Sounders Take Salt Lake

Last night's game was def' a bittersweet experience. My seatmates called earlier in the day, inviting me to the game. But wait! My in-laws just arrived in town from Hawaii. Moral quandary? Well, no, not really. But I watched the game on DVR later that night, knowing I could've been there.

It was a much different game than their star-crossed opening win, but the result was still a W for the expansion Sounders, winning 2-0 vs. a burly, bruising Real Salt Lake at The Q. Where New York had been content to chase Seattle boys around the pitch, and watch Freddy Montero play at will, RSL had a game plan to get up in the faces of the Sounders and knock 'em over if they had to, in order to slow them down.

Freddy Montero, in particular, received a round thumping in the early parts of the 1st half.

Despite the defensive tactics, Seattle's midfield began to take the game over after 10 minutes and wave after wave of Sounders attacks broke on the shores of Salt Lake. 17 minutes in the boys from XBox found the back of the net. Steve Zakuani was able to break down his defender, and poke a ball straight at Nate Jacqua. The big lunk was right in front of the goal and all he could do was get his knee up to meet the ball and score.

Despite the lead, RSL took over the game for large stretches. The early goings of the second half was so heavily dominated b the opponents that I began to wonder if there was a heavy wind for that half of the field. Keller came through with good saves, and Lady Luck declared herself a fan of the Green FC.

Everyone knew Freddie Ljungberg was coming on in the 60th minute, however it looked like a brilliant tactical decision, as Seattle was flat. Freddie's energy and veteran presence made a big difference, stemmed some of the momentum and began building more attacks for the Green. In the 72nd, the other Freddie declared the game over with a really nice long-range strike that had the keeper thinking of some shots he'd seen, I don't know, perhaps in youth soccer. Whatever he was thinking of, by the time he'd figured out the direction of Montero's blast there was nothing to do but jump up and wave at it, as if it were a Metro bus speeding by.

Nothing like a 2-0 record and Might Mo' as the Sounders fly off to Toronto for the club's first road game.

Go Sounders!