences. It's a long trip. It's hot, humid, we are on a very slow pitch and we just couldn't figure it out. We have got five more games left in this competition and there's nothing to fear playing these teams. We can line up with these teams quite comfortably."
(On the penalty . . .) "The ball came over the top and it took a bad bounce. I didn't expect it to bounce that way. I called for Tyrone [Marshall] to head it to me but it didn't get there. I don't know how it was a penalty. I haven't seen the tape but it didn't look like a penalty to me. It looked like two guys swing and kick each others' legs and next thing you know the ball is in my hands and he [the referee] is signaling a foul. I don't know what he saw. It may have been good play by the striker but I don't know. That was frustrating. [. . .] But we had multiple chances at the end of the game to get something out of this. Once again, usually you would put in nine of 10 of them but it was just one of those days when it just wasn't going to happen. And that was probably the most frustrating. We know we were better and we should have done better."
Roger Levesque - Sounders FC Midfielder/Forward
(On his goal . . .) "[Fredy] Montero came down the right side and got the ball across. Blaise [Nkufo] dropped the ball off [. . .] and I was able to get the ball into the back post. [. . .]"