Men of the Match
Sounders fall 2-1 to Revolution
By MATT GASCHK
Sounders FC Insider
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Shalrie Joseph strikes again.
After scoring the only goal in a 1-0 New England Revolution win over the Sounders FC at Qwest Field August 20, Joseph scored on a penalty kick and a header in the second half to give the Revolution a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Seattle in front of 15,961 at Gillette Stadium.
Fredy Montero scored his 12th goal of the season to put Seattle on the board, but the Sounders struggled to get many more opportunities and they fell to 9-7-11 (38 points) on the season.
“It’s a situation where they’re desperate, they’re at home, they pushed the tempo of the game,” Sounders FC head coach Sigi Schmid said. “Getting the penalty kick early in the second half was certainly a shot of adrenaline for them and we made a mistake at the end of the game. We got caught ball-watching and that’s unforgivable.”
Seattle took a 1-0 lead in the sixth minute when Montero worked around Wells Thompson on the right wing and twisted a shot from 30 yards out that froze New England goalkeeper Matt Reis before dropping toward the goal, catching the bottom of the crossbar and bouncing into the net for one of the more fantastic goals of the season.
“It was a great goal. It was a wonderful strike and probably goal of the week - and should be one of the goals considered for goal of the season,” Schmid said. “It was a great strike.”
That lead held into the second half despite a great 37th minute opportunity for Revolution forward Edgaras Jankauskas, but his header went wide of the net.
Then in the 49th minute the Sounders defensive pressure that kept all of New England’s opportunities from challenging goalkeeper Kasey Keller set up a penalty kick for the Revolution.
Leo Gonzalez chased Kheli Dube to the right side and when Dube passed into the box it caught Gonzalez in the arm, drawing a penalty.
Joseph stepped up to the ball and drilled it into the left side of the net to even the score at 1-1 in the 51st minute.
The chances remained few and far between until the 86th minute. Freddie Ljungberg sent a long free kick to Jhon Kennedy Hurtado at the right post and Hurtado headed the ball back to Montero in front of the net. With his back to the net, Montero spun off a bicycle kick, but it missed outside the far post.
One minute later, Jeff Larentowicz crossed a ball into the box to Joseph for a diving header that crossed up Keller and found the right side of the net to give New England the 2-1 lead.
“We just lost concentration,” said Keller. “I mean, you’re marking one of the hardest guys on the field and he just ends up being wide open from 10, 12 yards out for a simple header, which just shouldn’t happen in the 86th minute. It was just a mis-concentration and problem and something that just shouldn’t happen.”
That score held and New England improved to 10-8-7 (37 points) on the year.
The loss was Seattle’s first on the road since a 1-0 defeat to Real Salt Lake August 8, spanning four games, including the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup final.
“New England scored a PK and Shalrie Joseph scored a header. I mean outside of that, I don’t think Keller had a whole lot to do. Most of the shots they had were from outside and distance,” Schmid said. “Our thing is that we still have to be better at pulling the trigger in the box. We still seem to want to have five yards of space before we want to shoot and we’ve got to be able to shoot with guys draped on us.”
The Sounders will face the Columbus Crew Saturday at Crew Stadium, marking Schmid’s return to Columbus after taking the Crew to the 2008 MLS Cup Championship.
