TUKWILA, Wash. – Seattle Sounders defender Chad Marshall said Tuesday that he still hasn’t watched the controversial foul that ultimately sunk the Sounders on Saturday night, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t relived the moment in his head.
Marshall was whistled for a foul in the box on Vancouver Whitecaps FC forward Blas Perez in the 73rd minute of Saturday’s game, and the ensuing penalty kick pushed the ‘Caps to a 2-1 win in the teams’ first Cascadia Cup match of the year.
Referee Mark Geiger wasted no time in pointing to the spot on the play, which saw Marshall slide and poke the ball away from Perez and also take out the Panamanian striker’s legs.
“They played a ball over the top, and it was a footrace with Perez,” Marshall said. “I go to ground there, and I think without the contact initiated by him, I get to the ball. His hip throws me off and I don’t get there.
“I haven’t seen a replay of it, but I probably just need to be smarter there and stay on my feet, and not let the ref make that decision.”
Geiger also gave Vancouver a penalty kick in the 10th minute for a foul on Joevin Jones, although replays showed that Vancouver midfielder Christian Bolaños tripped on the turf. Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid didn’t comment on Geiger’s performance after the game on Saturday night, but said Tuesday it was clear there was no contact on the foul.
Schmid called the Marshall foul a 50-50 type of call in MLS, but agreed with Marshall that the Sounders put themselves in a position for Geiger to determine the outcome of the game.
“I think [Marshall] put the referee into a position where the referee was able to make a decision like that,” Schmid said. “If you watch all the games this weekend you can probably see 10 slide tackles that are very similar and maybe 50 percent get called as fouls. But when you put the referee in that position where he can make the choice, obviously it’s not the best place to be.”
The Sounders have allowed five goals in three MLS games this season, but four of those came following either controversial penalty calls or goalkeeper error.
“I think we’re playing well, it’s just been kind of random, flukey goals,” Marshall said. “Obviously you want to eliminate those, but for the most part we’re happy with the way we’re playing. As Sigi said, if we didn’t have bad luck, we wouldn’t have any luck right now.”
Gomez Decision Coming Soon
Herculez Gomez is expected to resume his training stint with the Sounders on Wednesday as the two sides continue to weigh the possibility of the former U.S. international and World Cup veteran joining the team.
Gomez did not train on Tuesday, but Schmid said the club expects to make a decision on signing Gomez soon.
“There will be something on Herculez in the next day or so,” Schmid said.
Gomez scored both goals in S2’s 2-1 preseason win over Gonzaga University on Saturday afternoon and later attended the March to the Match ceremonies before the Sounders’ 2-1 loss to Vancouver Whitecaps FC. He also attended that match at CenturyLink Field and was in the Sounders locker room following the match.
Ivanschitz Takes His Turn
Midfielder Andreas Ivanschitz unleashed one of the best goals of the young MLS season on Saturday, a scorching left-footed free kick from the top of the box for his first goal of the season and his third goal with the Sounders.
Ivanschitz and Clint Dempsey lined up over the ball in the 52nd minute on Saturday night, but Ivanschitz said he chose to take the kick despite Dempsey’s memorable free kick goal against Club America in February.
“I just felt like, “Maybe it’s my turn,’” Ivanschitz said. “’Maybe the position is good for myself.’ So I just said, ‘Let me kick it,’ and he said, ‘Yeah, that’s totally fine.’ And it ended up being a goal, so I’m obviously very happy about that.”
