From an earlier game this season: Chivas Goalie Dan Kennedy (1) Chivas USA and the Columbus Crew at the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA, on July 31, 2010. Chivas USA 3, Columbus Crew 1.Photo Credit: Juan Miranda / Chivas USA)
PRO SOCCER NEWS: Chivas USA 0-0 Tie vs. Seattle Sounders
Chivas USA are a hot MLS team this summer and their recent match against the Seattle Sounders ended in a draw. While Chivas USA and the Seattle Sounders teams repeatedly attempted to score, the ball never found its way into the back of the net.
In a stadium set just south of historic Pioneer Square, where the green of the grass blends with the green of the fans' shirts, the Red-and-White faced and tied 0-0 on the road against one of the top Western Conference teams: the Seattle Sounders.
This was the third of the Chivas USA's back-to-back five away games and took place at CenturyLink Field, before 36,364 fans yesterday afternoon.
The scoreless match did not reflect what happened in the field where both squads searched for and generated many goal opportunities throughout the game, with a total of 14 shots (10 for the home team). In addition, the match marked the debut of the Goat's new acquisition, Brazilian defender David Jr. Lopes, who entered the match at the 73rd minute in substitution of Zarek Valentin.
Soccer fans held their breath when an early penalty kick was charged against the Red-and-White at the 18th minute of the first half because of a handball inside the box by defender Michael Umaña. Seattle Sounder's midfielder Alvaro Fernandez crashed the PK with a shot that hit Kennedy's right post. The Chivas USA GK pushed the penalty rebound out for a corner kick and the score remained 0-0.
Goalie Dan Kennedy deserves a special mention. His timing, skills, and determination saved the Goats on two different occasions when Sounders' forwards got close to scoring. In the second period, Sounder’ midfielder Erik Friberg shot a long distance strike which was deflected; Kennedy stretched to his left side and pushed the ball out at the 50th minute. Once again, at the 77th minute, Alvaro Fernandez from the home team struck from close range but Kennedy blocked the shot and saved the Goats. Born in Fullerton, Kennedy is a local Southern California soccer player who attended college at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he majored in Communications and minored in Sports Management.
Match Highlights Pro Soccer News: Chivas USA vs Seattle Sounders
Chivas USA were also close to finding the back of the net and put Seattle’s GK to the test in the 40th minute. Forward Venezuelan Alejandro Moreno, in a fantasy play, flicked the ball inside the box into the path of Nick LaBrocca who faced Keller in a one-on-one. The Sounders GK charged off his line and blocked the shot by the Goat's #10, deflecting it out to defender Scott who put the ball out of the zone.
With the tie the Red-and-White's MLS record moves to 7-8-9 with 30 points (24 games), and they remain in sixth place in the Western Conference. The Goats will now travel to the Southwest corner of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, in Commerce City (Colorado), to face the Colorado Rapids on Saturday, August 20, at the Dick's Sporting Goods Park.
THE WORD FROM THE TEAMS:
CHIVAS USA – Head Coach Robin Fraser
(On the performance of goalkeeper Dan Kennedy…) “I just said to someone that I can’t wait ‘til we are not talking about Danny. Seriously, he was fantastic. He has had way too much to do at certain points throughout the year but has done his job superbly. As I watch him he gets better and better and his confidence grows more. Our team breeds off his confidence. We need to get to the point where Dan is the last person we are talking about.”
(On his team being energized after the missed penalty kick…) “I thought we started off with really good energy. We had a few turnovers and at that point our confidence was shaken a bit. After that penalty we were re-energized. It was huge and in this arena with the crowd to be down a goal is a big. To get out of that without giving up a goal is fantastic. It gave the team new energy that helped us get through the first half.”
The 0-0 Score did not tell the story of the action packed soccer match as both Chivas USA and Seattle Sounders worked hard to score.
(On David Lopes making his debut today…) “It was a difficult situation to put him into. In retrospect maybe it wasn’t fair to him. Nate Jaqua had just been subbed in and we thought size for size it was a good idea to get him in on crosses that were coming. It is very difficult as a defender to come in on the second half and match the speed of the game. He played in the reserve game earlier in the week but he looks like he needs some minutes to get up to game speed.”
(On getting a point in a difficult environment…) “Absolutely. At the end of the day given the fact that both teams played well at times, they created more dangerous chances than we did. Given all those facts I can live with one point.
CHIVAS USA – Goalkeeper Dan Kennedy
(On having a busy day today…) “I think more so in the second half. They stepped [Erik] Friberg up and got a little bit of momentum. Thankfully, they didn’t come with anything that we couldn’t deal with.”
(On the team’s response following the missed PK…) “There will always be little breaks throughout the game that you need. That was one of them. When you’re on the road you sometimes need things to go your way, with the penalty missed that was one of them.”
(On getting a hand on the PK miss…) “We are going to have to look at the replay. I was pumped up on the play and was happy it didn’t hit me and go in. I think if it was on frame I would have had it.”
SEATTLE SOUNDERS – Head Coach Sigi Schmid
(On the game…) “I thought in the first half they were a little bit the better team. Obviously, we had a penalty kick that we hit the post on. That didn’t help us. I guess penalties are like mulligans, you only get one per round. Once we used up our mulligan we weren’t allowed another one. In the second half we came out a lot better and took away their passing game. We did a better job of possessing the ball and as a result we created some good chances. Dan Kennedy came up with some saves. Some people were saving shots on the line and we didn’t quite get clean hits on the ball. At the end it’s 0-0. I’m proud of our defensive effort. I thought our defensive effort was good. We really only got exposed one time on the save that Kasey [Keller] made in the first half on a nice little touch by Alejandro [Moreno]. Outside of that, I thought we were a lot better defensively. It just didn’t go in at the other end.”
(On the non-call of a penalty at end of game…) “I’m far away from it so it’s tough to tell and I haven’t seen a replay yet because something happened where our machine wasn’t working. It looked like he got clipped but I’m not sure because I’m far away.”
(On forward play…) “I thought they did a decent job. I thought Pat Noonan did a decent job holing the ball up with some combinations. I thought it was better in the second half than in the first. I Think Fredy Montero had a couple good looks. I’m sure he’d like to hit the ball again. The one that he put past the far post was a pretty good look for him. He usually hits that a little better. At the end, we went with Nate Jaqua and Mauro Rosales up there to have some size and fresh legs on the flanks and keep Rosales, who I thought was our most effective player, there.”
(On play to stop Nick LaBrocca…) “To be aware of where he was. Ozzie Osvaldo Alonso did a good job of that and when he pushed up high one of our defenders came over. I think we kept him pretty quiet for most of the game.”
SEATTLE SOUNDERS – Midfielder Alvaro Fernandez
(On not scoring…) “We had very clear opportunities, even a penalty. Unfortunately, I couldn’t convert it, but I’m happy that the team was able to create the opportunities. I don’t think the problem had to do with the strength. It was more about the direction. I shot right into the post; it bounced back on the keeper and out. That’s how penalties go It was not kicked that badly, but it cost us two points.”
(On Chivas goalkeeper Dan Kennedy…) “He was very good indeed. We created many chances and made him a character of the game. Merit to him. He played very well.”
SEATTLE SOUNDERS – Goalkeeper Kasey Keller
(On the game overall…) “It was solid, defensively, for the most part. Just a little bit of frustration because at the moment. We seem to either be playing well offensively and not so well defensively, or well defensively and not so well offensively. If we want to really make a run into the playoffs, we’ve got to be able to put them both together. We’ve got to be able to play on both sides of the ball. In games like this, we could see this game out two-nil, three-nil, which we’re more than capable of doing. But in saying that, we haven’t had a clean sheet in the league for a while, so that’s a nice positive. But this is a game we should have won and we’re frustrated because of that.”
(On the possible penalty that was waived off late in the second half…) “That kind of stuff happens. That stuff is frustrating you know, but we had our penalty chance that we should have buried it, and multiple other chances. And multiple other half-chances that our final pass to the box was off today. It’s got to be better. It’s got to be better if we want to make a run in the playoffs. And on a day like today, we get our defense right, now we’ve got to put it all together.”
Chivas USA (7-8-9) vs. Seattle Sounders (11-5-9)
August 13th 2011- CenturyLink Field
Scoring Summary: None
Chivas USA -- Dan Kennedy, Zarek Valentin (David Jr Lopes 73), Michael Umana, Heath Pearce, Ante Jazic, Blair Gavin, Simon Elliott, Nick LaBrocca, Jorge Flores (Laurent Courtois 46), Marcos Mondaini (Justin Braun 23), Alejandro Moreno. Substitutes Not Used: Paulo Nagamura, Mariano Trujillo, Ben Zemanski, Zach Thornton.
Seattle Sounders -- Kasey Keller, James Riley, Jeff Parke, Zach Scott, Tyson Wahl, Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Erik Friberg, Alvaro Fernandez, Pat Noonan (Nate Jaqua 69), Fredy Montero (Lamar Neagle 83). Substitutes Not Used: Servando Carrasco, Mike Fucito, Patrick Ianni, Roger Levesque, Terry Boss.
Referee: Kevin Stott Referee's Assistants: -Adam Wienckowski; Jason Cullum 4th Official: Matthew Foerster Time of Game: 1:51 Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-64-degrees
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