Match Twenty-One

Montreal
September 1, 1995

MONTREAL 1 - 3 SEATTLE

Hattrup (S) 27' (1st)
Medved (S)  17' (2nd)
Barker (M)  34' (2nd)
Medved (S)  46' (2nd)

Attendance: 7,026

From: Mark Coker:
Montreal: Onstad, Pizzolitta (Paulinho), Trittschuh, Holness, Limnaitis, Dougherty, Biello, Needham (Sahrane), Thompson, Barker
Seattle: Hahnemann, James Dunn, Webber, Megson, Crook, Rizi, Medved, Kinnear, Haynes (Jason Dunn), Hattrup, Farrell

Webber hair color: White-blond

Montreal came out looking for maximum points. A win would have given Les Poofs the Commissioner's Trophy, currently held by the Sounders. Seattle started out with five backs, they weren't playing defensively. Good ball movement in the back and middle thirds would break down with long balls to the forwards. Montreal was also building up well, but they found the well-organized five-man backline impossible to beat. Cross after cross were repelled by either Megson or Webber. Seattle's first goal came from a cross from Haynes that Hattrup was able to latch onto. The Sounders started absorbing a bit more of the Montreal attack, and really seemed content to repel the attacks and launch counterattacks through the speedy Haynes.

At 5 minutes of the second half, Hattrup took three or four guys down towards the right side of the endline, cut it back and got off a rocket of a shot that Onstad was able to deflect against the crossbar. At 17 minutes Medved made it 0-2, with a well-struck first- time effort off a free kick started by Hattrup and Haynes. Jason Dunn came in for Haynes and at 30 minutes appeared to beat the offside trap and Onstad. Unfortunately, Madame Referee didn't concur.

Down 0-2, Montreal started pulling out the stops, bringing in Paulinho (I think he was doing video on The Nashville Network) and surging forward. At 32 minutes, Thompson badly missed a sitter. They finally got on the board at 34 minutes, after a bit of pinball in the area, the ball squirted out to Barker who made it 1-2. Montreal's push for the equalizer, left them vulnerable at the back. One minute into injury time, Jason Dunn got in 1v1 with Onstad, laid it off square right for Medved who shot, but it appeared to be deflected in by Dougherty, who was scrambling back. Medved was nonetheless credited with the goal, the second of the evening for the former Evergreen State College Geoduck.

Montreal kept pushing forward, and appeared to make it 2-3 at two minutes of injury time, but replays showed that Barker tried his own "hand of God". In the ensuing melee, Trittschuh was ejected. Although nothing on video showed, it appears that Trittschuh threw the ball at the referee when the goal was disallowed. He'll miss the return match this Wednesday on the faux grass of Memorial. If this were europe (and as best I recall it isn't), he'd have a much heavier penalty levied on him than a simple one-match suspension for the red card.

An improved performance by the Sounders over the Atlanta debacle. Granted Montreal was missing five starters through suspension or injury, but that's football and we need the points.

In rec.sport.soccer, Colin Freebury wrote:
If Seattle continues to play as they did last night in Montreal, they will have no trouble winning the A-League. The Impact were short DeSantis (knee, courtesy of the 86ers), Doliscat, and Ceccarelli through injury and Diotte was serving a suspension due to an accumulation of yellow cards. However, they had no excuses, particularly as the coach, Gazzola, had been bosting after their win over Vancouver that the team had great depth. Not true. The Sounders were by far the better team, controlling the play from beginning to end. The Seattle number 2 was a tower of strength at centre back and Hattrup and Haynes in particular seemed to be able to be able to run clear of the Impact defence whenever they wished.

Trittschuh discraced himself by flinging the ball at the referee, Sonia Davencourt, after she disallowed a late goal for hand ball. As a spectator behind me yelled "you're gone", she quite correctly showed him the red card. Subsequently, the Montreal coach, Gazzola, showed a complete lack of class by charging on the field to berate the referee. To the press he opined that "what Steve did wasn't right, but giving a red card for that is like giving a guy a 10-year prison sentence for stealing a chocolate bar. At worst it should have been a yellow."

For the best, the league commissioner should suspend Gazzola for the remainder of the season.

Davencourt called a great game.