Ugh.
I mean...Happy Easter everyone! I sincerely hope that a lovely holiday is had by all today. However, past the holiday...I feel...ugh.
Last night, our beloved Sounders welcomed the New York Red Bulls into "Green Hell". Thirty six thousand of the most loyal soccer supporters in the country screamed and cheered their hearts out...and the Red Bulls calmly navigated their way through with a workmanlike, 1-0, result. Here are a couple thoughts on a match that I would like to forget about ASAP or sooner:
- The Sounders set pieces were horribly executed. Ljungberg's free and corner kicks were mostly off target. What makes it worse is that we set a team record for the number of corner kicks executed (12) last night. Twelve corners served up....zero goals.
- RBNY newcomers, Joel Lindphere (Estonian national) and Tim Ream (very comfortable looking rookie), are LEGIT.
- Pat Noonan will definitely help.
- Read a good piece on Prost Amerika this morning campaigning for Patrick Ianni's introduction into the starting lineup. I can't say that I disagree with sitting Marshall in favor of our best set piece asset.
- And finally, WHY WAS FREDDY MONTERO PLAYING WIDE THE MAJORITY OF THE NIGHT!?!?!!?!?
.............................................
Player ratings:
Keller - 7; Made some excellent saves and decisions last night in goal. Even the one that went in was off the top cross bar.
Riley - 6; Fairly active and came forward well, especially in the second half.
Hurtado - 6; In decent form all night, but I'm still waiting for the dominant defender he was last year to show up.
Marshall - 6; Defending was solid throughout, but missed a possible equalizing header mid-way through the second half.
Gonzales - 6; Again, solid. I still feel he should take more chances coming forward. He was subbed late in the game for much needed offensive support.
Zakuani - 7.5; Dangerous all night long until he was subbed for Nyassi. His improved ability to work the ball into the middle of the pitch has been the best asset for Sigi's offense.
Evans - 5; Very quiet game from the US international.
Alonso - 6; Ozzie had a solid game overall, but never really was able to control the midfield with Evans as per usual.
Levesque - 4; I love the mustache and the timely goals from last season, but Roger needs to start...on the bench. He had a some badly misplaced passes that hurt last night. Subbed for Noonan in the 56th minute.
Ljungberg - 6; Created plenty of chances, but his service was subpar on free and corner kicks. Glad to see he is feeling better after being kneed in the tailbone last week.
Montero - 5; Not sure why Sigi had Freddy dinking with the ball wide of the box for the majority of the night. Definitely did not play to his strengths. Uninspired performance.
Subs:
Noonan - 6; Newcomer injected some good energy after being introduced. Should start next week over Levesque and show more.
Nyassi - 5; His introduction into the game was unexpected being that he replaced Zak. However, Sanna didn't impact the game like he did last week against Philly.
Estrada - N/A; Late offensive-minded sub. Not in the match for enough time to make an impact in his MLS debut.
NEXT MATCH: @ Real Salt Lake on 4/10 at 6pm PDT
