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I hate to admit it, but I was at a conference on Saturday and was left to follow the Seattle Sounders-Chivas USA match via Twitter. I've now watched the highlights (and promise to watch the full game) and can safely say that the frustration I felt while not watching the game would have probably been even worse if I had watched.
Even without watching the game, the highlights and statistics pretty clearly illustrate that this was a game the Sounders should have won. They clearly had the better opportunities, created more chances and will undoubtedly rue the two points they left on the field. The quotes indicate the players and coach were well aware of this fact.
The big question now is where does this leave the Sounders? The Sounders are six points back of the Los Angeles Galaxy with nine matches left to play and the Galaxy holding the head-to-head tiebreaker. It's not an impossible mountain to climb but it will require the Sounders to be exceptionally sharp while hoping for the Galaxy to fall. Just to throw out some scenarios, the Sounders would probably need to do no worse than 5-1-3 with the Galaxy needing to go something like 3-4-2.
As Sidereal has already illustrated, a conference semifinal matchup with FC Dallas seems almost inevitable. The Sounders currently trail FC Dallas by one point with the two teams set to play for the second time on Saturday. Suffice it to say, it behooves the Sounders to win that match if they are holding out any hope for the Supporters' Shield.
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Goals by Period |
1 |
2 |
Tot |
|
Chivas USA |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Seattle Sounders |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Scoring Summary: |
|
Chivas USA-- Dan Kennedy, Zarek Valentin (David Lopes 73), Michael Umana, Heath Pearce, Ante Jazic, Blair Gavin, Simon Elliott, Nick LaBrocca, Jorge Flores (Laurent Courtois 46), Marcos Mondaini (Justin Braun 23), Alejandro Moreno. |
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Misconduct Summary: |
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SEA -- Tyson Wahl (caution; Reckless Tackle) 23 |
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CHV -- Nick LaBrocca (caution; Tactical Foul) 34 |
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CHV -- Simon Elliott (caution; Tactical Foul) 45 |
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CHV -- Ante Jazic (caution; Reckless Tackle) 80 |
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SEA -- Erik Friberg (caution; Dissent) 89 |
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Referee: Kevin Stott |
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Referee's Assistants:-Adam Wienckowski; Jason Cullum |
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4th Official: Matthew Foerster |
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Attendance: 36,364 |
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Time of Game: 1:51 |
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Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-64-degrees |
All Statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial
POSTGAME QUOTES: Sounders FC vs. Chivas USA
Sigi Schmid - Sounders FC Head Coach
(General comments...) "I thought in the first half they were a little bit the better team. I thought they had a little more of the game in the first half. Obviously, we had a penalty kick that we hit the post on. That didn't help us. I guess penalties are like mulligans, you only get one per round. Once we used up our mulligan we weren't allowed another one. In the second half we came out a lot better and took away their passing game. We did a better job of possessing the ball and as a result we created some good chances. [Dan] Kennedy came up with some saves. Some people were saving shots on the line and we didn't quite get clean hits on the ball. At the end it's 0-0. I'm proud of our defensive effort. I thought our defensive effort was good. We really only got exposed one time on the save that Kasey [Keller] made in the first half on a nice little touch by Alejandro [Moreno]. Outside of that, I thought we were a lot better defensively. It just didn't go in at the other end."
(On the non-call of a penalty at end of game...) "I'm far away from it so it's tough to tell and I haven't seen a replay yet because something happened where our machine wasn't working. It looked like he got clipped but I'm not sure because I'm far away. There was that one. There was the one that I thought was really blatant was the cross. I forgot who hit it, maybe [Mauro] Rosales? The one where Nate Jaqua was at the back post and [Michael] Umana basically took his entire body and arms and pushes him three feet and nothing gets called. I thought that one should have been called. It was pretty easy."
(On what he said to referees...) "You have to have a look at it and see what you think. I mentioned the other incident to him as well. We call a little foul on [Erik] Friberg when he just touched a guy in the box and that gets called but when a guy gets moved three feet it doesn't get called. It's not the referring. We had chances to score. We had a penalty and we could have scored that one and we walk away today 1-0 winners. Eventually you have to score. I was happy that we were much better defensively."
(On scoring against Chivas...) "Maybe more snake bitten because it has been three different coaches so it's not like they play the same defensively. I thought we had opportunities. I think we opened them up a little bit in the second half especially. It just seems for some reason that scoring goals against them they're a little bit of a boogey team for us, a hard luck team."
(On forward play...) "I thought they did a decent job. I thought [Pat] Noonan did a decent job holing the ball up with some combinations. I thought it was better in the second half than in the first. I Think Fredy Montero had a couple good looks. I'm sure he'd like to hit the ball again. The one that he put past the far post was a pretty good look for him. He usually hits that a little better. At the end, we went with [Nate] Jaqua and [Mauro] Rosales up there to have some size and fresh legs on the flanks and keep Rosales, who I thought was our most effective player, there."
(On play to stop Nick LaBrocca...) "To be aware of where he was. Ozzie [Osvaldo Alonso] did a good job of that and when he pushed up high one of our defenders came over. I think we kept him pretty quiet for most of the game."
(On Pat Noonan...) "I thought he played well. I thought he played well against the Panamanian team, San Francisco. I thought he did some good things holding the ball up for us. He's a smart player. He needs to stay high. He had a couple chances in the first half on headers. He made some good slashing runs in there. Whenever you can get him on the field, it helps your team."
(On Zach Scott...) "Zach gives you endeavor and energy and effort. He's been solid about winning his aerial duals. It's about winning those 50/50 balls and Zach gives you that. If you can do that, it gives you possession of the ball and allows you to do things."
(On O'Brian White and Jhon Kennedy Hurtado...) "With Kennedy we wanted to wait a little bit. He'll be on the field Tuesday. With O'Brian White, there's a complication right now but we can't say because it hasn't been fully determined what the situation is yet. It's along the same lines as his prior injury but hasn't been fully diagnosed as to what it is or how to deal with it. The objective was to be cautions at this stage."
Kasey Keller - Sounders FC Goalkeeper
(On the game overall...)"It was solid, defensively, for the most part. Just a little bit of frustration because at the moment. We seem to either be playing well offensively and not so well defensively, or well defensively and not so well offensively. If we want to really make a run into the playoffs, we've got to be able to put them both together. We've got to be able to play on both sides of the ball. In games like this, we could see this game out two-nil, three-nil, which we're more than capable of doing. But in saying that, we haven't had a clean sheet in the league for a while, so that's a nice positive. But this is a game we should have won and we're frustrated because of that."
(On the possible penalty that was waived off late in the second half...)"That kind of stuff happens. That stuff is frustrating you know, but we had our penalty chance that we should have buried it, and multiple other chances. And multiple other half-chances that our final pass to the box was off today. It's got to be better. It's got to be better if we want to make a run in the playoffs. And on a day like today, we get our defense right, now we've got to put it all together."
Lamar Neagle - Sounders FC Forward
(On what happened in the box that led to the PK not being called...)"Nate (Jaqua) played a good ball, and he was in the corner. He brought two defenders out with him and so I just cut towards the inside, got a good touch on it, beat my guy and then thought I beat the next guy. I took a touch by him and I think I got clipped. It kind of is what it is. Calling two PKs in a game... it's kind of rough. I haven't been known to dive ever in my life. I haven't practiced it or anything like that. What can you do? We still had a lot of chances we could have put away anyway. We had chances to win the game."
(On whether the ref said anything to him after the non-call...) "No. When it's kind of intense at the end of the game like that they're not going to say anything to excite the players or anything like that. It's understandable. You just kind buck up and support their call, which is all they can really do."
(On the confusion after the play, when it appeared the ref was pointing to the spot...) "Yeah, I thought so. I looked over and thought he was [pointing at the spot], so I got the ball and then started to run back. But then I saw my whole team going ... So I was like, 'what is going on?'"
(On whether the Sounders expected to win this game...)"Towards the end, we had the momentum and we were going at their goal. Whenever it's a situation like that, we're pressing to get a goal towards the end. We definitely had our chances. We had a few chances to get them. It's definitely possible. When I come on towards the end of the game, I'm just trying to run it. I'm trying to bring as much energy because I know everyone is pretty tired by then."
Pat Noonan - Sounders FC Forward
(On how he feels, after getting his first MLS start since mid-2010...)"Very frustrated. We deserved to win the game. The team deserved better. Offensively, I had one or two chances that I've got to finish. We've got a PK, maybe a second... The whole of play was shocking. It just wasn't clinical in the final third. I take a lot of responsibility for that."
(On whether he feels he validated Schmid's decision to start him...)"Of course. There's a lot of guys fighting for spots. I had chances tonight to finish opportunities and I didn't do it, so it's very frustrating."
Alvaro Fernandez - Sounders FC Midfielder
(On not scoring...) "We had very clear opportunities, even a penalty. Unfortunately, I couldn't convert it, but I'm happy that the team was able to create the opportunities."
(On penalty kick...) "I don't think the problem had to do with the strength. It was more about the direction. I shot right into the post, it bounced back on the keeper and out. That's how penalties go It was not kicked that badly, but it cost us two points."
(On Chivas goalkeeper Dan Kennedy...) "He was very good indeed. We created many chances and made him a character of the game. Merit to him. He played very well."
Robin Fraser - Chivas USA Head Coach
(On the performance of goalkeeper Dan Kennedy...) "I just said to someone that I can't wait til we are not talking about Danny. Seriously, he was fantastic. He has had way too much to do at certain points throughout the year but has done his job superbly. As I watch him he gets better and better and his confidence grows more. Our team breeds off his confidence. We need to get to the point were Dan is the last person we are talking about."
(On his team be energized after the missed penalty kick...) "I thought we started off with really good energy. We had a few turnovers and at that point our confidence was shaken a bit. After that penalty we were re-energized. It was huge and in this arena with the crowd to be down a goal is a big. To get out of that without giving up a goal is fantastic. It gave the team new energy that helped us get through the first half."
(On David Lopes making his debut today...) "It was a difficult situation to put him into. In retrospect maybe it wasn't fair to him. Nate Jaqua had just been subbed in and we thought size for size it was a good idea to get him in on crosses that were coming. It is very difficult as a defender to come in on the second half and match the speed of the game. He played in the reserve game earlier in the week but he looks like he needs some minutes to get up to game speed."
(On his team only having four shots on goal...) "That is not a concern. It is poor execution. If we are not scoring goals and creating chances then I would be concerned. Today, we had some opportunities in the first half. Our final pass and final run just wasn't aggressive enough. We are not aggressive in the final third when we have only four shots."
(On getting a point in a difficult environment...) "Absolutely. At the end of the day given the fact that both teams played well at times, they created more dangerous chances than we did. Given all those facts I can live with one point.
Dan Kennedy - Chivas USA Goalkeeper
(On having a busy day today...) "I think more so in the second half. They stepped [Erik] Friberg up and got a little bit of momentum. Thankfully, they didn't come with anything that we couldn't deal with."
(On the team's response following the missed PK...) "There will always be little breaks throughout the game that you need. That was one of them. When you're on the road you sometimes need things to go your way, with the penalty missed that was one of them."
(On getting a hand on the PK miss...) "We are going to have to look at the replay. I was pumped up on the play and was happy it didn't hit me and go in. I think if it was on frame I would have had it."
(On his save in the second half...) "The one off my knee? It was a really well played ball across in a spot where I tried to cut off the cross. Whoever crossed it was able to get it up and over me, which is tough to do and the best that I could do is cover angles and stay big. I didn't want to commit to anything til I saw the ball, fortunately that was enough."
(On the play of David Lopes...) "It is really hard to come into a game like that and a stadium like this as a defender and be successful. [...] I thought he showed great composure. I think he will continue to get better and the speed of the game will continue to catch up with it more and more."