The Seattle Sounders finished up their three game road trip, two league matches and the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Final, Wednesday in in Frisco, TX as they faced off against FC Dallas. The match did not end the way the Sounders wanted.
Compared to the last time the Sounders took the field, they field a much stronger line-up against Dallas. They came out in their normal 4-4-2 with Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins up top. Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Andy Rose and Marco Pappa controlled the midfield. The back four consisted off DeAndre Yedlin, Zach Scott, Chad Marshall and Leonardo Gonzalez.
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Dallas got on the board first early in the match. David Texeira scored his second goal of the year in the 8th minute of the match. It was also his second goal of the year against the Sounders. The next 20 minutes or so belonged to the Sounders as they pushed for the equalizing goal. They had plenty of chances but nothing came of fruition.
The Sounders had to make their first sub of the match in the 36th minute after Scott picked up an injury in the 33rd minute. Djimi Traore subbed on for Scott who was making his 300th career appearance for the Sounders.
The first yellow card of the match was given to Michel in the 44th minute after a foul near the sideline at midfield. The half ended with the visitors down 1-0. The Sounders had nine shots on goal but only two were on target while Dallas had five shots with two on target as well.
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Dallas got the second half started off and looked to push the lead to two goals to dash any hopes. The first 5-10 minutes of the second half didn’t amount to much for either team.
Seattle made their second change of the night as Lamar Neagle came on in the 57th minute for Rose. Neagle made an immediate impact as he played the ball to Dempsey at the top of the box who then played it back to him. Neagle took a shot from about 25-30 yards out that found the back of the net after sneaking past the diving Raul Fernandez. It was a stunning strike and I am sure that it will be a Goal of the Week nominee.
That goal seemed to shock the Hoops for the next ten 10 minutes or so as the Sounders kept attacking for the all important lead goal. That goal never came. Instead Dallas found the back of the night for the second time of the night in the 78th minute. It was Texeira again who received the ball in front of a virtually empty net as the ball was played back across the mouth of the goal.
At this point the Sounders keep bringing men forward looking to equalize for the second time on the night. In the 88th minute, Michel sent in a cross that found the head of Blas Perez. Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei got both hands on the ball but was unable to keep the ball out of the net.
Game. Set. Match.
After four minutes of stoppage time, referee Mark Geiger blew his whistle for the final time of the night.
Obviously this was not the result that Seattle wanted. Coming into the match they were tied with the Los Angeles Galaxy with 54 points, but they had a game in hand over the Galaxy. The advantage is now gone. It will be interesting to see how their last five matches go for both teams. Don’t forget that the Sounders and Galaxy face each other the final two matches of the season.
Goals
8′ – David Texeira (Andres Escobar)
58′ – Lamar Neagle (Clint Dempsey)
78′ – David Texeira (Andres Escobar)
88′ – Blas Perez (Michel)
Author’s note: I had the score of the game correct in my match preview. I just picked the wrong team to score three goals.