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Seattle Sounders FC

Sounders FC News & Notes

November 12, 2012 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Seattle Sounders FC News Release


Sounders FC Hosts LA Galaxy in Western Conference Championship

Faced with a monumental challenge going into the second leg of the Western Conference Championship, Seattle Sounders FC returns to the Pacific Northwest to host the LA Galaxy on Sunday evening. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. PT on the Xbox Pitch at CenturyLink Field.

Sunday's match will be nationally televised on ESPN, and Ross Fletcher and Kasey Keller will call the match on 97.3 KIRO FM.

Tickets for the championship match are available through SoundersFC.com or by calling 800-745-3000.

Seattle trails Los Angeles 3-nil on aggregate after falling on the road in the first leg last Sunday. Sounders FC must outscore the Galaxy by at least four goals to win the aggregate goal series outright. If Seattle outscores the visitors by three and the teams are tied following regulation, Sunday's game will be followed by 30 minutes of extra time and, if necessary, penalty kicks.

Sunday's loss was the first of the 2012 MLS Cup Playoffs for Sounders FC as the team's postseason shutout streak was snapped at 317 minutes. Robbie Keane scored twice and added an assist as the Galaxy has now scored three goals in consecutive playoff games.

If Sounders FC can earn the necessary result on Sunday the Rave Green would qualify for MLS Cup on December 1. Seattle would either visit second-seeded D.C. United or host fifth-seeded Houston Dynamo in the final. The Dynamo leads United 3-1 on aggregate after a series opening victory on Sunday afternoon in Houston.

The challenge is mighty yet Sounders FC is up to the task, possessing the necessary components for such a comeback. Seattle posted its best home record in club history this season, and beat Los Angeles 4-nil in the most recent home meeting on August 5. The Seattle attack also features a pair of top 10 goalscorers this season in Eddie Johnson (14 goals; sixth) and Fredy Montero (13 goals; tied for seventh), as well as one of the league's top set-up men in Mauro Rosales (13 assists; tied third).

Seattle found itself in a similar hole after the first leg of the 2011 Western Conference Semifinals against Real Salt Lake, and pulled two goals back in the second leg at home, ultimately falling 3-2 on aggregate.

Sounders FC is 3-4-2 all-time against Los Angeles in regular season play, with two multi-goal home wins and one road loss this season, outscoring the Galaxy 6-0 at CenturyLink Field.

The league's fifth-best scoring team will look to take advantage of the Galaxy defense, which allowed 47 goals this season, ranking 13th in MLS. Seattle scored three or more goals five times in the regular season, with an additional seven three-plus goal games in the U.S. Open Cup and CONCACAF Champions League.

Before the Seattle-Los Angeles series is settled, the Eastern Conference Championship will be decided in the second leg as D.C. United hosts the Houston Dynamo at RFK Stadium. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. PT on Sunday with national television coverage on NBC Sports Network.

Home, Sweet Home

Backed by the largest and loudest crowd in Major League Soccer, Sounders FC will look to take full advantage of the home leg on Sunday. Seattle posted its best home record in club history this season, going 11-4-2 at CenturyLink Field. Overall, Sounders FC is 35-14-15 at home in regular season play since 2009, the sixth-best record in MLS, and has outscored opponents 101-57 (plus-44 goal differential). Seattle has gone unbeaten in its past four home matches (2-0-2), having scored three goals in two of those games while allowing just one goal. The Rave Green is 2-2-1 all-time at home against Los Angeles with a plus-one goal differential (seven goals for and six goals against).

CenturyLink Survival

Sunday will mark the second time that Seattle has faced elimination from the MLS Cup Playoffs at home. In both 2009 and 2010 Seattle was the lower seed and lost the deciding game away. Seattle won the deciding game at home last season, beating RSL 2-0, but failed to advance on aggregate. There have been two occasions in the CONCACAF Champions League that an aggregate goal series was decided at CenturyLink Field. In the 2010 preliminary round Sounders FC defeated Metapan 1-0 at home (2-1 on aggregate), and in 2011 Seattle ousted Panama's San Francisco FC in the preliminary round 2-1 after extra time.

Second Leg at Home

Needing a dominant result at home, Sounders FC will look to reverse the recent league-wide trend of struggling at home in the postseason. In the 2012 MLS Cup Playoffs the home teams have struggled, posting a record of 5-5-2. Seattle tied Real Salt Lake in the lone postseason home match this season, and the team is 1-1-2 all-time at home in the playoffs, going unbeaten in the past two matches. The LA Galaxy has two of the five home victories this postseason, having eliminated Vancouver in the Play-in Game and downing Seattle 3-0 last Sunday. In the first leg of the Conference Championships on Sunday, the home team won by a combined score of 6-1.

Overall, there have been 40 home-and-home series in league history and home teams have gone 23-8-9 in the second leg. Three of those eight losses have come in the 2012 MLS Cup Playoffs, including Seattle's win at Real Salt Lake. The lone win by a higher seed at home in the second leg was Sporting Kansas City, but the result was not enough to advance as Sporting was eliminated.

Home Teams in Second Leg - 2012

Home Team Opponent Result

San Jose Earthquakes LA Galaxy LA won 3-1 (LA advanced 3-2 on aggregate)

Sporting Kansas City Houston Dynamo HOU lost 1-0 (HOU advanced 2-1 on aggregate)

Real Salt Lake Seattle Sounders FC SEA won 1-0 (SEA advanced 1-0 on aggregate)

New York Red Bulls* D.C. United D.C. won 1-0 (D.C. advanced 2-1 on aggregate)

*Lower seed hosted second leg due to inclement weather.

Playoff Comeback Lore

Since MLS instituted the aggregate goal Conference Semifinal Series in 2003, the team losing the first leg has rallied to win the series 11 times. Three of those clubs went on to lift MLS Cup, and three others made it to the championship match. Four of those survivors trailed by at least two goals at one point.

The LA Galaxy were on the losing side of the greatest of all comebacks to date, pulled off by the San Jose Earthquakes in 2003. The Quakes were beaten, 2-nil, by the Galaxy in the first leg, and then they fell behind 2-0 (4-0 on aggregate) after the first 13 minutes of the second leg at home. San Jose then began chipping away at the deficit, finally tying the score in 90th minute before winning in extra time, 5-4. The Quakes proceeded to win the conference final and championship game.

Year Result (First Leg Score, Aggregate Score)

2003 San Jose* beat LA Galaxy (0-2, 5-4)

2004 Kansas City+ beat San Jose (0-2, 3-2)

LA Galaxy beat Colorado (0-1, 2-1)

2005 New England+ beat New York (0-1, 3-2)

2006 New England+ beat Chicago (0-1, 2-2 on PK's)

Houston* beat Chivas USA (1-2, 3-2)

Colorado beat Dallas (1-2, 4-4 on PK's)

2007 Houston* beat Dallas (0-1, 4-2)

2008 None

2009 Chicago beat New England (1-2, 3-2)

2010 San Jose beat New York (0-1, 3-2)

2011 None

2012 Los Angeles beat San Jose (0-1, 3-2)

+ made MLS Cup Final

* won MLS Cup Final

Seattle Synonymous with Comebacks

Sounders FC has a penchant for comebacks, and the team will draw from the resiliency exhibited in years' past on Sunday night. Since tiebreakers went away after 1999, no team has earned more points after allowing the first goal than Seattle in 2011.

Top Five Point Totals when Allowing First Goal

Team (Year) Points (Record)

Seattle Sounders FC (2011) 24 points (7-7-3)

Chicago Fire (2012) 23 points (7-11-2)

New York Red Bulls (2012) 22 points (6-9-4)

Real Salt Lake (2006) 19 points (4-9-7)

Chicago Fire (2000) 19 points (6-7-1)

Sound Support

Sounders FC has hosted three of the top 10 attendances for MLS Cup Playoffs, including the largest crowd for a non-final match. Seattle also hosted the 2009 MLS Cup between the LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake - the fourth-highest attendance in playoff history. Seattle will set a franchise playoff record with an attendance of more than 36,021.

The top 10 attendances for MLS Cup Playoffs are as follows:

61,316 10/20/2002 Final LA vs NE Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Mass.

57,431 10/26/1997 Final DC vs COL RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.

51,350 10/25/1998 Final CHI vs DC Rose Bowl, Pasadena, Calif.

46,011 11/22/2009 Final LA vs RSL CenturyLink Field, Seattle

44,910 11/21/1999 Final LA vs DC Foxboro Stadium, Foxborough, Mass.

39,859 11/18/2007 Final NE vs HOU RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.

39,159 10/15/2000 Final KC vs CHI RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.

36,021 11/02/2011 West Semis SEA vs. RSL CenturyLink Field, Seattle

35,807 10/29/2009 West Semis SEA vs HOU CenturyLink Field, Seattle

35,521 10/31/2010 West Semis SEA vs LA CenturyLink Field, Seattle

Three Goals

Sounders FC must score at least three goals on Sunday to survive and advance. Seattle has scored three or more goals five times in the 2012 season (tied for sixth-most), and the team has 20 three-plus goal games in its four-year history (tied for fifth-most), including two in its final four regular season matches. The Galaxy has allowed three or more goals six times this season, including two games with four goals conceded. There have been 10 occasions in club history when Sounders FC has won by three or more goals.

Last Sunday's match marked the 10th time that Seattle conceded three or more goals in a game, five of which came in the 2010 season. Sounders FC allowed three or more goals just once this season. In the match following three-plus goals conceded, Seattle has kept a clean sheet twice and allowed one goal five times.

Making Themselves at Home

Seattle's three most productive attackers have been in fine form at home. Fredy Montero has scored 21 goals with 21 assists at home over the past four seasons, including four goals and four assists in 2012. He contributed one goal and two assists in his final three regular season home matches. Eddie Johnson has scored 33 of his 55 career goals at home, which ranks eighth amongst active players. Half of his 14 goals this season were scored at CenturyLink Field. Sixteen of Mauro Rosales' 26 career assists have come at home, along with five of his eight goals. Rosales's 16 assists at home since the beginning of the 2011 season ranks second behind Brad Davis' 21 home helpers.

Defense Wins Championships

Seattle must rediscover its stingy defensive form on Sunday evening. After two clean sheets against Real Salt Lake, and three consecutive postseason shutouts dating back to last season, Sounders FC allowed three goals last Sunday against the LA Galaxy. The goals were the first allowed by Michael Gspurning in the playoffs, who had made a career-high nine saves in leg two of the Western Conference Semifinals against RSL last Thursday.

Sounders FC boasted the second-best defense in MLS this season, and the Rave Green allowed the fewest home goals (11) in 2012. Seattle has the best home goals against average (0.89) in league history.

Been Here Before

Sunday will be the second time that Sounders FC has entered the second leg down by three goals as the higher seed. In the 2011 Western Conference Semifinals, Seattle fell 3-0 to Real Salt Lake in the first leg, and we only able to score twice in the home leg, falling 3-2 on aggregate. Seattle scored both goals in five minutes in the second half. Osvaldo Alonso scored a penalty kick and Lamar Neagle converted Fredy Montero's assist. Sounders FC could not find the equalizing goal, despite holding a 26-4 advantage in total shots (9-1 on goal).

MLS Cup Playoff Format Notes

The two conference championships will be decided by two-game aggregate goal series, with the lower seed hosting the first leg and the higher seed hosting the second leg. If the aggregate score is tied after 180 minutes of play, two 15-minute extra time periods will be played in their entirety, followed by penalty kicks, if necessary.

No player for either side can be suspended due to yellow card accumulation. However, a player who earns a Red Card in any Playoff Match, whether a straight Red Card or two Yellow Cards, is suspended for his next match.

MLS Cup will be a single championship match hosted by the higher seed on December 1.

Throw-ins

Sounders FC has played the most competitive games (48) of any MLS club in 2012, and has more wins (25) than any other team. The top mark for most competitive wins in a season is 28, set by the LA Galaxy in 2011... Osvaldo Alonso is the only Sounders FC player to play every minute of the club's first nine MLS Cup Playoffs matches...Seattle is 22-4-4 when facing elimination in MLS Cup Playoffs, CONCACAF Champions League and U.S. Open Cup...On November 12, 2007 Drew Carey visited the George & Dragon Pub in Seattle to announce a new MLS team in Seattle. The next day, the team named Adrian Hanauer General Manager...On November 15, 2011, Kasey Keller was named MLS Goalkeeper of the Year and Mauro Rosales was named MLS Newcomer of the Year...Sounders FC players and fans are participating in Movember to raise funds for cancer research. A total of 12 current Sounders FC players are participating, including goalkeepers Michael Gspurning and Marcus Hahnemann, defender Jeff Parke and midfielder Brad Evans...On September 3, 1980, the Sounders lost 3-0 to the LA Aztecs in the NASL qaurtfinals. In the return leg on September 5, the Sounders beat the Aztecs 4-0 in front of 32,564 fans at the Kingdome. The sides played a 30-minute period to determine the winner, which the Aztecs won in a shootout.

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