Rookie DeAndre Yedlin scores his first goal in Major League Soccer during a 1-1 draw with the Colorado Rapids.
SEATTLE – Sounders FC had their seven-game win streak against the Colorado Rapids come to an end on Saturday at CenturyLink Field, but they did extend their home unbeaten streak to seven straight matches with a 1-1 draw against Colorado.
DeAndre Yedlin scored his first MLS goal – becoming the youngest Sounders FC player to do so – to bring Seattle back from a 1-0 deficit and Seattle moved to 7-7-4 as they start the second half of the season.
“It’s good that we showed the character to come back after going down 1-0,” Sounders FC head coach Sigi Schmid said. “But we also had the feeling the whole time that we were a little bit the better team and we wanted to get a win today.”
Seattle didn’t waste any time going on the offensive as Lamar Neagle got on the end of a Marc Burch free kick in the third minute, nodding it toward the far post. Colorado goalkeeper Clint Irwin sprung to his left and finger-tipped the ball away for a Seattle corner.
In the 39th minute, Colorado went on the attack and threatened around the edge of Seattle’s box, but Osvaldo Alonso came away with the ball and led a quick streak for Sounders FC. Alonso led Mauro Rosales through the midfield and he found Obafemi Martins up the right side. He raced into the box, cut to his left foot to get around Shane O’Neill, then took a left-footed shot around the oncoming goalkeeper, but placed it just wide of the near post.
Seattle was knocking on the door of the opening goal throughout the first half, as they outshot Colorado 7-5 with two shots on goal and no Rapids shots challenging Andrew Weber.
Seattle continued to press for that elusive goal in the second half, but it was Colorado who would get on the board first.
Nick LaBrocca swung a corner kick in from the left side and Drew Moor charged unmarked into the front of the goal to head it in for his second goal of the season in the 60th minute for a 1-0 Rapids lead.
“The wind caught it a bit and I just mistimed it,” Weber said. “I got my fingertips on it. I think we could have been tighter on marking, but that’s my ball.”
The Sounders got a quick response from Yedlin, but it took a tremendous team effort to find his moment of brilliance.
Servando Carrasco headed the ball into the box for Neagle on the left side. With his back to the goal, Neagle spun toward the endline and put a left-footed shot past Irwin, but it hit off the far post, caroming to the far side. There, Yedlin picked it up and rifled a shot from the top of the box. This time Irwin made the stop, but the rebound came right back to Yedlin for a well-placed header into the back of the net for his first MLS goal, evening the score at 1-1 in the 65th minute.
“We tried to press them a little bit, make them uncomfortable, especially at our home. It’s hard to play here; it’s the hardest place to play in the country,” Yedlin said. “They had a good goal. After that we picked up a little bit, tried to play a little bit better. We just need to play that way through the whole game.”
Seattle pushed to gain the lead and had 10 second-half shots, forcing Irwin to make six saves in the match, but were unable to find the net and the match finished in a 1-1 draw.
“We didn’t lose, but we need three points when we’re at home. That’s what we expect,” Burch said. “The only thing we do is move forward and look to win games.”
Sounders FC will continue a three-game home stretch on July 28 when they host Chivas USA.
Scoring
Sounders FC – DeAndre Yeldin 65.
Rapids – Drew Moor (Nick LaBrocca) 60.
Discipline
Sounders FC – Zach Scott (caution) 42; Servando Carrasco (caution) 43.
Rapids – Nathan Sturgis (caution) 83.
Lineups
Sounders FC – Andrew Weber, DeAndre Yedlin, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Zach Scott, Leo Gonzalez, Mauro Rosales (Brad Evans 71), Osvaldo Alonso, Servando Carrasco (Eriq Zavaleta 86), Marc Burch (David Estrada 76), Lamar Neagle, Obafemi Martins.
Rapids – Clint Irwin, Marvell Wynne (German Mera 66), Drew Moor, Shane O’Neill, Chris Klute, Nick LaBrocca, Hendry Thomas, Dillon Powers (Edson Buddle 57), Nathan Sturgis, Atiba Harris, DeShorn Brown (Anthony Wallace 74).
