2012 May 26

Sounders come back for a road draw at Chivas

Chivas USA  1 - 1  Seattle Sounders FC

Home Depot Center, Carson, CA

Goals:
58' CHV: Juan Agudelo (James Riley, Peter Vagenas)
61' SEA: David Estrada (Alex Caskey, Fredy Montero)

Chivas: Dan Kennedy; James Riley, John Valencia (Rauwshan McKenzie 65'), Danny Califf, Ante Jazic; Laurent Courtois, Peter Vagenas, Alejandro Moreno, Ryan Smith (Cesar Romero 88'); Juan Agudelo, Jose Erick Correa (Blair Gavin 76').
Substitutes not used: Tim Melia, Jorge Villafana, Scott Gordon, Miller Bolanos.

Seattle: Bryan Meredith; Zach Scott, Jeff Parke, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Marc Burch; Mauro Rosales, Andy Rose, Brad Evans, Alvaro Fernandez (Alex Caskey 61'); Fredy Montero (Eddie Johnson 73'), David Estrada (Cordell Cato 78').
Substitutes not used: Andrew Weber, Servando Carrasco, Roger Levesque, Sammy Ochoa.


Match report from Ron Stickney:

The Seattle Sounders FC gave up the first goal to Chivas USA but came back to earn a draw and stay undefeated on the road this season. Juan Agudelo, just back from camp with the USA national team, scored his first MLS goal of the year to give Chivas a brief lead. David Estrada answered three minutes later and that was the end of the scoring.

The match took awhile to develop. The Sounders looked best early on, then Chivas gained the momentum midway in the first half. But neither team found a decent shot until a broken Chivas corner kick play ended with a shot on goal by John Valencia at 28', but too soft to trouble goalkeeper Bryan Meredith.

Seattle's first decent chance came on a throw-in play when Fredy Montero volleyed Estrada's cross but could not get enough power on the shot, giving Dan Kennedy an easy save.

Chivas was next with Agudelo working the touch line with the ball, then getting within 25 yards for a shot that went a yard wide of the lower near corner.

Then Seattle seemed to have a shot when Montero's through ball put Estrada free into the penalty area, but Estrada waited too long and ex-Sounder James Riley recovered to put the ball out for a corner.

Back to Chivas, Riley got into the penalty area for a shot/cross and Jeff Parke did well to put it out for a corner.

Then it was Seattle's turn as Marc Burch overlapped to win a through ball from Alvaro Fernandez and got close to goal, but his cross was blocked by a defender on the door step.

The best opportunity of the first half came in the final minute when Montero got close to goal on the right for a cross that was cleared at the far post, but only to Mauro Rosales in front of goal. Rosales could not react quickly enough to get his shot on frame with open target available.

Seattle had a promising open to the second half. After collecting a too-long cross at the touch line, Estrada made it back to the 18-yard line for a shot that deflected off Riley's foot to the lower near corner, where Kennedy made the save. Next, Montero back-heeled a pass to Estrada to start a counterattack, and Estrada's cross went nicely to Montero in the arc, and his bent shot missed the far post by inches. The attempt was similar to Montero's most recent goal in Vancouver that was voted goal of the week.

58' CHV: Agudelo (Riley, Vagenas). Both ex-Sounders earned assists as Riley crossed from the right touch line to the spot, where Agudelo beat Jhon Kennedy Hurtado in the air to head it in. Meredith had come out thinking that he could get the ball, but Agudelo got there first and had an empty net to shoot at. 1-0 Chivas.

61' SEA: Estrada (Caskey, Montero). It didn't take long for Seattle to answer. The goal came from a throw-in play. Montero threw it in to Estrada, who passed it back to Montero and took off for goal. Montero passed to Alex Caskey at the top corner of the penalty area. Caskey curled a cross in front of goal, where Estrada knocked it in from close range after Valencia stabbed at the cross and missed. Caskey had been in the match less than a minute when he earned the assist. 1-1.

The Sounders had most of the remaining chances. Montero took a 30-yard free kick in the middle but sent it yards too high. Andy Rose, playing the whole match in place of the suspended Osvaldo Alonso, got his head on Rosales' corner kick but shot too high. Rose got another chance when Eddie Johnson, in for Montero, got to the bye line for a cross that was deflected to Rose for a shot from the arc that was blocked by Danny Califf near goal.

The final chance was for Chivas near the end of added time, as substitute Blair Gavin's 20-yard shot was deflected just over the bar.


Statistics:
          CHV   SEA
Shots:      7    13
Saves:      3     1
Corners:   10     3
Fouls:      7     9
Offsides:   1     2

Misconduct:
20' SEA: Rose cautioned for what seemed like a fair challenge on a 50-50 ball with Califf

Referees: Chris Penso; Ian Anderson, Colin Arblaster; Alejandro Mariscal

Attendance: 12,280