Sounders Get the Job Done

I was commenting to The Wife before tonight's game how great an accomplishment it would have been to advance in the CCL. After finishing the group stage last year with only 1 win in 6 games advancing out of our group would be huge.

I was on Incident duty tonight so I didn't get to turn it on until the 15th minute. I'm not gonna lie - I was discouraged by the scoreline and I didn't feel good about it. I mean, shouldn't I have complete confidence in my boys by now? Haven't they done enough to justify some confidence? The answer is of course yes, but something about playing in Central America just doesn't feel right. I am always expecting the worst. So I just figured we would get screwed over in some way (or that they would bunker in and we wouldn't break it)

Over the next 25 minutes we put in a pretty dominant performance but our crosses were terrible. Check that, terrible is being kind. Insert a word that is even worse than terrible - how about brutal? I want to pour it on Zach Scott (who had an equally sucky game over the weekend), but Lamar Neagle was equally as guilty. The field conditions were really bad, but still, those are crosses that should be no problem.

In the 45th minute, we got a gift goal. Ok, that doesn't give Ozzie enough credit for keeping the volley on frame, but not only should the ball have been cleared, but it deflected off a body in front. At that point I knew we were sitting pretty. We got another nice break in Central America...

Then in the 61st minute, Mike Fucito missed a breakaway and two minutes later Kasey Keller messed up a punch that led to the second goal. It was a definite F-up by the 41 year old. In the 83rd Montero missed a header. Two minutes later he hit the crossbar off a beautiful give and go with El Flacco. I was definitely nervous that we wouldn't be getting the much needed point.

Just when all hope was gone, Ozzie Alonso was camped out in front of the goal and connected on a rebound for the game tying goal. The lead-up was beautiful, highlighted by a cheeky little pass from Montero.

The boys killed out stoppage time and are through to the knockout phase. It is really an amazing result and accomplishment. In a season where we lost Blaise Nkufo before the ball was even kicked; where we lost Steve Zakuani 5 games; where we have seen Zach Scott and Tyson Wahl have featured prominently and in a season where we are still alive in all 3 competitions, all the pieces have fallen in place perfectly.

I said that Hanauer's decision to not bring in a striker (ok, it wasn't a decision as so much as bad luck) during the transfer period would ultimately be judged based on how we did in the 3 competitions. If we were to lose both the US Open Cup Final and not score a goal in the playoffs, then he will bare some of the blame. I am starting to re-think that previous statement.

I mean, this isn't Europe. When we lost Zakuani for the year, we couldn't just go out and bring in a big name transfer. No, in fact, the best we could do was rely more heavily on a no name midfielder from Federal Way. Working the salary cap to build a MLS contender can be done. Building a team that not only can challenge for the league title, but who is deep enough to make it not only to the US Open Cup Final but to advance in Champions League is insanely difficult. Adrian deserves a lot of credit.

Sigi thought probably deserves even more. He has mixed and matched his players brilliantly thus far. Pat Noonan, Nate Jaqua, Roger Levesque, Zach Scott and Sevrando Carrasco might not be the best players in the league, but they serve a purpose and can step in when needed to fill a role. Sigi has never thrown the towel, but instead has planned brilliantly with his time off. And now that we have advanced, he can decide to completely rest all of our first team players against Monterrey. Some might say we should go for first in the group, but I think he HAS to go with a complete B/C team on the 18th.

A year after we played well but couldn't get the results, we turned around and got results when we shouldn't. We went down early to Communicaciones early in August and then scored 4 straight. Then we went down to Mexico with what might have been the weakest starting 11 of the year and got the result. Same for our game in Herediano. Three great results to start the group phase. We might have had a brief letdown in the last two, but in the end we got the job done.

Well done by the boys. I know an MLS title is the ultimate goal, but something about success against teams from other countries just really excites me. Now on to the knockout range where we may or may not have to start Terry Boss in goal. That would be scary, but something I'll worry about after the turn of the year.

On a side note, Ozzie's son turned two today[Actually, it was his wife's birthday. El Presidente is the one with a 2 year old son]. I forgot that the mini bulldog was the same age as The Incident. You now I will find a way to get them to meet sometime.