Atlanta and Seattle fight to scoreless draw

Friday saw Atlanta United travel cross country to play the Seattle Sounders at CenturyLink Field. Being just four days after international matches, there were quite a few absences in both starting elevens. Atlanta was without two of their attacking stars in Miguel Almirón and Josef Martinez. While Seattle was without Clint Dempsey.

Seattle was faced with further complications as Chad Marshall as a late scratch for the lineup due to injury. The young Tony Alfaro started in his place. Due to injuries at right back the Sounders resorted to rookie Jordy Delem. In total Seattle had three substitutes along their backline. Jordy Delem did well in his first career MLS start which was no small feat considering Atlanta had scored 11 goals in three games before Friday.

Things got interesting right from the start. Both teams employed are built to be pretty attack minded and it was on full from the opening whistle. The first real chance came in the 8th minute. Harry Shipp found himself with time and space on the top of the box.  Jordan Morris made a smart run and Shipp passed it to him. The Stanford product turned an fired off a cross. Cristian Roldan was near post and tried to redirect it with his chest but he couldn’t quite put it on target.

Atlanta responded well. They overloaded their left side and caused Seattle issue after issue. Their best chance came just a couple minutes later. Villalba got on the end of a great lofted pass and found himself one on one with Stefan Frei. He tried to dribble around him but Frei somehow managed to get an arm around the ball in order to make a fantastic stop on what would have otherwise been a goal.

Atlanta continued to force the issue. They pressed their forward players high in order to test Seattle’s makeshift backline. But in an odd turn of events it was Osvaldo Alonso who turned it over twice in dangerous areas which forced their backline into many uncomfortable situations.

As the half drew to a close Seattle continued to be on the back foot. Gustav Svensson was forced to make three different last ditch clearances as he continued to show Sounders supporters that he’s a much better center back than right back.

Atlanta started the second half well. They stayed on the pressure and did well to limit Seattle’s chances going forward. Mot of the time they double teamed Lodeiro in a successful gambit to silence the Uruguayan playmaker.

In the 56th minute Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer made his move. He subbed on Clint Dempsey in order to spark a Seattle attack that was stagnating.

Dempsey made his presence known right away. Just one minute after he entered the game he got on the end of a Nico Lodeiro free kick. His rising header clanked off the post and was quickly cleared by Atlanta’s veteran backline.

With the crowd now energized and Dempsey a new wrinkle to Seattles attack the Sounders saw their best spell of possession on the night. They started generating chances from all over. Launching numerous crosses in from the wings and balls over the top to spring Morris. Atlanta did well to deal with it and managed to limit Seattle from really testing keeper Alec Kann

Never one to be outdone, Atlanta’s coach Tata Martino showed great faith in his team by making two late attacking substitutes in Miguel Almirón and Kenwyne Jones. Those subs forced Seattle onto their back foot. In the 87th minute Almirón launched a shot from the top of the box that forced Frei into a diving save. And in the final real chance on the night Kenwyne Jones managed a shot from inside that box that forced Cristian Roldan to make a diving block.

With a final score of 0-0 the game ended somewhat anticlimactically. Both sides had golden opportunities to score in what was a very open an attractive game of soccer.