New York focuses on moving past loss to Seattle
Early goals haunt Red Bulls in loss to Sounders FC
Thursday night, the Red Bulls stepped out onto the pitch at Qwest Field to open the 2009 season. They gave up two goals in the first 25 minutes and slowly, but surely, fell apart in a 3-0 loss to expansion Seattle Sounders FC.
"It's one of those games you don't even want to look at the video," Red Bulls head coach Juan Carlos Osorio said. "You want to throw it in the garbage."
Offensively, the Red Bulls couldn't get into a rhythm. And defensively, they allowed three too many chances.
"It was tough watching from the back," defender Mike Petke said. "It just looked off from everybody, from us in the back straight up to the top. We have a lot of work to do next week."
Seattle took the lead just 12 minutes into the match, when Sebastien Le Toux found Fredy Montero on the right side of the penalty area. He fired a low shot into the left corner of the goal, just inside the left post for the first goal in Sounders FC history.
The Red Bulls then allowed a second goal in the 25th minute. Montero found an open Brad Evans on the left side of goal. Evans shot on the turn, sending the ball under Cepero for a 2-0 Seattle advantage.
"After that it was a mountain to climb," Osorio said. "We couldn't really get any good efforts on shots on goal."
The Red Bulls didn't threaten much over the opening 45 minutes. In the 14th minute, New York's Juan Pablo Angel stepped up to take a free kick. He sent the ball high. Then in the 33rd minute, Angel and Jorge Rojas lined up to take a free kick just outside the box. Rojas took the shot, but it bounced off the wall and back into play.
New York's best chances came in a three-minute span in the second half. A 69th-minute Macoumba Kandji shot from close range ended in a Kasey Keller save.
Then in the 70th minute, a chance found Angel in the center of the box. Before he could gain control, Seattle cleared the ball. The resulting corner was sent into the box by Rojas, but Keller grabbed it as the Qwest Field crowd went wild.
Seattle was able to shut down not only the Red Bulls, but also their star striker Angel. The New York captain took three shots on the evening but was overshadowed by his countryman Montero with Sounders FC.
"The best way to shut down Angel was to shut down [Jorge] Rojas and [Dane] Richards," Seattle head coach Sigi Schmid said. "We limited his chances because the services couldn't get to him."
In the 75th minute, Montero scored again to seal the game. He stripped Mike Petke of the ball at midfield and raced in alone on Cepero to give the Sounders a 3-0 lead.
After the game, Cepero said he still didn't quite know what had happened.
"We didn't come out playing like we are capable of," Cepero said. "It stings and feels like a hangover from the finals. It was a tough day all around."
Kathryn L. Knapp is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
