Azira spearheaded the defense to a shutout against a 10 man Dallas side. Photo Credit – Seattle Sounders FC
By Toby Dunkelberg
Going into the night Sounders fans and Dallas fans alike expected Seattle to have trouble. Dallas was the only team in MLS to come away with all the points possible from the games they’ve played. Seattle on the other hand was coming off a 3-2 loss against a 10 man San Jose side. To make Sounders fans even more pessimistic, they were missing five starters including the surprise absence of Obafemi Martins. In order for the Sounders to have any chance at all their youth were really going to have to step it up but unfortunately for the Sounders they couldn’t cash in on an early red card to Acosta and walk away with an otherwise respectable 0-0 draw.
STARTERS
Stefan Frei – 6 – Didn’t have to do all hat much to improve on his performance from last year in Dallas. He didn’t have any flashy saves on the night but continually made the correct decision to step forward when he defense needed him. There were a couple of times on the night where Frei smartly accounted for Castillo’s pace and intercepted balls that otherwise would’ve led to dangerous situation. A solid if quiet performance from the Swiss.
Tyron Mears – 7 – Tyrone was the Sounders attack in the first half. He consistently got forward and interplayed with Roldan to launch in crosses. What’s perhaps more impressive is that he was completely solid on defense. I mean no mistakes. In addition his two key blocks on Hollingshead kept the Sounders in the game when it looked like Dallas had the better of them. He calmed down in the second half but remained error free. A good performance coming off of his recent hamstring injury.
Brad Evans – 6.5 – Coming of an abysmal performance against San Jose the Sounders captain had a little (well big really) chip on his shoulder. He came up huge in a couple dangerous one on one situations. It looks like he’s learned to realize when he’s the last man back and has gotten a lot more reserved in his approach to defending in general. Gone are the attempts to play the ball to his feet under pressure. Instead Evans has learned to simply kick the ball out and let his defense catch up to him. This is the Evans that many hoped to see after his success against New England. It looks like he’s back on track to being an above average centerback. He was mistake free on the night but one has to wonder how much of that was due to Dallas having ten men on the field for the majority of the match.
Zach Scott – 5.5 – A really quiet night for the veteran but that’s exactly what you want from a back up. Surely his stockpiled experience and chemistry helped him throughout the match. Like Mears and Evans he was largely mistake free outside of a few blazing runs from Castillo. Unlike Evans though he didn’t have as clear of a contribution on the defense and was rarely the last man back. He had one mistake on the night but it led to nothing thanks to intervention from Azira. There wasn’t much to hate about his performance but there wasn’t much to like either.
Leo Gonzalez – 6.5 – Wasn’t challenged as much as he Mears was but that’s because Dallas intentionally played away from him. Despite his age Gonzalez managed to contribute well against a speedy Dallas side. In the second half especially he managed to get involved going forward and launch off few dangerous long balls to open players. Most notably he broke through two Dallas defenders at the end of the first half to launch in a low cross that someone really should’ve gotten on the end of. His yellow in the tail minutes of the game was a smart, intentional move to stop Dallas from getting anything going. Solid defense and sporadic but important involvement going forward earns the 6.5.
Micheal Azira – 7 – (off 86’) – Azira seems to have really come into his own in Alonso’s absence. Again tasked with being the more defensive of the two center mids he was a virtual brick wall for the Sounders. Azira routinely bailed out the rest of the defense after their errors. The only issue defensively was his willingness to give up free kicks in dangerous areas. Against a side with the set piece skill of Dallas it was lucky that he remained unpunished. Azira showed an ability to find the open man that we haven’t really seen from him before. His perfectly lofted pass to Barrett in the 70′ should’ve ended up in the net for 1-0 Seattle. With Obafemi Martins and Clint Dempsey coming back, that vision and service will be rewarded.
Gonzalo Pineda – 6.5 – Tasked with running the a young Sounders front six the veteran delivered admirably. Pineda was the main distributor for Seattle’s side and although the game remained scoreless it wasn’t due to a lack of effort on his part. Throughout the match you saw long passes being sprayed all over from his foot. Defensively he was a little more absent and had a couple concerning turnovers but that was largely due to the established dynamic with Azira which appears to be working well for the Sounders.
Cristian Roldan – 5.5 – (off 61’)– In his first career MLS start the former University of Washington standout was in full control of his nerves. He doggedly pursued the ball and proved to be a thorn in Dallas’s side. Roldan combined well with Mears going forward but didn’t contribute all that much on his own. Aside from a great cross to Barrett in the 61st minute he was quiet on the night but that;s not really a bad thing for a rookie in his first MLS start. The composure he displayed is promising especially after having played last weekend for S2 and then again midweek against Tijuana.
Andy Rose – 5.5 – Aside from drawing the red card Rose had a really quiet night which was the main theme for Seattle and Dallas. He had one nice clearance on defense in the 70th minute that ended a Dallas counter attack. He also narrowly missed a Mansaray cross that would’ve put the Sounders on top. Rose looked a little out of his element due to him being lined up as a center attacking mid for a large portion of the first half. He seemed to settle down as the game went on. There just wasn’t much of note from the Englishman.
Lamar Neagle – 5 – Being the most dangerous man in the attack is a role that Neagle isn’t used to and that showed against Dallas. Suddenly he was the main threat and his normal antics of running at defenders was even more fruitless. He ran his heart out as always and that very nearly led to a couple chances but Dallas’s backline just doesn’t make those kinds of mistakes. Neagle was almost completely absent in the final third and that’s why he earns a five for the night.
Chad Barrett – 5 – (off 75’) – The one thing that you can say about Chad Barrett is that he runs really hard. Unfortunately that’s the only nice thing about his performance against FC Dallas. Barrett was tasked with playing the lone forward in his first start of the season and he showed clear signs of rust. Twice in the span of three minutes he came up empty handed when he was one on one with the keeper. A forward in MLS simply needs to convert at least one of those chances. His inability to finish and to provide any semblance of hold up play leads to his low rating.
SUBSTITUTES
Aaron Kovar – 5.5 – (on 61’) – Sigi Schmid put Kovar on with the hopes of spurring a largely stagnant Seattle attack. While it’s true that Seattle saw more chances after he came in the two occurrences are unrelated. Kovar did provide impressive service into the box, but his crosses always appeared to stay in the air a half second longer than they should have. That extra time translated to little happening off of his service. Like the rest of the Sounders midfield he was mistake free in his first significant MLS time this season.
Victor Mansaray – 6 – (on 75’) – Like Kovar, Mansaray was brought into the game with the intention of helping Seattle to score a goal. The high schooler played well in his first MLS appearance and got behind the Dallas backline a couple of times in his short stint.
Oniel Fisher – 5.5 – (on 86’) – About the only thing of note we saw from Fisher was his speed. In the eight or so minutes that he was on Fisher seemed to combine well but there just isn’t enough information to reach any real conclusions.
