The Sounders FC fell at home to Real Salt Lake on Saturday May 12th. This ended their five game winning streak. They were coming off of a busy schedule and it showed. Neither team had many chances, although the Sounders maintained the majority of possession. Real’s back three proved impenetrable and were able to shut down on corners and aerial crosses into the box. The only goal came in the 51st minute: Fabian Espindola received a pretty through ball from Luis Gil and was able to smack it past Bryan Meredith. Other than the goal, Salt Lake did not have many opportunities. Seattle now gets the week off to prepare for next Saturday’s match against the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Osvaldo Alonso, depsite being listed as questionable, played the whole match like a brick wall. He played aggressively and intelligently.
Real’s defender, Chris Wingert, left the game with a left hamstring injury in the 25 minute.
They was some slight rough housing going on between the teams. Fredy Montero was flagrantly hassled from behind several times before retaliating giving Real a free kick just before the half ended.
Espindola played a fantastic match and turned lemons into a goal. His style reminds me of Milan’s Zlatan Ibrahimović: crafty, fast, accurate, and pony-tailed.
Alvaro Fernandez was substituted in for David Estrada in the 58th minute. He did his best to outsmart defenders on the outside, but his crosses did not create the opportunities the Sounders needed. His imagination is exactly what Seattle deserves, but he often misjudges his kicks and is unable to realize his ambitions. Eddie Johnson received a comical yellow in the second half after he took the ball from the keeper’s hands.
The final ten minutes consisted of a bounty of free kicks and corners for Seattle. They were all defended well. Seattle walked away with nothing to show for their effort.
