For the first time in their history, the Seattle Sounders have captured the Supporters' Shield, and they didn't even need their tiebreaker. They created a goal at the end of a nasty and physical game against the LA Galaxy, with substitute Marco Pappa netting the winner. He added another audacious goal in stoppage time, picking the ball off Jaime Penedo and scooping in the second goal in a 2-0 victory, clinching Shield for the home side.
The best chance either team created in the first half came in the 14th minute, when Stefan Ishizaki played in Landon Donovan behind the defense with a lofted ball. But Donovan wasn't quite in perfect position, while Stefan Frei anticipated the ball well, and the Seattle keeper was able to snag Donovan's chip attempt.
Shortly after that, the game broke down into a physical battle, and referee Mark Geiger tried to take control by handing out yellow cards. Clint Dempsey, Dan Gargan and Donovan all picked up bookings before halftime, and Geiger was forced to whistle for 21 fouls in the first half. It didn't get any less physical in the second half -- the match finished with 40 fouls.
Gyasi Zardes missed by mere inches in the 69th minute, taking advantage of a turnover in midfield by Seattle. He surged forward and took a rip from 20 yards, but his shot drifted just wide, low and to Frei's left.
The match devolved into an extremely dirty contest shortly afterwards. A collision between Dempsey and Leonardo led to a fight, for which Gonzalo Pineda and Marcelo Sarvas were booked. However, the nastier confrontation during this scuffle was between Osvaldo Alonso and Gargan -- who was already on a yellow card -- but neither was booked.
Gargan should have been sent off for his role in that incident, and Seattle should have been down to 10 men six minutes after that, when Zach Scott hauled down Landon Donovan. He was already on a yellow, and Geiger opted not to show him another one.
In need of a goal to win the Shield -- a draw would have clinched the trophy for Seattle -- LA threw on striker Alan Gordon. And with the Galaxy pushing farther forward, Seattle took advantage, with substitute Marco Pappa scoring the eventual winner. It came off a smart quick free kick by Obafemi Martins, who played a one-two with Dempsey before finding Pappa open on the left wing, and he finished coolly.
Pappa added insult to injury for LA in the final minute of stoppage time, picking the ball off the feet of goalkeeper Jaime Penedo, then chipping the ball over a recovering LA defender to put an exclamation point on Seattle's victory.
Seattle Sounders: Frei, Gonzalez, Scott, Marshall, Yedlin, Neagle, Alonso, Pineda, Evans (Pappa 73'), Dempsey (Traore 95'), Martins
Goals: Pappa (85', 95')
LA Galaxy: Penedo, Rodgers, Leonardo, DeLaGarza, Gargan (Villarreal 88'), Ishizaki, Sarvas, Juninho, Husidic (Gordon 82'), Donovan, Zardes
Goals: None.
3 things
1. This game was extremely physical - If you like free-flowing technical soccer, this was not a game for you. There was certainly nothing bad about the (early) style, especially since it reflected how much the game meant to both teams, but there was nothing pretty about it. They beat the crap out of each other.
2. And Mark Geiger did a bad job of controlling it - Physical is one thing. Constant fouls and punches? That's something else entirely. Geiger should have shown Gargan a second yellow for his role in a fight, he should have shown Scott a second yellow for a bad foul, and he did neither. Once it became clear that he was hesitant to send anyone off, players started to bend the rules more, and the style shifted from physical to dirty.
3. Obafemi Martins is brilliant - His quick thinking on the goal is what created it, and it wasn't a bit of gamesmanship at all. He waited a second after a free kick, stopped the ball and was looking right at the referee when he restarted play quickly, then eventually delivered the assist. Dempsey's touch back to him was great, but it was Martins' awareness that created the winning goal.
from SBNation.com - All Posts http://ift.tt/1t3gkOJ
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