You Got it All Vaughn – Ref Falls for Late Dallas Dive
Terry Vaughn
The controversy over Vaughn’s award should not mask either an atrocious first half Seattle performance or a highly commendable second half showing in which several players enhanced their reputations, notably Fredy Montero who gave Sounders the lead with an exquisite free kick. Sigi Schmid made some changes with Roger Levesque and David Estrada starting for Freddie Ljungberg and Pat Noonan. Brad Evans came in for Pete Vagenas.
FC Dallas are now without a win in four games and had to rely on two penalties to secure their third 2-2 draw in four games.
After a sluggish opening period, marked only by a nervous David Estrada losing the ball twice, and Seattleite George John receiving a yellow for a 8th minute foul on Levesque, Keller had to be alert to come out and foil the alert Cunningham. Dallas had started an awful first 15 minutes marginally the better, and were beginning to dominate, without ever really looking likely to penetrate.
Dallas put in another cross put in the 17th minute which forced Keller out for a safe catch. The home side were putting crosses in way too freely, while Sounders barely posed a threat in the first twenty minutes. Tyrone Marshall’s frustration showed when he checked Atiba Harris just outside the box and was booked. Hernandez’s free kick caused a scramble in the Sounders box, as the first period reached its half way point with the visitors yet to threaten. Marshall meanwhile unwisely continued the conversation with referee Vaughn after his booking.
Dallas opened the scoring with the first of their two penalties in the 26th minute. Jeff Cunningham chasing a long ball was tripped up by Kasey Keller and won the call. Stepping up for the kick, Cunningham’s effort was unconvincing but it just went off Keller’s fingertips and into the back of the net. Keller guessed right but the kick was just out of his reach. Dallas had looked the better side over the first 25 minutes and being up a goal was far from undeserved. Keller was lucky to escape a card for the incident as was Atiba Harris for a raised boot that hit Zakuani in the face four minutes later.
Finally after 38 minutes, Sounders threatened and it was after Vaughn gave a non-call Seattle’s way. He didn’t blow for a Hurtado challenge inside the Sounders half, and Alonso scooping up the loose ball saw Zakuani unmarked down the left. Zakuani did the rest single handedly, or more accurately footedly, bearing down on Dario Sala and curling the ball around the advancing keeper into the net with only Seattle’s second shot. It was a beautiful finish and showed that this excellent player continues to improve in one on one situations.
Jair Benitez struck wide just before half time, as Sounders sought to protect their escape hatch. Montero was then booked for a late tackle on Hernandez, in a half that mirrored last year’s in Dallas but in that case, a late Dallas goal had secured then an undeserved parity.
Worryingly for Seattle as half time approached, substitute keeper Terry Boss was warming up. Sounders couldn’t get to the whistle quick enough. Keller didn’t reappear, taken off for blurred vision.
Seattle created the first chance of the second half when Zakuani ran riot down the left wing for a cross into the box for a wide open Levesque, whose shot was terribly taken and soared over the bar.
Cunningham Scored Two Penalties
But Montero made up for that in the 55th minute. He thumped in a free kick from 35 yards after Dallas’ wall was poorly constructed. Unbelievably, Dallas put their shortest player David Ferreira on the right hand side of the wall. Montero lofted it over his weak jump but with enough dip to beat Sala.
As the half wore on the Sounders looked to control possession. Montero especially, after his brilliance earlier, appeared to feel an increased responsibility and was very active both offensively and defensively.
In the 73rd Terry Boss was called on when Harris sneaked in at his right hand post and headed a Ferreira lofted cross from three feet out. Boss got down superbly to defy the effort with his legs.
In the 87th minute, Ljungberg dribbled in on the left side of the box and peppered in a shot that was saved by Sala.
Sounders surrendered that lead when Pearce fell over between Hurtado and Gonzalez’s feet and Vaughn astonished everyone by awarding Dallas their second penalty, which Cunningham converted for a point Dallas barely deserved. Jeff Cunningham now has 124 career goals, second only to Jaime Moreno’s 132 career goals.
Sounders do not have long to pick themselves up. They head to Canada where they face Toronto on Sunday, and their first concern will be the availability of Kasey Keller.
Seattle Sounders: Kasey Keller (Terry Boss 46), James Riley, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyrone Marshall, Leo Gonzalez, David Estrada (Pat Noonan 69), Brad Evans, Osvaldo Alonso, Steve Zakuani, Roger Levesque, Fredy Montero (Freddie Ljungberg 78).
FC Dallas: Dario Sala, Zach Loyd (Jason Yeisley 81), Ugo Ihemelu, George John, Jair Benitez (Brek Shea 73), Atiba Harris, David Ferreira, Daniel Hernandez, Dax McCarty (Eric Avila 64), Heath Pearce, Jeff Cunningham.
Attendance: 8512
MLS • Match Reports • Sounders FC
Like this story? Why not retweet it with the green retweet button?
Subscribe to Radio Sounders Show
Loading ...
Join the Sounders FC Linked-in Group
8512 is generous… 3,000 at most. The Sounders shouldn’t have been defending their own box in the 93rd minute, but referee calls like that make MLS unwatchable at times. 3 points in Toronto is a must
I CANT BELIEVE HE CALLED THAT!? But sadly nothing will happen. He will continue to ref games and not get in trouble at all.
Yeah, how lame?
Two men with feet planted and the Dallas forward puts a ball between them that he is never going to catch up with. Predictably, he falls, the surprise is the ref’s whistle.
Sounders score two goals in open play and are thwarted by two controversial penalties. What a shame.
Controversial? No. Shameful? YES. What is being missed here is that the game was televised internationally, ESPN2 granted, but I have many friends abroad who don’t get to see much MLS and are calling the league a Minor League and using that call, and our lack of proper officiating as proof. That call was downright SHAMEFUL and it’s hurt the league’s reputation both abroad and here in the States. Soccer took a hit today, not just Seattle.
If the MLS ever wants to be considered a top flight league overseas, it will do something about these refs. for you or against you, it doesnt matter. We want to see great soccer, and we get idiot refereeing that wouldnt cut it in an amateur league. It is frustrating and it undercuts everything teams like the Sounders are trying to accomplish.
We cannot have excellence on the pitch if we’re being judged by incompetents.
Is the MLS even listening??? The sad part of course is the minute you speak up about it you just feed haters “seattle gripes about every call” stereotype.
We want excellent referees. Not bush league calls for OR against.
Refereeing isn’t easy and mistakes will be made, but these guys are pros and it is reasonable to expect the center ref to at least be in a decent position to make a call in the box in the last minute of stoppage time. He was way to far up field (he wasn’t even in the television picture when he blew his whistle), and I don’t know how he thought he could sell the call. Replays clearly showed there was no foul. Bad mistake on this one, costing the Sounders two points. Good refs need to get the big calls right, and Vaughn didn’t in this case.
Shaky call, sure, but did anyone else feel like we were definitely going to concede in the final five minutes? I’d have put money on us conceding, even as stoppage time started. This team has a bigger issues than just referees.
@j Crow, I don’t know how you can call the first penalty controvercial, seemed like a pretty clear cut penalty to me. The second one however should be a bad enough call to hopefully get vaughn suspended for a couple of weeks, or at least fined.
@Wicked GIMP: What I saw on the first penalty was this: Hurtado is chasing a ball back towards Keller and he realizes that the Dallas forward has a chance of getting by him. He decides to touch the ball out towards the side. But Keller is already diving for the ball. I think its crucial to note that the Sounder’s defender is the one who played the ball out of Keller’s way. The Dallas man never got a touch on it. Hurtado jumps out of diving Keller’s way. Predictably, the Dallas man isn’t so agile and he barrels over the diving Keller, realizing that he’s got a chance to sell this one. Fact of the matter is that if Keller hadn’t been there, the ball still would have been played to the sideline and the forward didn’t have a chance. The result: Keller’s got to try to stop a PK while his head is spinning from the knee to the noggin he just got.
That’s certainly not as controversial as the second penalty, but I couldn’t detect any cynicism in Keller’s play. If anything, it seems that the Dallas player might have done a better job and not kneeing a diving man once the ball has been touched out of reach.
Lousy game, lousy call. I am more concerned about the Sounders’ inability to hold the ball, pass accurately or mount any kind of dangerous offense. Great goals, but they were the exception.
@ j crow. Fair enough, but anytime the keeper takes out a guy like that without playing the ball its a pretty clear cut penalty to me, but I can understand what your saying