2009 Feb 10

Preseason training match:
Seattle Sounders FC  2 - 0  Shandong Luneng
Ventura College, Ventura, CA

Goals:
56' SEA: Sanna Nyassi (Stephen King)
75' SEA: Nyassi (Seba Le Toux)

Seattle: Ben Dragavon (Kevin Guppy 45); Kyle Schmid (Danny Jackson 45), Patrick Ianni (Mamadou Danso 45), Adam West (Quavas Kirk 45), James Riley (Evan Brown 45); Stephen King (Nathan Sturgis 60), Ryan Caugherty (Fernando Screpis 45), Lamar Neagle (Emerald George 45), Ryan Pore (Sanna Nyassi 45); Vini Oliveira (Roger Levesque 45), Jeff Clark (Seba Le Toux 45).

Shandong Luneng: Lineup not available

Running match report from the Sounders FC blog:

We are at Ventura College for the second training game against Chinese club Shandong Luneng.

Both teams are playing a 4-4-2, though it looks like Shandong Luneng plays a more defensive style.

3 - A Shandong Luneng midfielder went down with a twisted knee, but came back on the field shortly after the restart.

6 - Oliveira shoots from 18 yards out on the left side, but his shot is grabbed by the keeper.

10 - Oliveira gets out on a run, but went too early and was blown offside.

11 - King uses a great spin move in the middle to create space, but Oliveira jumps offside again.

Shandong Luneng's orange kits are reminiscent of the Houston Dynamo.

18 - Clark fields a pass up the middle from Caugherty, but is stopped in his tracks by the keeper ... Clark, Oliveira and Pore all may have been offside on the play.

21 - Caugherty sends a great ball up the right side to Pore, whose shot is tipped over the bar by the keeper for a corner kick.

22 - Lu Zheng gets deep into Seattle's defense with his quickness, but his shot is redirected by a slew of Seattle players in front of the goal.

Play is stopped as Dragavon has some of the rubberized Fieldturf surface dislodged from his eye. [Actually, it was later learned that Dragavon suffered a broken nose on the play.]

After a few minutes of pressure from Shandong Luneng, the Sounders FC turned the pressure back the other way.

33 - Oliveira is called offside again and got the worst of a collision with the keeper. He bounced back up, but is walking gingerly on his right leg.

36 - Vini makes a good run on the right side, using a back-heel flip to elude a defender, but his cross led Clark too far and turned the ball over.

The Sounders made another couple of plays in the midfield and Shandong Luneng played some good counters, but there was nothing too dangerous on either side. They went into the half with a scoreless tie.

Everybody rotated out at halftime except Stephen King, who remained in midfield. With the substitutions, everyone in camp and off the injured list has now gotten minutes in one of the first two preseason training matches.

47 - Brown leads George up the left sideline and he jukes past the midfielder, but is stopped by ... a stray ball on the field 25 yards off the endline.

50 - Le Toux takes Shandong Luneng off guard with a run in the left side, sending a cross to King in the middle for the best opportunity of the game to this point, but his shot goes wide left.

56 - Gooooooooal ... King, the only holdover from the first half, sent a ball over the top to Nyassi on the right side and Nyassi knocked it in for his second goal in two nights. 1-0 Seattle and King has looked great so far.

60 - Nathan Sturgis enters for King, playing as a central-mid.

61 - Nyassi nearly scores again, picking a ball off in the offensive third and blistering a shot from the right side about 15 yards out, but it went wide left.

63 - Nyassi continues to apply pressure to the Shandong Luneng defense, forcing their goalkeeper to come out and make some quick decisions.

71 - Brown chases down a pass from George all the way into the box and crosses just too high for Seattle to make a play on it.

74 - Le Toux and Levesque play some vintage Sounders soccer ... applying defensive pressure in the midfield, forcing a turnover and pairing for a run up the middle. Le Toux took control, drew the two defenders and left Levesque one-on-one with the keeper. His shot caromed off the right post, but it was a great soccer play.

75 - Gooooooal ... it's Nyassi again. Le Toux touched the ball over the offside trap. This time Nyassi drew the keeper out of the box and went around him, leaving nothing between him and the goal but open turf. He dribbled to point-blank range and hammered it in for the 2-0 lead.

76 - Levesque combines with Le Toux again, but this time Le Toux is stopped en route.

79 - Le Toux gets some resistance near midfield on the right sideline, backheels a ball in the air and spins on his opponent, leaving him crossed up in the midfield while Le Toux sprints up the sideline. It was another play that showed some great skill from Le Toux.

Nyassi chased after a Le Toux cross from the left side, streaking out of nowhere up the middle like a bullet from a gun.

Guppy has made some great plays in his end, turning away some good chances from Shandong Luneng. Most of their shots are coming from the outside, but they have gotten two chances within the box that Guppy has calmly controlled.

90 - Le Toux is given a yellow card just before the final whistle after he fouls a defender.

Final score ... 2-0.

Misconduct:
90' SEA: Le Toux cautioned

Additional match reports: Sounders FC, Sounders FC (on News Tribune blog)