It was a battle of unexpected bottom-dwellers as the worst team in the East traveled to the home stadium of the worst team in the West. After ninety minutes of play it became clear why these two clubs are sitting at the bottom, respectively. The Revolution and the Sounders both looked tired and could not produce goals. The match ended with a nil-nil draw with Seattle missing a handful of easy shots.
The first easy shot which did not produce any points came from Steve Zakuani. An early cross set up an open goal on a pedestal, but the forward decided to shoot directly at the goalie. The ensuing corner produced another opportunity as Osvaldo Alonso struck the ricochet and it barely went over the crossbar. A goal kick was awarded, but the replay clearly showed the New England keeper touching the ball as it sailed out of bounds.
In the 22nd minute, Alex Caskey threaded a ball to Lamar Neagle who was blocked by the keeper. On the retaliatory pursuit from NE, Michael Gspurning came up for a stop on a through ball. Following the stop, Neagle set up Mauro Rosales, who overshoots and misses another chance (that’s three aggregate missed chances so far). Shortly thereafter, DeAndre Yedlin puts a ball out in front of Neagle for a scoring chance, however, Neagle was unable to keep up with the pass.
New England had their fair share of highlights and missed chances as well. For instance, Lee Nguyen committed a terrible shot in the 36th which verges on embarrassing. Bobby Shuttleworth was in top form; in the 39th he came way outside of his box and made a huge stop. Just before the end of the half, Zakuani broke down the middle and only had the keeper to beat, but his shot went directly at Shuttleworth. The first half ended with booing from the home team.
The second half drooled on much like the first half. A handful of chances for both sides with the defensive units (particularly the keepers) holding strong. Gspurning had some more crucial saves, including a great one during stoppage time.
There were a handful of fresh faces in the latter half: Andy Dorman, Saer Sene, Andy Rose, Philip Lund, and Mario Martinez. Attendance for the afternoon was 38,323. Seattle was short on the offensive core with Eddie Johnson and Obafemi Martins both not in uniform. It was clear that the team missed them.
Subside Sports Man of the Match: GK Michael Gspurning, Seattle Sounders FC
