Game highlights here
In case you haven't heard, the Ravers beat the Galaxy 2-0 last night to earn their first win on grass (playing on grass, not smoking it).
The theme of this game was experimentation. David Beckham wanted to find out just how hard you could foul in the MLS before you draw a foul.
Beckham's experimental subject was Peter Vagenas. Unfortunately for Beckham (and Vagenas, and the Galaxy), the experiment got away from him and he ended up drawing a straight red card when he flew cleats-up into Vagenas' left ankle (ouch).
Sigi continued to experiment with Peter Vagenas at midfield, which was made possible by Freddie Ljungberg's mystery ailment / short-term memory loss. Personally, I think some short term memory loss would be good for Ljungberg since he might be able to forget bad reffing calls and actually play some soccer while on the field. Sigi ended his experiment with Brad Evans at defense and instead moved him up into his natural position of attacking midfielder. Sigi also experimented with having Steve Zakuani run forward looking for a pass instead of carrying the ball up and making the cross. Well, those two experiments really worked well because the Sounders first goal was an Evans cross to Zakuani while Montero drew off the defenders. Brad Evans absolutely blew by the Galaxy defender on the goal and made it look easy. There were a bunch of offsides early on as Zakuani got his timing down, but eventually he was able to get in behind the Galaxy's offside trap and create all kinds of havok back there.
Ljungberg's absence also meant that the Sounders needed someone to take free kicks, and that job fell to...Peter Vagenas! He hadn't taken a free kick all year, but he connected with Freddie Montero on a corner kick for the Sounders second goal, which is something that I do not remember Ljungberg being able to do all year. I hope that Sigi has the balls to follow through and re-assign free-kicks to someone else for the time being. Ljungberg just doesn't have it in that department.
The Galaxy tried to bring the game back to turf-hockey with a string of dives and random acts of violence, but the Sounders weren't interested in that at all and instead focused on working the ball up the field with one-touch passes back and forth to create space. They look much better for having played Barcelona and Chelsea. Hopefully they keep at it. They've taken a ton of bad calls over the past while but dealt with them with good grace. Hopefully the refs have taken note and the calls will be a little more balanced from here on out.
The Galaxy tried to bring the game back to turf-hockey with a string of dives and random acts of violence, but the Sounders weren't interested in that at all and instead focused on working the ball up the field with one-touch passes back and forth to create space. They look much better for having played Barcelona and Chelsea. Hopefully they keep at it. They've taken a ton of bad calls over the past while but dealt with them with good grace. Hopefully the refs have taken note and the calls will be a little more balanced from here on out.
Sounders are back into second in the West, fourth overall. This was a much needed road win for them. Go Sounders!
