Captions by Toby Dunkelberg & Steven Agen Photos by Casey Woodrum & Jill Peck
With a precursor of thunderstorms and torrential rain, the Seattle Sounder welcomed Toronto FC to CenturyLink Field for the intra-conference matchup. Despite the weather concerns a boisterous 39,960 Rave Green hopefuls poncho’d up for the game.
Lineups were surprising on both sides, with Toronto opting for a 3-4-3 featuring Herculez Gomez in his first MLS start, while Seattle saw the return of the Oba-Deuce pairing for the first time since May 31. Even the coaches came as a surprise with the news that Brian Schmetzer would take the helm instead of Sigi Schmid due to a “health condition”
It didn’t take long for that connection to pay dividends as in the sixth minute, Obafemi Martins took a lovely chip from Clint Dempsey and cooly finished it past Konopka.
Seattle continued the pressure as Friberg and Alonso dominated the midfield. Unfortunately for the Cuban, in the 30th minute he picked up an questionable yellow card for simulation that will keep him out of next weeks San Jose feature.
With three forwards up top and Michael Bradley’s vision, Toronto generated their fair share of chances against a Sounder side unprepared for the peculiar formation. However poor finishing from rusty players and stalwart defending from Frei kept them scoreless going into the half.
Seattle started the second half on the front foot, as they did the first. The home side, led once again by Martins and Dempsey pressed forward in search of a second goal.
Despite numerous chances for Clint Dempsey, though, it was Toronto FC who would find the next goal. Eriq Zavaleta, on his return to CenturyLink Field, placed a free header past Stefan Frei on yet another broken set piece. Following a corner, the center back snuck into the near post and nodded past a snoozing Seattle defense on 59 minutes.
Seattle was not to be outdone though as on 77 minutes, Oba Martins got in clean down the right hand side. Martins skimmed his defender with a deft nutmeg and was in on goal. His touch was heavy, though, and Konopka came out to meet him. The goalkeeper smothered the ball, but was unable to fully control. It popped out, and Dempsey was the first man there to bury the rebound.
Toronto would fail to create any chances of real merit as Sounders closed the match out with a degree of comfort. The win keeps them in the thick of the Western Conference playoff hunt. Next up for Seattle is a road date at San Jose, while hosts New England.
