Sounders lose 1-0 to RSL; funk grows to four scoreless matches in a row

[Oldtimer]

Seattle Sounders FC are in poor form.
The rave green funk continued Saturday night with a 1-0 loss at Real Salt Lake. While not the disaster of form we saw in the 4-0 loss to San Jose, it none-the-less ended with another goose egg.



http://www.examiner.com/x-413-Seattle-Soccer-Examiner~y2009m8d8-Sounders-lose-10-to-RSL-funk-grows-to-five-scoreless-matches-in-a-row (http://www.examiner.com/x-413-Seattle-Soccer-Examiner%7Ey2009m8d8-Sounders-lose-10-to-RSL-funk-grows-to-five-scoreless-matches-in-a-row)


SANDY, Utah – The tongue-lashing that Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid gave his team in the locker room following a 1-0 loss to Real Salt Lake on Saturday night might merely be a sample of what lies ahead for the players in the coming week.
“I’m not looking forward to Monday (and) Tuesday, because I’ve got a feeling they are going to be pretty hard,” Sounders goalkeeper Kasey Keller said. “But you lose a couple of games that you shouldn’t, and you expect the punishment the next day.”
Schmid’s voice could be heard through the closed locker room doors immediately after the game.



It is the Sounders’ offense that has been at its worst lately. Saturday’s shutout extended their scoreless streak to 314 minutes, the second-longest drought in the league this season. The Sounders last scored in the 46th minute of a 2-1 victory over Houston on July 25.
Real Salt Lake (7-8-5) has the longest scoreless streak of the season, ending a 350-minute drought in May. Seattle also went 267 minutes without a goal during April.



http://www.thenewstribune.com/1043/story/838438.html


Seattle had a tonne of advantages this season:

** Being allowed a full expansion draft besides bringing a number of USL players with them for free

** Getting one of the best coaches in MLS as their first coach

** Starting with one of the best 'keepers in MLS

However, they are now suffering from the same sorts of things that other teams suffer. Because of their advantages they won't ever be as bad as TFC Year 1 or RSL Years 1-3, however they are not the powerhouse some imagined them to be.

[ag futbol]

Some of those arguements are a huge stretch.

The "advantage" of bringing in their USL squad? Well Le Toux is the only guy who actually gets meaningful time. Nobody else plays a significant role.

All it boils down to is that you create your own breaks. Any team in MLS could have acquired one of the best keepers going if they simply found a way to do it.

There team does well because Alonso, Hurtato, Montero, and Ljunnberg have all been on the money signings. That's the advantage of not shitting the bed like teams such as Colorado and RBNY have for years when it comes to consistantly picking up talent.

[Yohan]

Some of those arguements are a huge stretch.

The "advantage" of bringing in their USL squad? Well Le Toux is the only guy who actually gets meaningful time. Nobody else plays a significant role.

depends on how much do you rate reserves and depth.

couple of USL sounders are getting decent minutes, coming in as subs and occassional starters

[rocker]

Seattle deserves analysis when the season is over.. and they've played 30 games.

and long term remains to be seen.... remember San Jose finished with 33 points in Year 1.... but Year 2 looks to be less at their current pace.

I'm curious about to see the Sounders' longterm record.

[billyfly]

Ha ha. They caught TFC affliction.

[Shakes McQueen]

Some of those arguements are a huge stretch.

The "advantage" of bringing in their USL squad? Well Le Toux is the only guy who actually gets meaningful time. Nobody else plays a significant role.

All it boils down to is that you create your own breaks. Any team in MLS could have acquired one of the best keepers going if they simply found a way to do it.

There team does well because Alonso, Hurtato, Montero, and Ljunnberg have all been on the money signings. That's the advantage of not shitting the bed like teams such as Colorado and RBNY have for years when it comes to consistantly picking up talent.

Seattle had first dibs on Montero as far as I remember, and Keller wanted to come home to play for Seattle specifically - so in those two cases, no, no one else could have had them.

And I don't blame anyone for not wanting to take a chance on throwing money at Ljungberg. Old, typically injury prone, and wasn't exactly lighting it up in his last couple of destinations.

- Scott

[Yohan]

And I don't blame anyone for not wanting to take a chance on throwing money at Ljungberg. Old, typically injury prone, and wasn't exactly lighting it up in his last couple of destinations.

- Scott
funny thing is, Ljungberg is starting to really get pissed at MLS refs. same with Becky

how many thinks Ljungberg will stay in MLS after this season?

[Shakes McQueen]

Ha ha. They caught TFC affliction.

It's pretty funny when you read around here, you'd think our team was absolutely awful depending on which threads you read. And yet to this point in the season, we are now only two points behind Seattle, a team that everyone considered absolute class at the beginning of the year.

My point isn't that Seattle are bad, because they aren't. Just that we aren't quite as shitty as some people make us out to be. We've got our problems, like almost every other team in the league.

- Scott

[Shakes McQueen]

funny thing is, Ljungberg is starting to really get pissed at MLS refs. same with Becky

how many thinks Ljungberg will stay in MLS after this season?

I think he will stay past this season, but I will be interested to see how his second season with the team goes.

He has a pretty sweet deal in Seattle - one of the better fanbases in the league, a great stadium to play in, lots of money, a locker room of players looking up to him, and a great city.

Of course, if the league frustrates him more and more over time, who knows. I can't imagine there are too many people willing to throw the same money at him in Europe though.

- Scott

[ilikemusic]

Seattle already has more goals than we had in our entire first season so....

[rocker]

Seattle already has more goals than we had in our entire first season so....

sooooo... what?

[ilikemusic]

sooooo... what?

Soooo....theyve already had a more succesful opening season so theres no need to be calling them out on a bad run of form.

[ag futbol]

Seattle had first dibs on Montero as far as I remember, and Keller wanted to come home to play for Seattle specifically - so in those two cases, no, no one else could have had them.

And I don't blame anyone for not wanting to take a chance on throwing money at Ljungberg. Old, typically injury prone, and wasn't exactly lighting it up in his last couple of destinations.

- Scott
Seattle had first dibs on Montero only to the extent they filed discovery, in which case they deserve credit in anycase. I'll give you the fact that his contract is shady as hell, but again credit to them for punching holes in MLS rules.

Yes Keller wanted to play specifically for Seattle but i hardly see him as they be all and end of advantage. MLS isn't exactly weak at the keeper spot .

With Ljungberg i can only assume they did their due dilligance and it paid off. Giving a guy a medical and actually looking at the condition he's in will tell you much more than reading the papers. I'll gladly take other prem players who played at low levels if that's what we're judging against here.

Again it simply comes down to finding good signings, and they did that. To consistantly get things right, i think there's a better chance they know what they are doing, than were lucky.

[S_D]

Seattle had first dibs on Montero only to the extent they filed discovery, in which case they deserve credit in anycase. I'll give you the fact that his contract is shady as hell, but again credit to them for punching holes in MLS rules.


care to expand on that? sounds interesting :D

[Yohan]

care to expand on that? sounds interesting :D
I believe Montero's contract is like Tevez, that his contract is owned by a company. God knows what sort of shady underhand deals go in there

[Dirk Diggler]

Yeah ... a lot of players coming out of South America have dodgy contracts ... I don't think it is illegal to have a third party own your contract down there but once they move abroad, it gets extremely complex.