2006 Jul 1

Seattle Sounders  2 - 1  Miami FC
Qwest Field, Seattle, WA

Seattle: Chris Eylander; Danny Jackson, Noah Merl, Stephen Keel; Jason Harvey, Kevin Sakuda, CJ Klaas (Craig Tomlinson 66'), Andrew Gregor (Santa Maria Rivera 77'), Roger Levesque; Jamal Sutton (Jake Sagare 62'), Cam Weaver (Seyi Abolaji 90'). Substitutes not used: James Ward, Ben Somoza, Nate Boyden.

Miami: Chris Doyle; JP Rodrigues, Mike Erush (Fabian Sondoval 69'), Allen Handy, Stephane Guillaume; Walter Ramirez (Oscar Gil 46'), Mike Adeyemi, John Pulido (Diego Walsh 56'), Zinho; Mario Rodriguez, Romario. Substitutes not used: Hunter Gilstrap, Jamil Hean-Jacques, Luc Harrington.

Goals:
23' SEA: Harvey (Gregor)
46' SEA: Klaas (Levesque)
81' MIA: Rodriguez (Gil)

Additional match reports: SounderCentral.com, Sounders, Seattle Times.

Match report by Ron Stickney:

The Seattle Sounders beat the visiting Miami FC 2-1 behind goals by Jordan Harvey and CJ Klaas in the first half. Mario Rodriguez scored with 10 minutes left to put the outcome in doubt, but the Sounders defense just barely hung on to secure the win.

Leighton O'Brien sat the match out due to yellow card accumulation.

This match had two very different halves. The Sounders were far better in the first half, and Miami were far better after intermission.

First Half

Seattle's first chance came in just the 2nd minute as Harvey fed Jamal Sutton at the 18-yard line, and Sutton was tripped but recovered for a shot on goal, but it bounced right to goalkeeper Chris Doyle.

Miami's first chance came from Romario in the 11th when he was left free for a try from 30 yards, a decent shot that bounced to Sounders goalkeeper Chris Eylander. The match was slow to develop, and the next good chance was again Miami's, a 25-yard free kick by Rodriguez that was bent a yard over the bar.

23' Harvey (Gregor). Seattle suddenly struck when Andrew Gregor earned a crossing opportunity from the right and sent it through the goal area. Doyle dove out and almost got the ball, while Cam Weaver occupied a defender and dummied the ball, which rolled through for Harvey on a far-post run. Harvey hit the large available target area as Weaver and his marker fell on the goal line. 1-0 Seattle.

For Seattle in the 32nd, Sutton chested down a cross in the arc and bent a nice shot on goal, and Doyle made an acrobatic leap to one-hand it over the bar.

42' Klaas (Levesque). Roger Levesque used a stutter step to lose his defender on a run up the right side and Levesque was into the forward right corner of the penalty area for a cross. Levesque rolled the ball to Klaas on the near side, and Klaas took time to aim it and bend a perfect ball over Doyle and into the top far corner. 2-0 Seattle.

Seattle had one more chance in the half at 44' from a Klaas free kick to the far post, where Weaver headed it hard onto the crossbar at the upper corner.

Halftime: Seattle 2-0 Miami

Seattle dominated the first half, outshooting Miami 7-3, but the second half would be all Miami, with a 9-4 shot advantage. Oscar Gil, who had come on at the half, took the first shot of the half in the 52nd, corkscrewing a shot on goal from 25 yards, but Eylander had it well covered. A minute later Romario was open on the left for a shot/cross that missed the far post by a yard with an attacker a couple of steps too late to finish it.

Seattle's first good chance of the half didn't come until the 72nd minute when Weaver was served a ball to the front line and he muscled through two defenders to get into the penalty area. Weaver shot with two defenders between him and the goal, but a better option would have been to serve it square left to an open Craig Tomlinson. Three minutes later Tomlinson did get service for a shot from 15 yards, rolling it just wide of the far post.

In the 76th Miami regained the momentum with substitute Diego Walsh powering a nice shot from 20 yards, forcing Eylander to make a spectacular save with a dive to the right. Then it was Zinho, sprung up the middle for what seemed to be a sure goal, but Noah Merl slid in to deflect the shot way over the bar. On the corner kick, Gil blasted a shot a foot over the bar from 18.

81' Rodriguez (Gil). Rodriguez was open on the right for Gil's diagonal pass, and Rodriguez shot perfectly, low past a diving Eylander's fingertips and into the lower far corner. 2-1 Seattle.

Substitute Santa Maria Rivera had Seattle's last two shots. At 84', he got the ball at the 18 after Tomlinson's attempt to shoot was deflected wide, and Rivera missed the far post by two yards. Four minutes later Rivera took a 25-yard free kick but wasted it yards over the bar.

Two minutes into added time Romario nearly earned a draw for Miami. He blasted a shot from the arc that cleared the bar by an inch or three, apparently deflected slightly by a defender for a corner. On the corner kick Doyle was up to try a bicycle kick at the 18, but he was whistled for dangerous play, and anyway the shot missed.

The final whistle blew a minute later, and the Sounders defense had just barely weathered the second half.

Final: Seattle 2-1 Miami

Statistics:
           Seattle   Miami
Shots:       11        12
Saves:        6         2
Corners:      4         8
Fouls:       20        17
Offsides:     4         5

Misconduct:
39' MIA: Adeyemi cautioned for a late challenge on Gregor
75' MIA: Romario cautioned for deliberate handling

Referees: Jeff Hosking; Will Nicolls, Josh Wilkins; Cory Dean

Attendance: 3,006