Marco Pappa and Gonzalo Pineda each scored as Seattle Sounders FC (13-6-2, 41 points) defeated the Houston Dynamo (6-12-4, 22 points), 2-0, Sunday night on the Xbox Pitch at CenturyLink Field. Stefan Frei recorded his seventh shutout of the season as Seattle regained its spot atop the Supporters' Shield standings.
With a win, Sigi Schmid became the first Head Coach in MLS history to record 200 career wins. With a career record of 200-136-103, Schmid is 32 victories ahead of Bruce Arena, who is second with 168.
After over an hour of scoreless play, Pappa put Seattle on the board first in the 69th minute. After collecting a pass from Dempsey at the top of the box, the Guatemalan midfielder spun to create space and fired a left-footed shot that deflected off David Horst and into the back of the net for his third goal of the season.
Pineda made it 2-0 in the 75th minute when Gonzalo Pineda converted his third penalty kick of the season. Houston was whistled for a foul in the box on a corner kick, and Pineda's ensuing blast ricocheted off Tally Hall's gloves and into the back of the net.
Stefan Frei made three saves en route to his league-leading seventh clean sheet of the season, and kept the score level in the first half with a penalty-kick stop in the 26th minute. After Houston was awarded a penalty kick due to a Seattle hand ball in the box, Frei dove low and to his left to stop Brad Davis' ensuing shot attempt.
Seattle forward Obafemi Martins had a couple of dangerous chances on both of his shot attempts. In the 21st minute, he got on the end of a long ball from Frei, shouldered the defender away and tried to head it past the onrushing keeper, but Hall was able to recover and keep it from rolling in. Moments before the second goal, he got to an over-the-top ball at the edge of the box and rounded the keeper, but his shot from the left side was cleared away by a defender.
Martins picked up his second yellow card in the 86th minute, forcing Seattle to play with 10 men for the remainder of the game.
Sounders FC returns to action with two games this week. Seattle hosts the Chicago Fire in the U.S. Open Cup Semifinals on Wednesday with a 7:30 p.m. PT at Starfire Stadium, then return to MLS action with a visit to Real Salt Lake on Saturday. Kickoff is at 11:30 a.m. PT at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Scoring Summary:
SEA - Marco Pappa (Clint Dempsey) 69'
SEA - Gonzalo Pineda (penalty) 75'
Seattle Sounders FC - Stefan Frei; Brad Evans, Chad Marshall, Djimi Traore, Leo Gonzalez; Lamar Neagle (Chad Barrett 68), Osvaldo Alonso, Gonzalo Pineda, Marco Pappa (Andy Rose 90); Clint Dempsey (Kenny Cooper 90+2), Obafemi Martins.
Substitutes Not Used: Marcus Hahnemann, Jalil Anibaba, Zach Scott, Micheal Azira.
TOTAL SHOTS: 11 (Dempsey, Pappa 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 5 (Pappa 2); FOULS: 19 (3 players, 3); OFFSIDE: 0; CORNER KICKS: 3 (Pappa 2); SAVES: 3 (Frei 3).
Houston Dynamo - Tally Hall; Kofi Sarkodie, David Horst (Andrew Driver 81), Jermaine Taylor, DaMarcus Beasley; Boniek Garcia, Luis Garrido, Ricardo Clark (Brian Ownby 78), Brad Davis; Giles Barnes, Will Bruin (Jason Johnson 46).
Substitutes Not Used: Tyler Deric, Corey Ashe, Servando Carrasco, A.J. Cochran.
TOTAL SHOTS: 13 (Bruin 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 3 (3 players, 1); FOULS: 15 (Garcia, Taylor 3); OFFSIDE: 0; CORNER KICKS: 5 (Davis 5); SAVES: 2 (Hall 2).
Misconduct Summary:
SEA - Lamar Neagle (caution) 28'
SEA - Obafemi Martins (caution) 33'
SEA - Gonzalo Pineda (caution) 55'
HOU - Luis Garrido (caution) 60'
SEA - Leo Gonzalez (caution) 81'
SEA - Obafemi Martins (caution) 86'
SEA - Obafemi Martins (ejection) 86'
HOU - Kofi Sarkodie (caution) 90+4'
Referee: Chris Pennso
Referee's Assistants: Ian Anderson, Mike Rottersman
4th Official: Daniel Radford
Attendance: 50,276
Time of Game: 1:54
Weather: Sunny and 82 degrees
