2007 Jul 27 2007 Jul 27
Vancouver Whitecaps 2 - 2 Seattle Sounders
Swangard Stadium, Burnaby, BC
Vancouver: Lutz Pfannenstiel; Steve Kindel, Geordie Lyall, Jeff Clarke, Lyle Martin; Diaz Kambere, Martin Nash, Tony Donatelli, Dave Morris (Alfredo Valente 59', Stefan Leslie 87'); Jason Jordan (Alen Marcina 59'), Jason McLaughlin (Josh Hansen 70'). Substitutes not used: Richard Goddard, Marcisse Tchoumi, Jay Alberts.
Seattle: Chris Eylander; Taylor Graham, Noah Merl (Adam West 59'), Zach Scott (Craig Tomlinson 87'); Kevin Sakuda, Kenji Treschuk, Leighton O'Brien (Greg Howes 54'), Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar, Josh Gardner (Nathan Knox 73'); Sebastien Le Toux, Roger Levesque. Substitutes not used: Ben Dragavon, Jake Besagno, Gabe Sturm.
Goals:
16' SEA: Levesque (Treschuk)
41' VAN: Donatelli (PK)
85' VAN: Marcina (Valente)
90' SEA: Howes
Additional match reports: The Province, The Vancouver Sun, Whitecaps, Sounders, Whitecapsfanblog.
Match report by Ron Stickney:
In a back and forth televised match, the visiting Seattle Sounders scored early and late to settle for a draw with the Vancouver Whitecaps. Roger Levesque's goal gave the Sounders the lead for most of the first half, but the Whitecaps pulled ahead with a penalty kick by Tony Donatelli and a late goal by newcomer Alen Marcina. Greg Howes spoiled the evening for the Vancouver fans with a goal from a free kick in the dying seconds of added time.
First Half
The hosts had the early chances. Martin Nash had a hard shot blocked by a defender in the first minute, and his putback went over the bar. Shots from the left at the near post, then the far post, were taken by Jason Jordan, forcing good saves by Chris Eylander.
16' SEA: Levesque (Treschuk). Long thrower Kenji Treschuk took the throw-in about 10 yards towards goal from the Sounders bench. The throw-in found Levesque's head 8 yards from goal, and Levesque flicked it into the top near corner past the glove of Lutz Pfannenstiel. 1-0 Seattle.
Two minutes later a throw-in by Noah Merl from deep in his corner went right to Donatelli for a shot from the corner of the penalty area, but fortunately for Merl it cleared the top far corner by 2 yards. A Vancouver free kick past the far post led to a steep shot by Geordie Lyall, caught by Eylander at the near post.
A promising chance for Seattle came at 25' on a free kick sent past goal to Zach Scott, who headed it to the center of the 6-yard line, but it was a bit too high for Sebastien Le Toux to aim the headed shot down. Then Levesque served a ball over the back line for Le Toux to chase down, but Pfannenstiel was out to the 18 to bat it away just in time. Josh Gardner let a shot fly with his right foot from 25 yards, but it needed some bend to it.
For Vancouver in the 38th, a Martin Nash free kick from right of the penalty area led to a sitter in front of Seattle's goal, but none of the attackers could reach it before it was dealt with by Taylor Graham.
41' VAN: Donatelli (PK). Poor defending in the Seattle penalty area gave Jordan the ball at the penalty spot ball side of his marker. As he turned to make the shot one defender had him under some pressure but Graham knocked Jordan down from behind. It was a yellow card to Graham and a penalty kick to Vancouver. Donatelli took the kick and put it hard into the lower left corner past the diving Eylander. 1-1.
In added time at the end of the half, Donatelli tried up the middle from 20 yards and missed the lower far post by millimeters.
Halftime: Vancouver 1 - 1 Seattle
Nothing to write about happened in the first 20 minutes of the second half except for a pair of substitutions each way. Among those entering for Vancouver was recently acquired forward Alen Marcina.
Pfannenstiel nearly gave up a howler when he banged an attempted clearance off Le Toux's shin and the ball rebounded two yards wide of the open goal.
Then Graham nearly gave up a howler when his back pass to Eylander was embarassingly weak and gave Jason McLaughlin a chance, but Eylander slid out just in time to block the shot.
Seattle had a couple of chances around the 75th, Scott sending a Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar free kick into danger at the far post where it was dealt with by a defender, then Kevin Sakuda firing a cleared ball on goal for a block-save by Pfannenstiel.
For Vancouver in the 80th Jeff Clarke got open at the top left corner of the penalty area for a shot, but missed the top far corner by two yards.
84' VAN: Marcina (Valente). Seattle's defense left Lyle Martin wide open to take a pass on the right and pick his spot for a cross to the 6-yard line. Alfredo Valente sent it back to the outside where Marcina was wide open at the corner of the goal area, and with Eylander guarding the near post Marcina shot low to the far corner. 2-1 Vancouver.
In the 89th Stefan Leslie took the ball into the penalty area and dropped a diagonal pass to the 18 to give Nash a good chance for an insurance goal, but he missed the lower far corner by a yard.
90' SEA: Howes. In the last of 3 minutes of added time, substitute Craig Tomlinson drew a foul 35 yards from Vancouver's goal. Le Toux ran over the ball and Howes took the free kick, lacing a right-footed shot that bent around the left end of the wall, bounced under Pfannenstiel's diving hand, and found the lower far corner of the goal. It was a brilliant strike and one that sent the home fans on their way disappointed.
Final: Vancouver 2 - 2 Seattle
Statistics:
Vancouver Seattle
Shots: 15 8
Saves: 2 5
Corners: 6 1
Fouls: 19 16
Offsides: 3 3
Misconduct:
25' VAN: Kindel cautioned
40' SEA: Graham cautioned
43' VAN: Morris cautioned
49' SEA: Treschuk cautioned
80' SEA: West cautioned for wasting time on a Vancouver free kick
Referees: Mathieu Bourdeau; Martin Reid, Andrew Foster; Paul Ward
Attendance: 5,288
