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In the heat of the moment, the Seattle Sounders beating Toronto FC down a man and on the road felt pretty significant. With a night to sleep on it and after watching the highlights, I'm inclined to feel that was to an even greater degree.
Aside from a pretty bad spell from about the 15th-45th minute, the Sounders were clearly the better team. Toronto FC did come dangerously close to taking the lead in the 81st minute, but aside from that they rarely ever challenged.
The Sounders, for their part, had some very nice spells of possession, Fredy Montero was having himself a nice little game even before the goal and they managed to be the more dangerous team after Jhon Kennedy Hurtado was given a second yellow.
Speaking of which, I'm still a bit on the fence about the second card. Watching it again, it looks an awful lot like your run-of-the-mill foul. There's nothing really malicious, and while Hurtado does drag down his man, it's looks pretty accidental. I'm assuming that referee Yader Reyes went to his pocket because TFC was on the attack, but that seemed like an awfully soft yellow.
On the whole, I actually thought Reyes did an OK job, but there was one other instance that sparked a lively debate here: Mikael Yourassowsky's blatant dive after a late challenge from James Riley. The debate essentially boiled down to this: Was Riley's late challenge worse than the dive and, if so, do two wrongs simply cancel out one another? Just my two cents, but after watching the replay a couple of times, I really don't think Riley's challenge was all that bad. Late? Absolutely, but there was little to no chance that he was going to harm Yourassowsky regardless of any efforts to avoid contact. The dive was clear enough that Arlo White pointed it in real time (not after the replay), which tells me that it was bookable.
I'd be remissed if I didn't at least touch on Montero's goal, as well. In the post-game, Stefan Frei complains about how easy Mauro Rosales went down on the foul that set up the whole sequence. Upon further review, I think we can safely say Rosales received a pretty solid shove. Beyond that, it really is remarkable how quick and accurate Montero's strike was. You can always fault a goalkeeper to some degree on a free kick from that far out, but that was pinpoint stuff. That he only took a step or two into it surely caught Frei by surprise, as well. Hopefully, that's the thing that kickstarts Fredy Montero's season.
SIGI SCHMID - Head Coach, Seattle Sounders FC
What's your overall assessment of the game?
I thought in the first half our play was spotty and we didn't play with a lot of energy, it looked like we were the team that had played 3 games and not them. So that was one of the things we spoke about for the second half was picking up the tempo and playing a lot better. Obviously a lot changes with Jhon getting his red card early in the second half and forced our hand a little to make changes. But I thought the team showed a lot of resiliency and battled. They had a good chance that came off the post, sometimes you have to be a little lucky also and was a great effort from them. Plata was giving Riley some problems out there also on the flank, but we held firm and ended up getting a great goal from Montero at the end.
What does it say about your team as you were the team pressuring in those last 5 minutes with free kicks and corner kicks and not defending?
I thought that the guys that came in did a great job of holding the ball and keeping possession. There was a time in the game where we were concerned as they had the majority of the play and were attacking us and in the 75th minute it just changed a little bit. We were able to get some possession, hold on to the ball with some combinations getting players forward. I think they had too many players forward thinking they would control easily and we did a good job of letting their centre backs hold the ball and look for the turnovers.
MAURO ROSALES- Midfielder, Seattle Sounders FC
How big was that being a man down and getting a win?
For us getting three points away is very important, we worked very hard because we lost a man in the second half. I think we deserved it because of how we worked in the last 45 minutes and in the last part of the game and we are very happy about that.
It has been a while since Freddy has got one, are you hoping he's one of these goal scorers who gets one, then gets several?
Yes, this is why everyone gives such congrats to him, he deserves it. He scores some goals and works very hard for the team. Sometimes he doesn't score but he is working very hard for us, he's the teams top scorer so he has to score otherwise nobody can notice. But now he's proved he's a very good player and he has to enjoy it and be comfortable for the next one.
Aron Winter- Head Coach & Technical Director, Toronto FC
On if he thought his team deserved a better result:
Sometimes you have games like this, and it's hard that you lost because you deserve more than defeat.
On what happened leading up to Seattle's goal:
We were playing with one man more, and they were playing to keep the ball up front. At that moment it was not clever for us to give a foul in front of the box. I think that the wall was not good enough, or Stefan could have had the ball. They score from that and it was unnecessary.
On what positives, if any, he takes from the match:
A lot of things, because even when you have lost the game, you are watching to see if we are making improvements. Its also difficult when you have players injured and have to count on the younger ones. The young players did well today, though Oscar (Cordon) had some difficulties, but I saw a lot of good things.
On the play of Doniel Henry and Ty Harden in central defense:
It's a good couple, they look like they have played a long time with each other. Im satisfied with them.
On his thoughts at the midpoint of the year:
I'm still saying we are rebuilding, and it's clear that once the (transfer) window opens we will have to get some players because we need them. Right now we don't have enough quality, and we are missing a leader on the pitch. That's why it was a loss today that we could not play with Alan Gordon who was out with an injury, because he is one of the guys who is a leader on the pitch. I think we are much better when he is playing.
Stefan Frei- Goalkeeper, Toronto FC
Describing the goal:
Well the goal itself, all credit to Montero, it's a good free kick but I don't like the way we gave away the foul, I don't even know if it was a foul. It is the 90th minute and the guy goes down extremely soft. Obviously being down a man they are looking for that, and I think the referee falls for it. I let him know at the end of the game that games are getting decided too many times with stupid decisions.
On if there are positives to take from the game:
It's a tough result because I think we deserved the win, not just the tie but the win. We fought pretty deep and played pretty well. We've had a tough stretched but finally showed some consistency, so that a positive, but it will be tough to bounce back from this. I think today would have been a perfect opportunity for us to get something going offensively. It was a great day, great crowd, and we're facing a team that's down a man. It was an opportunity to get some goals scoring and get some confidence offensively, so it was a missed opportunity in that aspect.
On the team's thoughts on making playoffs:
You're in it as long as you're mathematically in it. The East especially is very tight, so a win here and there, a lucky bounce here and there like Seattle had today, with a good finish at the end of it. That can get you three points and get you right back into the race.
Richard Eckersly- Defender, Toronto FC
On moving forward from the loss:
We just have to come Monday back to training, get back to the basics and start again, and get ready for the game Saturday, a big game away. We need to start again and just rebuild.
Belief in the rest of the season:
Without a doubt. You've seen the way we can play, we are dominating teams, and its against the run of play really these goals that are coming. Once we stop that we can start winning games and go on a run, and who knows where it will take us.
On accounting for all the dropped points:
I don't think you can. It was a stupid free kick, and obviously he put it away well. But that's football and you just have to get on with it.
On positives from the game:
There is positives, we played good football at times, but it doesn't matter because we need to win games. That is the main thing and if we are not doing that, its no good really.
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Goals by Period |
1 |
2 |
Tot |
|
Toronto FC |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Seattle Sounders |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
Scoring Summary: |
|
SEA -- Fredy Montero (free kick) 90 |
|
Toronto FC - Stefan Frei, Richard Eckersley, Ty Harden, Doneil Henry, Danleigh Borman, Nathan Sturgis (Oscar Cordon 46), Mikael Yourassowsky, Alen Stevanovic (Javier Martina 71), Nick Soolsma, Maicon Santos, Joao Plata. |
|
Misconduct Summary: |
|
TOR -- Ty Harden (caution; Goalkeeper Interference) 18 TOR -- Danleigh Borman (caution; Reckless Tackle) 26 SEA -- Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (caution; Reckless Tackle) 34 SEA -- Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (caution; Reckless Tackle) 49 SEA -- Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (ejection; Second Caution) 49 TOR -- Mikael Yourassowsky (caution; Reckless Foul) 65 TOR -- Oscar Cordon (caution; Reckless Foul) 93+ |
|
Referee: Yader Reyes |
|
Referee's Assistants: Craig Lowry, Corey Rockwell |
|
4th Official: Fotis Bazakos |
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Attendance: 21,839 |
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Time of Game: 1:54 |
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Weather: Sunny and 75 degrees |