2010 May 15 2010 May 15
Red Bull Arena, New York, NY
Goals:
85' SEA: Fredy Montero (Brad Evans, Tyrone Marshall)
New York: Bouna Condoul; Danleigh Borman, Tim Ream, Mike Petke, Jeremy Hall; Seth Stammler, Carl Robinson (Tony Tchani 87'), Joel Lindpere, Dane Richards (Sinisa Ubiparipovic 56'); Juan Pablo Angel, Salou Ibrahim (Brian Nielsen 52'). Substitutes not used: Greg Sutton, Carlos Mendes, Roy Miller, Conor Chinn.
Seattle: Kasey Keller; Leo Gonzalez, Tyrone Marshall, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, James Riley; Patrick Ianni, Peter Vagenas (Nathan Sturgis 65'), Freddie Ljungberg; Steve Zakuani, Brad Evans (Pat Noonan 89'), Sanna Nyassi (Fredy Montero 78'). Substitutes not used: Terry Boss, Tyson Wahl, Zach Scott, Roger Levesque.
Match report from Ron Stickney:
The Seattle Sounders FC travelled to take on the Eastern Conference leading New York Red Bulls, who had won in Seattle 0-1 early in the season. Seattle returned the favor to New York with a road win by the same score. It was New York's first loss in their brand new Red Bull Arena. Fredy Montero came on as a late substitute and scored the lone goal with a magical finish.
First Half
The Sounders looked best in the opening 20 minutes. New York goalkeeper Bouna Condoul slid out of his penalty area with the ball to give Seattle a free kick from the right edge, but New York defended it. Leo Gonzalez took the first shot after receiving a cleared corner kick in minute 2 and missed by 2 yards. On 11 minutes Freddie Ljungberg was tripped running through the arc to receive a pass from Steve Zakuani, but the ball was gone and the referee did not give the benefit of a free kick.
New York's only good shot of the half came from Juan Pablo Angel's free kick from the left that cleared Kasey Keller's outstretched hand and settled on the roof. The Red Bulls controlled play for the middle minutes of the half but could not manage any other good chances.
Seattle had a good chance at 36' on a free kick play when Ljungberg centered the ball to Brad Evans, whose short pass left gave Zakuani a look. The quick shot went wide of the far post by two yards. Next Evans tried a quick volley shot 15 yards from goal but skied it.
Late in the half New York right midfielder sent in a diagonal forward pass that forward Salou dummied and the ball almost sneaked into the far corner, and Keller was glad to watch it roll wide.
Second Half
Seattle came out of the locker room fired up and soon Sanna Nyassi, who got the start in place of Montero, shot a left-footer from the arc that came very close to the right pole. Three minutes later Ljungberg's shot from the same zone was easily saved by Condoul.
New York striker Salou left the match with apparently a leg injury after a few minutes in the half and was replaced by Brian Nielsen.
Nyassi had a golden opportunity at 53' when he was first to a Peter Vagenas pass up the middle with Condoul yards outside his penalty area in a failed attempt to reach the ball first. Nyassi touched the ball left to avoid Condoul's charge and took a left-footed shot at the open goal, but the shot did not have enough velocity, allowing Danleigh Borman to slide in and send the ball wide. It looked like the ball would have hit the near post squarely anyway.
To finish a good 15-minute opening of the second half Nyassi's chip cross gave Evans a header, but he couldn't get on top of the ball.
At 61' Seattle lost Vagenas to an apparent quadriceps injury and Nathan Sturgis came on.
New York substitute Nielsen finally had some shots for the home side, taking their first shot of the second half at 64' from a distance, forcing Keller to drop for a save. Nielsen soon tried to volley a cross from substitute Sinisa Ubiparipovic but sent it high and wide.
Jeremy Hall should have gotten a second yellow card when he deliberately knocked Nyassi down to prevent a good chance at 69', but referee Silviu Petrescu gave only a free kick.
Continuing the pattern of substitutes taking the good shots, Sturgis took a 25-yard free kick and missed 2 yards wide.
The next booking came at 71' when Joel Lindpere should have been cautioned for diving when he realized that the ball was going over the end line, but he wasn't. This led to arguing and minor pushing and in the end it was Seattle's Tyrone Marshall and New York's Seth Stammler getting yellows, apparently for pushing in the minor melee.
At 79' Stammler had a chance with a header from Hall's cross to the far side but he couldn't reach all of the ball.
Montero came in at 78' for Nyassi and soon began making a difference. At 81' Sturgis sent his cleared corner kick back in front of goal and Condoul barely beat Montero to the ball.
85' SEA: Montero (Evans, Marshall). The goal came quickly. Patrick Ianni won a free kick near the halfway line and Marshall took it quickly, sending the ball ahead to Evans. The setup was a quick chip in front of goal from Evans, and Montero played it beautifully, chest-trapping it, thigh-trapping it, touching it left with his right foot, and sliding a left-footed shot under the charging Condoul. 1-0 Seattle. A few days after the match, after review, Marshall was added to the assist list for the goal.
Five minutes were added but the Sounders closed the match out expertly to claim their first road win of the season and Keller's third shoutout this year.
Statistics:
NY SEA
Shots: 5 12
Saves: 1 1
Corners: 2 7
Fouls: 18 9
Offsides: 3 4
Misconduct:
35' NY: Hall cautioned for tripping Vagenas at the halfway line
39' NY: Borman cautioned for a tactical foul, pulling Ljungberg down
71' SEA and NY: Marshall and Stammler cautioned for minor pushing after a yellow card should have been given to Lindpere for a dive when the ball went over the end line
90' SEA: Zakuani cautioned for sliding under Ream
Referees: Silviu Petrescu; Philippe Briere, Daniel Belleau; David Gantar
Attendance: 17,900
Postmatch Quotes
Seattle Sounders FC
Sigi Schmid - Head Coach
On why Montero did not start: "It's just a situation that, unfortunately, the game of soccer requires work. And even the best players in the world, if you look at Lionel Messi, if you look at Cristiano Ronaldo, they cover a lot of ground in a game. They're very skillful. They're very technical but they cover ground. Fredy just got into a habit where he wasn't quite active enough. The talent is always there. The ability is always there. He just wasn't getting into the box where he can be most dangerous. I thought what he came in and did was tremendous. He played with energy which was important. But he has the skill that he can transform that energy into great things."
On Fredy Montero coming off the bench: "I'm sure Fredy wasn't happy sitting in the bench and it's not a secret, he wants to be out on the field, he wants to play. But I think he came in and he battled and he fought right away. And he has that ability, that little bit of skill, that little bit of calm at the key moment and he finished a great goal. It was a great ball by Brad and a great goal. I'm very happy for Fredy."
"I told him yesterday, 'You're not starting, but the minutes you do play are going to be the most important minutes of the game, and you can impact the game.' And he said 'Hey, I want to make a difference when I come in the game,' and he did."
On Brad Evans: "You wish you could combine Brad with Fredy Montero's little bit of skill. But Brad does so many things. I ask him to play center forward, he plays center forward. I ask him to play right wing, he plays right wing. He's played midfield, right back for us. He's an unsung hero. He leaves his lungs out on the field for the guys and he doesn’t stop until he can't go anymore."
Brad Evans
On the match: "A good result for us. Both teams coming off 4-nil drubbings. It's always good to get a result like that, especially away. A very physical match. It was something we focused on in practice. We knew they were going to play physical at home. So I think our practices reflected the way that we were going to play and what we expected as well. A good turn-around, and an inspirational win from front to back.
On the game's physicality: "Physical nature of the game, they commit a foul, and Tyrone sees me quickly. Just turn, touch, and Fredy was open there. He took a touch and then just a class finish. He's a goal scorer that's what he does. So in that situation, you couldn't have anything more."
On the tight matches against the Red Bulls: "Every game has been extremely close, besides the home opener last year. But it's a different team than you're seeing from them. In the back, they keep you on your toes as a forward. Any inch they can get forward, they're pressing forward to get you offside. Things have changed for them in the back, and that’s good for them. But luckily we got our goal."
Fredy Montero
On his chemistry with Freddie Ljungberg: "It is a good one, everyone in this team is committed to running, everyone looks at him to be the catalyst for the team but everyone in this team is capable of playing at a high level. We have a partnership on the pitch to defend and to do our best, but off the pitch we don't speak the same language so it makes things difficult to communicate."
On his possibility to play in Europe: "As of right now I don't know anything, I got my agents working on that area. I had a press conference saying I was committed to Seattle. But everyone's dream is to play in Europe...There are a lot of rumors but I haven't heard an official proposal, all I can do is do my job, score goals and play at a high level on the MLS."
New York Red Bulls
Hans Backe - Head Coach
On the team's performance: "I would say it was an even game. None of the teams created many chances, it was more of a battle today. We defended OK, but our problem was the attacking game. The final third we didn't come through in our attacking game."
On the positives of the game: "The first 10 minutes there was some good possession but we lost possession. The rhythm in the passing game wasn't always there. In a way there were some good things even if you lose a game, but the final third is our problem."
On the overall quality of play: "I think we defended well, but the attacking game was not quality. It was more of a battle. It was an average game in a way as far as the battles."
Carl Robinson
On today's game: "Two very decent teams, hard fought game, and not many chances. It was a super goal by Fredy Montero, you hold your hand up. We lacked in the final third today and it was something we have to work on."
On starting and playing most of the game: "I felt fine, I had one crunching tackle, which hurt me a little bit. We'll see how I feel in the morning, but it's disappointing to lose the game."
Jeremy Hall
On what his team can improve on: "We definitely want to work on hitting the back of the net because that relieves a lot of pressure. We were doing that a lot when we were on our winning streak. We got to bounce back, we have another one on Thursday, and get three points there."
On the team's outlook after the second straight loss: "I think this team is good. We obviously want to improve in certain areas. We can get it together. We had two losses in a row but there's no need to panic."
