17,329

The last 10-15 minutes of regular time and stoppage time was amazing. It was totally frantic and United supporters were rewarded with a goal at the end of regulation. I was actually telling my wife that the set play off of that free kick should have been to fake it at goal and just slot it to Simms who was faking that run anyway. But the way that it went down was good too. I remember an absolutely brilliant goal that Etcheverry scored in that exact manner several years ago. If someone can find me that highlight on the intertubes, I will buy you a hamburger on a Tuesday.

By the way, there were some Sounders fans there...


Overall, I thought the team looked decent. Pontius was dangerous, Jaime was hustling, Gomez was making aggressive runs at the defense. The problem, of course, was the finishing.

The most interesting thing to report from the stadium was what a horrible idea $2 beers and $2 hotdogs were. The lines were AMAZINGLY long. It was almost worth giving up alcohol because of those lines. It is completely possible that some people missed the entire 1st half standing in some Ouroboros-like line, winding around and back upon itself. The whole idea was a logistical nightware. There seemed to be only one Miller Lite rep running kegs back and forth to the various outposts and by early in the second half, just after halftime, they had started substituting Yuengling, because all of the Miller Lite was gone.

Comment away!

First Impressions -- Seattle Sounders FC 3 : 3 D.C. United

Every time I watch Seattle, I'm entertained. Seattle is essentially an ADHD afflicted six year old, dosed with caffeine and sugar, put on the tea cup ride at Disney World. Then you hand him a morning star and tell him to run around in traffic. It's not beautiful soccer, though at times it approximates beauty the way a swarm of wasps approximate ballet. When I watch Seattle, I feel like an arsonist at a bonfire.

So United comes to Seattle, and proceeds to play a match that manages to maximize that feeling. It was chaotic and ridiculous affair. Two own-goals, one from each team, sums up the natural state of this match. United's defense was vulnerable to shot, sharp passing that pushed them away. Rodney Wallace showed he is not a long term solution at holding midfielder. Seattle scored the first goal on a pure shooter's goal, the second with a chance deflection off of Marc Burch, and the third another with smart ball movement springing an attacker who then finished perfectly. United's first goal took advantage of a nice far post run by Pontius combined with poor marking on Seattle's part, the second was a shooter's goal from Gomez, and the third had a dangerous Pontius cross meet a fortunate Tyrone Marshall head for an own goal. This match had everything you love about football, and everything that exasperates.

When United played Chivas, I may have mentioned that I felt comfortable that even down two goals, United could recover. I did not have that feeling this night. Even after Gomez pulls the team to within one goal, it felt that Seattle could have tacked on three more goals and put the match easily out of reach. Namoff and Burch may have had moments, but far too often seemed poorly placed to handle Seattle's attack. Jakovic ran all over the field, a testament to his will but also to how disorganized the back line seemed all night. Fred, and later Tino and Chris both tracked back, but never fit in seamlessly. If United's defense had a shape, it requires higher order mathematical topology to describe it. United looked its best for stretches in the first half, where they played some smart possession football, simply because that meant United was scrambling its defenders all over the field.

I'll admit it, I wondered if the cardiac kids might finally have died on the table. That they didn't... well, it shocks me like a defibrillator to the groin. I'm not sure this was a good game. The more I think about, this game seemed like a bloody, horrible mess. Then again, that's how I like my omlettes. But if we think about this rationally, this game was a barely contained disaster, right? Hooray for saving the point, but does anyone feel comfortable taking this style into a road trip?

@Seattle

Sorry to step on your toes (Touxs?) D, but I had to say this before I went to bed...

I hope the dude that threw the beer bottle at Wicks deep into stoppage time, got his ass kicked by the 29,103 other fans at Qwest Field. Because he just ruined it for all of them.

What a match.