2008 Aug 20 2008 Aug 20
Seattle Sounders 0 - 0 Vancouver Whitecaps
Starfire Sports Complex, Tukwila, WA
Seattle: Chris Eylander; Taylor Graham, Danny Jackson, Kevin Sakuda, Zach Scott; Michael Rodríguez, Kenji Treschuk (Adam West 85'), Youssouf Kante (Jason Cascio 79'); Roger Levesque, Kevin Forrest, Sébastien Le Toux. Substitutes not used: Ben Dragavon, Nik Besagno, John Fishbaugher, Josh Gardner, Craig Tomlinson.
Vancouver: Jay Nolly; Wesley Charles, Luca Bellisomo, Omar Jarun, Takashi Hirano; Martin Nash, Lyle Martin (Vicente Arze 86'), Alfredo Valente, Mason Trafford; Charles Gbeke (Jason Jordan 45'), Nick Addlery (Randy Edwini-Bonsu 83'). Substitutes not used: Simon Thomas, Diaz Kambere, Stefan Leslie, Ethan Gage.
Goals:
none
Additional match reports: Seattle Times, Seattle P-I, Sounders, Whitecaps, GOALSeattle.com, Prost Amerika, Seattle Soccer Show player ratings.
Match report from Ron Stickney:
With cold sheets of rain coming down the whole second half, the Seattle Sounders and the Vancouver Whitecaps played to a scoreless draw. For most of the match Seattle controlled the ball better in the middle third, but Vancouver earned the better chances on goal. Chris Eylander for Seattle had to make more numerous and spectacular saves to earn his shutout compared to his counterpart Jay Nolly.
Seattle defender Zach Scott opened the match with two unnecessary, rough challenges that earned him a yellow card in just the 7th minute. That makes 9 yellows for Scott this year. He is already suspended for the next two matches for his 8th yellow in the previous match. A 10th yellow could mean a 3-match suspension.
Both sides had plenty of chances, but couldn't finish them. Seattle went first when Youssouf Kante worked a long give and go with Kevin Sakuda to earn a header from the 18, but he skied the shot. Sébastien Le Toux was fed in front of goal for a quick shot, but his marker did well to block it.
Nick Addlery shot first for Vancouver on 17 minutes, firing 2 yards over the bar from the top corner of the penalty area. At 23' a flurry of 3 shots from Lyle Martin, Addlery, and Martin Nash threatened the Seattle goal, but were denied by a couple of Eylander saves, a couple of defensive blocks, and a ball cleared from in front of goal by Scott. Four minutes later Martin beat the offside trap to go 1 v 1 with Eylander, who charged out to cut down the angle. Martin's chip hit the net on the wrong side of the near post.
At the half hour mark the tide shifted in Seattle's favor as Kante's long cross to the far post let Taylor Graham rise to power a header with only Nolly to beat, but Graham sent it over the bar to his dismay. Le Toux shot to the lower corner from the arc, and Nolly dove for a good save.
Another shift at 36' came with Alfredo Valente's low drive from the corner of the area, but he bent it away from the near post. At 39' Vancouver turned a 3 v 2 break into a 2 v 1 and ended with Addlery juking a defender for an open shot from 15 yards in the middle, but Eylander dove well and knocked it wide. Late in the half Charles Gbeke got his head on a corner kick sending it over, and on the play he apparently banged heads with a defender. Gbeke stayed down a few minutes before slowly walking off with help. He did not return for the second half, replaced by Jason Jordan.
The last chance of the half was a 30-yard free kick taken by Le Toux, bent on goal but covered by Nolly.
Seattle defenders had the first chances in the second half. On a corner kick play Scott popped a header up and onto the roof. His low line drive from 35 yards was more trouble, but Nolly dove to save nicely at the corner and hold onto it. Graham headed Le Toux's corner kick down near goal but a defender promptly cleared it. A quickly taken throw-in in Vancouver's end produced an excellent chance as it went to Le Toux after he had run past a couple of napping defenders. Nolly came out to pressure and Le Toux's chip had the right loft but came down into the side netting on the wrong side of the near post.
After 19 minutes of the second half without a Vancouver shot, Nash finally took one, firing up the middle but wide by a couple. Addlery soon had a good chance from 15 yards but sent it over the bar.
At the 70' mark, Seattle had outshot Vancouver 7-2 in the half, but Vancouver started catching up. Valente was served open on the left but shot wide of the near post. Addlery had only Eylander to beat after a Vancouver attack born of a Sounders turnover, but Eylander slid out to Addlery's feet as he shot, deflecting the ball up and over the bar. At 84' Eylander made a reaction save on a shot taken on his doorstep by Jordan, and Randy Edwini-Bonsu shot over the bar when the deflection came to him. At 87' Edwini-Bonsu took a good shot from 15 yards, and Eylander did well to collapse on it for the save.
Seattle finally had another chance in the 90th minute from a free kick play, with Graham trapping and firing hard on goal, but Nolly parried it and got to the leftovers first.
In added time Eylander had to make his toughest save of the match when without any pressure Scott misplayed the ball and nearly put it into his own net. Eylander dove back to slap it wide with the ball partway through the goal plane.
The second half ended like the first, with a Le Toux free kick from 30 yards. This one was a nice shot, but missed the left post by just inches.
An unusual statistic is that Seattle received 4 yellow cards from just 6 total fouls, while Vancouver had no bookings from 14 fouls. The referee's decisions in these matters were fine, it is just unusual to get booked on most of your fouls.
The Cascadia Cup will be decided in the final match of the regular season. Seattle have the point lead with 8, Vancouver have 7, and the Portland Timbers are eliminated with 4 points. Vancouver could take the lead when they host Portland in two days, but Seattle could then take it back when they host Vancouver for the regular season closer. Should Portland beat Vancouver, then Seattle could take the cup with another draw against Vancouver.
Statistics:
Seattle Vancouver
Shots: 15 16
Saves: 8 5
Corners: 5 4
Fouls: 6 14
Offsides: 3 6
Misconduct:
7' SEA: Scott cautioned
29' SEA: Treschuk cautioned
62' SEA: Rodríguez cautioned
73' SEA: Kante cautioned
Referees: Ben Chouaf; Mike Rottersman, Soo-Hui Um; Kevin O'Daniel
Attendance: 3,202
