2009 May 16

Sounders cannot find match winner in Dallas

FC Dallas  1 - 1  Seattle Sounders FC

Pizza Hut Park, Frisco, TX

Goals:
18' SEA: Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (Nate Jaqua, Patrick Ianni)

45' DAL: Andre Rocha (Marcelo Saragosa)

Dallas: Ray Burse; Drew Moor, Steve Purdy (Bruno Guarda 46'), George John (Daniel Torres 28'), Marcelo Saragosa; Dave van den Burgh, Pablo Ricchetti, David Ferreira, Andre Rocha; Kenny Cooper, Jeff Cunningham (Brek Shea 24'). Substitutes not used: Josh Lambo, Anthony Wallace, Dax McCarty, Alvaro Sanchez.

Seattle: Kasey Keller; Zach Scott (Tyson Wahl 18'), Tyrone Marshall, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Patrick Ianni; Steve Zakuani, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans (Sanna Nyassi 79'), Sebastien Le Toux; Fredy Montero, Nate Jaqua (Stephen King 74'). Substitutes not used: Ben Dragavon, Taylor Graham, Peter Vagenas, Roger Levesque.


Match report by Ron Stickney

FC Dallas seemed ripe for the picking after Jhon Kennedy Hurtado staked an early lead for the Seattle Sounders FC, but Andre Rocha pulled Dallas even late in added time at the end of the first half and nobody could find the net after that.

With James Riley suspended for a match, Patrick Ianni got the start at right back for his first minutes of the season. Zach Scott started at left back with Nathan Sturgis injured, but Scott left after just 18 minutes with an injury and Tyson Wahl came on for his first minutes. Freddie Ljungberg missed the match with a migraine.

Seattle looked good early. In the 5th minute Steve Zakuani juked his marker on the left to send a low cross into the goal area, where Nate Jaqua got a touch on it to drop a short pass to Fredy Montero, but Montero's shot was immediately blocked by the defense.

At 8', a far post run by Andre Rocha gave Dallas a shot from close, but the shot was poor and Seattle's defense cleared it.

At 12' another Zakuani cross from the right for Jaqua came close to a goal, but a defender just beat Jaqua to the ball and cleared it over the bar for a corner.

18' SEA: Hurtado (Jaqua, Ianni). A ball sent diagonally in by Patrick Ianni from the right touch line was headed on by Jaqua with no direction change. Hurtado beat a defender and lunging goalkeeper Ray Burse to the ball, chipping it over Burse and into the empty net. 1-0 Seattle.

Three minutes later Zakuani got close on the left and worked free to cross to the 6-yard line for Jaqua with some open net in sight, but Jaqua missed the near post and was left holding his head.

For Dallas, Kenny Cooper tried a shot from the top right corner of the penalty area, but Kasey Keller had the goal covered and the shot went wide of the far post.

The post was all that stopped Seattle from a goal at 36'. Osvaldo Alonso fed Brad Evans at the middle of the 18 and he chipped over the advancing Burse, hitting the left post squarely. Then Zakuani took on defenders to carry the ball from the halfway line into the penalty area for a shot that went just over the top near corner.

Sebastien Le Toux had his chance in front of the net at 45' after getting past his marker with the ball, but he missed the lower far corner by inches.

45' DAL: Rocha (Saragosa). Three minutes into added time Dallas struck. A long, diagonal cross from Marcelo Saragosa on the left went to Rocha a step goal side of his marker, and he slid to volley the shot low inside the far post. Rocha seemed to be offside, but the replay showed that the defender on the opposite side was returning to the line from a ball in the corner and put Rocha onside. 1-1.

The Sounders had dominated the match until seconds before the break, but failed to net a second goal in spite of several golden chances.

Halftime: Dallas 1 - 1 Seattle

Having used two substitutions in the first half hour, Dallas brought in their last change to start the second half, with Bruno Guarda entering for Steve Purdy.

Zakuani soon found himself open on the left after a pass from Le Toux, and his shot was well taken, needing a fine save from Burse to keep the score even.

Dallas took their first shots of the half at the one hour mark, first from Brek Shea after losing his man on the left, but Keller had it covered. Dave van den Burgh shot from the top of the arc after Seattle turned the ball over, but he missed wide right. Van den Burgh's free kick went to Drew Moor for a sharp header on goal, and Keller did well to claim the ball. Then van den Burgh's cross from the left was perfect for Shea on a far-post run, but Keller blocked the headed shot and claimed the leftovers.

After a strong ten minutes from Dallas, the match eased up for ten minutes, then at 80' Dallas was back on the attack. Rocha shot up the middle from 20 yards and missed wide right by a yard. Guarda powered a shot from 25 yards and Keller blocked it, then collected the ball.

In the 90th minute it was Dallas again as David Ferreira earned a shot from 10 yards on the right after a series of passes, but Hurtado deflected the ball over the bar for a corner.

The last chance was Seattle's. Le Toux's corner kick went to the far side where Ianni was open, but he skied the header when it seemed he could have put it on goal.

Final: Dallas 1 - 1 Seattle


Statistics:
          DAL  SEA
Shots:     16   14
Saves:      2    4
Corners:    1    5
Fouls:      7   15
Offsides:   1    4

Misconduct:
20' DAL: Rocha cautioned
45' SEA: Zakuani cautioned
64' SEA: Marshall cautioned
75' DAL: Saragosa cautioned
80' DAL: Guarda cautioned

Referees: Terry Vaughn; Kermit Quisenberry, Jeff Muschik; Landis Wiley

Attendance: 8,247


Additional match reports: