Seattle Pitch - Dallas

September 16, 1996

U.S. Open Cup, Quarter Final Round

Dallas 3 - 2 Seattle Sounders

Leonetti  (S)  3'
Lozzano  (D)  58'
Elliott  (D)  70'
Eck  (D)  79'
Hoggan  (S)  90' pk

Seattle: Hahnemann, Webber, Morrill (Bialek 79), Stoddard (Jason Dunn 36), Farrell, McCormick, Hoggan, Thompson, Leonetti (Daligcon 65), Crook, James Dunn.

Dallas: Dodd (Cassar 84), Farrer, Pollard, Puskarich, Lozzano (Soehn 84), Santel, Flores, Ashton (Washington 79), Alvarez (Ibsen 59), Eck, Elliott (Glenn 86).

Shots: Dallas 14, Seattle 9
Shots on goal: Dallas 6, Seattle 8
Saves: Dallas 5, Seattle 2
Offside: Dallas 7, Seattle 1
Fouls: Seattle 15, Dallas 8
Corner kicks: Dallas 6, Seattle 0
Cautions: 54' Dallas: Alvarez

Steve 'Pudgy' De Rose, from Chicago, who apparently attended US Open Cup semifinal matches in both Dallas and Kansas City, posted to the na-soccer list the following reports of those matches:
This was pretty good game, on a superb night to play soccer. It's really too bad that there was practically no one in the stands. (I had indoor matches at the UIC Pavilion this past winter with larger 'crowds' than both of this weekend's games. I'll grant you, the weather Sunday in Kansas City was positively abysmal.) Put me down on the sheet for favoring the proposition that USSF needs to clear out some dates for the windows {ugh... do I have to say windows? Can we use 'portals' instead?} for these U.S. Open Cup matches to occur during the MLS season.

The SOUNDERS were determined to play. They broke through on their first chance. A long ball from the defensive midfield left came onto the right wing for J. Leonetti. He came onto the net at an acute angle (so I thought). He didn't have much for which to shoot, but he went with his best chance. He shot the ball at the moving body of BURN GK Mark Dodd. It hit Dodd's right leg and bounded into the net.

SOUNDERS had other chances from time to time, but couldn't get the ball on net. Some last-minute swarming tactics by BURN defenders dispossessed them. I was impressed by SOUNDERS' Niall Thompson. Several times, he received the ball amidst BURN defenders, and he never failed to make the correct play. He _was_ substituted for in the second half (I have this in my card, but it's packed tightly in my bag.), when the score was 2-1, and I felt that this was not what the SOUNDERS could afford to do.

The BURN started getting some room. I must mention that Leonel Alvarez had a rough game. The BURN had a free kick from about 22 yards out in the 6th minute, and he skied it halfway to Garland. His touches were off, and you could see he was getting frustrated with his play.

Chad Ashton had a long shot from some 30 yards out in the 21st minute which hit the crossbar squarely for BURN. Their play was starting to constrict the field available to the SOUNDERS. But poor choices in the offensive third led to not as many chances as you'd expect.

At the end of the 1st half, when the stadium announcer said "Because this game is played according to the rules of the United States Soccer Federation, the stadium clock is stopped and the official time will be kept on the field by the referee.", a loud cheer went up from the Inferno. (You know, if they could have their picture taken with J. Kreis, they could call themselves "Jason and the Scorchers".)

BURN were determined to break through in the 2nd half. The goal came on a slight scramble in the box, after a shot had been blocked. The ball came back to L. Lozzano, and he shot a low ball under the foot of an advancing SOUNDER player and past a screened Marcus Hahnemann to his right.

I need to get to the description of the WIZ v. RAPIDS game, so I'll digest this. The second goal was a nice one, and then the SOUNDERS started giving way too much space to the BURN. A pass went to Ted Eck, and he had a big target. He shot true from 24 yards. The BURN decided to clear their bench, and give Tom Soehn his first playing time (since his ACL was torn on 1 February playing for Wichita WINGS @ Tampa Bay TERROR). Unfortunately, he _did_ get onto the score sheet. His tripping of Jason Dunn in the box let D. Hoggan score a penalty in the 90th minute. The _game nearly slipped away from the BURN in the end!_

On a cross from the right wing, a Jason Farrell header was only partially parried by M. Dodd. The ball bounded toward the left post where it was cued off the line by Ed Puskarich{!}. The match was finally ended about 40 seconds afterward.

The results of the U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinals are such that I expect these to be the semi-final pairings:
Rochester RHINOS v. D.C. UNITED
Colorado RAPIDS v. Dallas BURN

I've got to logoff this terminal. If you have time at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, and are flying on American Airlines, look for these GTE Communication Centers. You can surf the W-WW, and read & respond to E-Mail. Eventually, they're going to charge for this, but for now it's free. You'll be surveyed afterward. Don't pay more than .07 a minute (this is one of the questions).

[P.S.: The Vapids goalkeeper "Pudgy" forgot the name of was likely to have been ex-Sounder and ex-Husky Dusty Hudock. Ron Stickney]

The PI report from reporter Phil Stephens:
The Sounders shocked the Dallas Burn early and late in a U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal game at the Cotton Bowl. But it wasn't enough for a victory.

Last night in the Cotton Bowl, the Sounders seemed ready for an upset, scoring on a right-footed shot by Joey Leonetti just 2:55 into the game.

Leonetti stormed down the right side, taking an over-the-top assist from Sounder defender Billy Crook. He slipped past the Dallas defense and had time to angle in toward Dallas goalie Mark Dodd. Leonetti curled the ball just inside the near post, clipping the ball off of Dodd's foot.

The Sounders expected to use a defensive counter-attack strategy, soaking up some Dallas offense and trying to surprise the Burn on the counter, so the early goal was perfect for the Seattle plan. The Burn outshot Seattle 6-2 in the first half, but did not put Sounders' goalie Marcus Hahnemann in a dangerous situation.

Dallas continued to apply the heat in the second half and got the equalizer 12:05 into the period on a spectacular combination from Jorge Flores to Lawrence Lozzano. Flores back-heeled a ball just before it went out of bounds on the right side of the penalty area to Lozzano, who nailed the goal from 25 yards out near the right corner of the box.

The go-ahead score by Dallas was a classic through pass from Mark Santel to Gerrell Elliott at the top of the box. He split two Sounder defenders and went for the far post with 20:57 left.

By the time Dallas' Ted Eck scored the Burn's third goal, with 12:07 left, the game seemed well in hand. Dallas continued to substitute liberally. The strategy almost backfired, with Seattle pouring in a flurry of shot in the last five minutes.

When Seattle's Jason Dunn was upended by the Burn's Tom Soehn in the 90th minute, it set up a penalty shot by David Hoggan that he sent by Dallas backup goalie Jeff Cassar to trip the margin to 3-2.

"Both teams played well, but they had a bit more flair." said Sounders coach Neil Megson.

"The second goal by Dallas was a backbreaker. I thought our forward Jason Farrell played well the entire game as well as our defensive backs. If you take Dallas' top two or three players, you would hardly tell the difference between the teams. Or put it this way, if you give me their top two or three players I would take my chances against them."

Hoggan said the biggest difference between the teams was the fitness level of the Burn.

"We ran out of steam in the second half," he said. "Tired players can't run. Dallas should not have tried to substitute so many players at the end. It nearly backfired on them."