2009 Jun 20 2009 Jun 20
Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ
Goals:
40' NY: Juan Pablo Angel
45' SEA: Fredy Montero
New York: Danny Cepero; Alfredo Pacheco, Kevin Goldthwaite (Danleigh Borman 74'), Carlos Mendes, Jeremy Hall; Jorge Rojas (Dane Richards 58'), Seth Stammler, Albert Celades (John Wolyniec 81'), Nick Zimmerman; Macoumba Kandji, Juan Pablo Angel. Substitutes not used: Jon Conway, Luke Sassano, Sinisa Ubiparipovic, Juan Pietravallo.
Seattle: Kasey Keller; Tyson Wahl, Tyrone Marshall, Patrick Ianni, James Riley; Steve Zakuani, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Sebastien Le Toux (Sanna Nyassi 69'); Nate Jaqua (Roger Levesque 74'), Fredy Montero. Substitutes not used: Ben Dragavon, Nathan Sturgis, Peter Vagenas, Stephen King, Freddie Ljungberg.
Match report by Ron Stickney
Mistakes in the defensive end led to the only goals as the host New York Red Bulls tied Seattle Sounders FC 1-1. Beneficiaries of the gift goals were Juan Pablo Angel for New York, then Fredy Montero for Seattle.
Missing for Seattle was Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, who flew back to Seattle to be with his wife and newborn son. Also out for Seattle was Freddie Ljungberg, nursing a sore hamstring, although he was available from the bench.
The first shot was Seattle's, when Brad Evans ripped one up the middle from distance, missing a yard left.
For New York, Angel got his first chance with a header from 8 yards when a cleared ball was chipped back in and crossed in front of goal, but the shot went wide by a yard.
A minor altercation between Seattle's Osvaldo Alonso, who had fouled, and New York's Macoumba Kandji stayed verbal, but Kandji drew a yellow card from referee Paul Ward for dissent.
New York shot well twice around the half hour mark, first from Albert Celades whose rocket went just over the bar from 25 yards after Angel dropped a feeding pass. Then Nick Zimmerman powered a 20-yarder from the right and Keller made the save, doing well to not give up a rebound.
Seattle came close on two corner kicks at 33'. Sebastien Le Toux was taking all of the corner kicks and serving them well. One was cleared and shot it back in by Le Toux towards the top far corner, forcing a save. The better chance came on the next corner, with Montero heading a powerful shot that hit the cross bar hard and shook the goal. At 37' a Le Toux free kick found Nate Jaqua's head on a run towards the far post, but he shot wide.
40' NY: Angel. While unpressured, Tyrone Marshall blundered badly when his attempted clearance banged off Patrick Ianni's knee and rebounded into the top of the penalty area. Angel was the nearest player and easily beat Keller to the loose ball, touching it past the charging Keller to finish into the open net. 1-0 New York. That made it two conceded goals in a row from Marshall blunders.
Two minutes later the Red Bulls had a chance for an insurance goal. Jeremy Hall sprung Kandji wide open on the right, beating the offside trap. Kandji got close on the right side and dropped a diagonal pass to an open Zimmerman for a shot. Keller tipped it straight up and then caught it.
45' SEA: Montero. The rookie Hall had done well in his 1 v 1 contests with rookie Steve Zakuani, but Hall did not fare so well against Montero. In the third minute of added time, a long ball was head-flicked into the left corner by Jaqua. Hall collected it and should have sent it away, but he tried to dribble up the line and was dispossessed cleanly by Montero's slide tackle. Montero took the gift into the penalty area with Hall chasing and finished nicely with a shot over Cepero's right shoulder and into the ceiling of the net. 1-1.
Montero's goal celebration was special. He pulled up his jersey to reveal a T-shirt that said in large letters, "PAOLO HURTADO GOD BLESS YOU." Alonso pulled up his jersey to reveal, "WELCOME INTO THE WORLD 6-19-09." The celebration included rocking the cradle, of course.
The halftime whistle blew seconds after the restart.
Halftime: New York 1 - 1 Seattle
Seattle came out of the locker room firing. In the first minute of the half Montero beat Goldthwaite for a shot at the lower near corner, and Cepero dove to push it wide for a corner. On the corner kick Le Toux sent the ball to the near side where Evans back-heeled it to Ianni on the porch, but Ianni could only send a weak shot right to Cepero three yards away.
At 52' Angel shot nicely up the middle from 16 yards after receiving a square pass from Zimmerman, but he powered it just wide of the lower right corner.
At 54' Montero delivered a dangerous cross squarely through the goal area, but neither Zakuani nor Jaqua reached it.
New York's last good shot came at about the hour mark, as Zimmerman shot low and hard from 25 yards. Keller was there at the near post and pulled his hands back when he saw that it would go a yard wide.
Seattle had struggled the last half hour of their two previous matches, but this time they finished as the strong team although they were unlucky in failing to finish a goal. At 77' Zakuani beat Hall for seemingly the first time all match and shot, but Cepero made the save and the rebound came off Montero in front of goal, only to be cleared by the defense.
At 85' Montero nearly put in a match winner single-handedly, beating two defenders on the way into the area for a shot from 12 that hit the near post squarely and rebounded to the arms of a lucky Cepero, who was on the ground after charging out to pressure the shot.
The final minute plus another five of stoppage time produced three chances for Seattle. On a throw-in play, Montero dropped the ball to Alonso, who volleyed two yards over the bar. Substitute Roger Levesque forced a diving save from Cepero. Finally, Marshall had a chance to redeem himself but bent his shot a half yard over the top near corner.
Final: New York 1 - 1 Seattle
Statistics:
NY SEA
Shots: 11 16
Saves: 5 3
Corners: 1 11
Fouls: 9 15
Offsides: 1 3
Misconduct:
11' NY: Kandji cautioned for dissent after an Alonso foul
36' NY: Goldthwaite cautioned for a tactical foul on Montero
83' SEA: Marshall cautioned for getting Zimmerman
Referees: Paul Ward; Chris Strickland, Claudio Badea; Jorge Gonzalez
Attendance: 14,313
Additional match reports:
