2009 Jun 17 2009 Jun 17
Qwest Field, Seattle, WA
Goals:
34' DC: Chris Pontius (Santino Quaranta)
38' SEA: Osvaldo Alonso (James Riley, Brad Evans)
45' SEA: Nate Jaqua (Fredy Montero)
57' SEA: Montero
63' DC: Christian Gomez
87' DC: Seattle own goal (Tyrone Marshall)
Seattle: Kasey Keller; Tyson Wahl, Tyrone Marshall, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, James Riley; Sebastien Le Toux, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Freddie Ljungberg (Stephen King 77'); Nate Jaqua (Patrick Ianni 85'), Fredy Montero (Steve Zakuani 66'). Substitutes not used: Ben Dragavon, Nathan Sturgis, Peter Vagenas, Sanna Nyassi.
DC: Josh Wicks; Marc Burch, Dejan Jakovic, Bryan Namoff; Fred (Ange N'Silu 21'), Rodney Wallace, Clyde Simms, Andrew Jacobson (Christian Gomez 46'), Santino Quaranta; Chris Pontius, Luciano Emilio (Thabisu Khumalo 73'). Substitutes not used: Milos Kocic, Avery John, Ben Olsen, Greg Janicki.
Match report by Ron Stickney
Seattle Sounders FC reached a 3-1 lead over DC United from goals by Osvaldo Alonso, Nate Jaqua (ruled a DC own goal) and Fredy Montero, but in the last half hour DC came back to earn a road draw. DC opened the scoring with a Chris Pontius goal. Christian Gomez brought DC back within one after Seattle were done for the night and then a Seattle own goal off the head of Tyrone Marshall leveled the score.
DC shot first when Luciano Emilio tried a quick shot from 25 yards at 3', missing wide by a half yard.
A minute later for Seattle Montero was sent into the penalty area by James Riley's pass from the right and he tried to cross, but goalkeeper Josh Wicks was there to intercept. Then Tyson Wahl's cross from the left was close to Jaqua's head but taken by Wicks. At 8' Sebastien Le Toux got a shot from Freddie Ljungberg's penetration on the left, but a defender blocked the shot.
A quarter hour in Pontius beat the Seattle defense with a give and go and shot at the top near corner, but Kasey Keller pushed it wide for his first save.
The DC United Fred left the match at 21' with an injury after colliding with Alonso in the Seattle box, leaving just two Freds on the pitch, both in Seattle kits. Ange N'Silu came on as DC's substitute.
On the half hour it was anybody's match after Montero's header from the penalty spot missed by a yard and a half and the other way Rodney Wallace skied his shot from 15 yards.
34' DC: Pontius (Quaranta). Santino Quaranta beat Wahl to cross from the right touch line, and it was a beauty to the far post, where Riley couldn't reach it but Pontius did to knock it in. 1-0 DC.
Montero pressed for Seattle the next four minutes. First, a Seattle corner kick was cleared and sent back in by Le Toux for Montero's header that went well wide of goal. A dangerous cross by Montero lacked an attacker on the near post run. Then Montero forced a good save by Wicks and saw his put-back shot blocked by a defender.
38' SEA: Alonso (Riley, Evans). A Seattle attack was rejected, but Seattle came right back with Brad Evans passing to Riley for a short drop to Alonso, who fired a beauty from 30 yards that went off Wicks' fingertips into the top near corner. The shot was good enough to be nominated for goal of the week. 1-1.
Three minutes later Ljungberg's pass was almost good enough for Le Toux running in from the left, but Wicks got out to stuff the shot.
45' SEA: Jaqua (Montero). With the half nearing its end, Montero from just outside the penalty area pushed a short pass through up the middle for Jaqua, who turned at the spot and shot. The ball deflected off the foot of Marc Burch and into the lower far corner. It was initially ruled an own goal, but later it was properly credited to Jaqua. 2-1 Seattle, and the half soon ended.
Halftime: Seattle 2 - 1 DC
DC brought on Christian Gomez at the break, and he would earn an important goal.
The opening minute of the second half saw the DC defense turn the ball over to give Montero a gift of a shot from 6 yards away on the right, but he hit Wicks in the chest. Seattle had another good chance at 51' when Ljungberg entered the area ahead of his marker. Ljungberg was tugged backwards but still managed to get off a nice shot that Wicks just managed to push onto the post to concede a corner. A minute later Jaqua tried to sneak a long shot in at the top far corner and missed by just half a yard.
57' SEA: Montero. Montero took a pass open on the right and got by one defender with a change in direction. He lost Burch by faking left, then faking right, and then Montero shot low to the far corner beating Wicks. 3-1 Seattle.
The last half hour saw DC come on strong as Seattle struggled on both defense and offense. First, a dangerous attack at 60' had to be broken up by Riley at the spot, and he took a knock on the play and had to leave for a moment.
63' DC: Gomez. On a short pass forward by DC, N'Silu beat Marshall to the ball and Marshall fell on the play. Gomez collected the free ball and nobody stepped up to pressure the shot as Gomez beat Keller to the lower far corner from the 18. 3-2 Seattle.
Seattle had their chances at a fourth goal but couldn't finish. Montero and Le Toux worked a promising counterattack at 65' for a Montero shot from 18, but he missed the top far corner by two yards. Three minutes later Le Toux was sprung from the right and might have been fouled brom behind, but there was no whistle. Another three minutes and Le Toux found substitute Steve Zakuani open on the right, but Wicks blocked the shot. At 79' substitute Stephen King turned and volleyed from the arc and missed wide.
Then it was DC's turn in the same minute when substitute Thabisu Khumalo's shot from wide left forced a save by Keller at the near post. The next minute Khumalo was almost sprung on the left but Keller got out to stuff the shot.
For Seattle at 85' Marshall got a shot from a corner kick and Wicks saved at the near post.
87' DC: Seattle own goal. The tying goal came when Pontius had plenty of space to cross from the left touch line. The cross was aimed at Quaranta on the near post run. Quaranta's head slightly deflected the ball, then with little time to react Marshall headed it hard into his own goal. 3-3.
The last chance was Seattle's when Wahl headed a cleared Seattle corner kick back in front of goal, but Zakuani's header was yards wide.
Final: Seattle 3 - 3 DC
Statistics:
SEA DC
Shots: 18 11
Saves: 4 8
Corners: 5 4
Fouls: 6 17
Offsides: 3 0
Misconduct:
84' DC: Jakovic cautioned for a foul on Le Toux, advantage called on the play
90' DC: Namoff cautioned for delaying a restart
Referees: Ricardo Salazar; Fabio Tovar, Darren Clark; Jasen Anno
Attendance: 29,104
Additional match reports:
