Photo by Corbin Elliot
By Anthony Veglatte
DSG park. Commerce City, Colorado.
The Seattle Sounders came away with 3 massive points on the road. It was a frantic start to the match.
Colorado started brighter hitting the post in the 4th minute. They were quickly punished, as is often the case when you fail to finish a quality chance when just 20 seconds later Lamar Neagle scored his 1st goal of the season.
The local HGP product from Federal Way, WA hit a curler from just outside the left side of the penalty area.
The ever steady Chad Marshall was forced into a critical but illegal tackle in the 14th minute and picked up a well-deserved yellow card. On the ensuing free-kick, 30 meters out, Stefan Frei made a world class save off a Colorado point blank header.
With the run of play and some slick passing Gabriel Torres netted a sweet equalizer in the 22nd minute to pull the Rapids level.
Just after the restart Lamar Neagle found himself in a fortuitous position and with the luck of the bounce netted his second goal of the match in the 25th minute.
After back and forth play with several scoring opportunities, the extremely entertaining 1st half ended 2-1 for the visitors.
The second half starts with no changes for either side. The second half of the match was far more calm then the 1st. However, Stefan Frei came up big again with a fingertip save to preserve Seattle’s slim lead.
It wasn’t just the goalkeeper who was called upon to pull tricks out the hat to foil the Rapids. Andy Rose and Tyrone Mears both picked up yellow cards in the 66th and 74th minute.
In between that was a superior moment of individual brilliance by Obafemi Martins in the 73rd minute. He backed-heeled a volley, to himself, from Chad Marshall into the penalty area, splitting two defenders and curled a left foot shot around the goalkeeper.
After 4 minutes of uneventful stoppage time, that would be the final line-score. For the Sounders, the win on the road settles early nerves after failing to impress on the road so far. It also boosts confidence for their first Cascadia Derby next week.
Subs: For Marco Pappa (Cristian Roldan 81′), For Andy Rose (Leo Gonzalez 89′), and For Clint Dempsey (Gonzalo Pineda 70′). All great tactical subs and required to keep the 3 points in the bank
Top 3 Sounders men of match.
1- Lamar Neagle
2-Stefan Frei
3- Obafemi Martins
Sounders FC
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