Sports stats



MLS Seattle Sounders FC

Seattle advances past Chicago Fire, 6-0, in semifinal on Wednesday night

August 14, 2014 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Seattle Sounders FC News Release


TUKWILA, Wash. - Seattle Sounders FC exploded for four second-half goals in a 6-0 win over the Chicago Fire in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Semifinals on Wednesday night at Starfire Stadium. Andy Rose and Kenny Cooper each scored twice as Seattle advanced to its fifth Open Cup Final in six years.

Sounders FC will visit the Philadelphia Union in the 2014 U.S. Open Cup Final on September 16. Kickoff is set for 4:30 p.m. PT at PPL Park in Chester, Penn.

The six-goal margin of victory marks the largest across all competitions in club history and matched the club record for most goals scored in a single game.

Chad Barrett opened the scoring in the sixth minute when Cooper settled a long ball and sent a cross into the box, where Barrett slammed it past Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson from close range. It was Barrett's first goal in Open Cup play for Sounders FC and his fifth goal across all competitions this season, ranking fourth on the team.

In the 33rd minute, Rose broke free in the box and headed a Marco Pappa corner kick into the net. Rose added a second tally in the 58th minute when Pappa found him in the box and he finished past Johnson.

With his brace, Rose has recorded four goals with one assists in seven Open Cup matches. Pappa has now recorded four assists across all competitions this season, ranking fifth on Sounders FC.

Five minutes after coming into the game, Obafemi Martins made it 4-0 in the 79th minute when he got behind the defense on a breakaway and slotted it past Johnson for his first career Open Cup goal.

Cooper added a pair late goals just minutes apart, first powerfully heading in a DeAndre Yedlin cross in the 82nd minute before knocking in a low ball from Martins in the 84th minute to make it 6-0, giving Cooper six goals in this year's tournament.

Stefan Frei led Sounders FC to its second shutout of the 2014 tournament, making three saves. In the 17th minute, Frei dived to push Quincy Amarikwa's shot wide of the post and made a pair of saves in the 22nd minute following a Chicago free kick.

Sounders FC resumes MLS play on Saturday against Real Salt Lake. Kickoff is set for 11:30 a.m. PT at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah.

Sigi Schmid- Seattle Sounders FC Head Coach

(Opening Statement...) "Sometimes when it rains it pours, as they say. We obviously did well tonight finishing tonight, getting the early goal. It got us off to a really good start-the early by Barrett there and a good ball by Kenny Cooper. I thought bringing some guys with fresh legs, Cooper, Barrett, obviously Andy Rose getting back into the mix, and fresh centerbacks really helped us at the end of the day. It made us a little quicker, a little sharper, which is what we want to achieve in this game."

(On Andy Rose...) "He's been held back with injuries and trying to get his fitness back. Andy is great, when he can come forward he is dangerous on set pieces like he is, and I thought he played some good balls in. It was his ball into Cooper that set up that first goal. Andy can play very simple and sees things like that, so it's nice to have him set in the back where we can use him."

(On DeAndre Yedlin...) "I thought he was good. DeAndre and I had texted back and forth before he got back and he came out and worked out a little bit on Sunday at the game. He trained with us on Tuesday. We had gone over it and I told him he was going to play, and I think he did really well."

(On Yedlin's transfer...) "I think it's great. It's a situation where in the world of soccer, most clubs are selling clubs. There are very few that are the ultimate buyers at the end of the day-maybe a Manchester United, Manchester City, or Bayern Munch-it was a good opportunity for us, a good opportunity for DeAndre and good opportunity for the club. It's great that he is going to be here because his soccer will continue to develop and grow."

(On the plan for tonight's game...) "We said we needed to play with more width. That's something we talked about before the game. I think that's something DeAndre gives us on the right side for sure, I thought Lamar Neagle did a better job on that side as well. Brad Evans gave us good width on the left side as well, Marco Pappa stayed a little wider. I think all of them responded to what we were asking them to do."

(On moving onto the final...) "It's fantastic. It's something we said to the club that we take seriously. As I said to Pappa and Jalil Anibaba before the game, 'This is the reason you came here-to battle for trophies-so show it tonight.' And that's what they did and both of them had good games. We won our first Open Cup on the road at DC and now we have to go into Philly and do it. It's going to be a long road trip, because we go from Philly to New York to Dallas, so we will be on the road for 10 days, it will feel like preseason. We will be ready for it, this is what we want to do. If you answer it, you try to win it."

(On playing at Starfire...) "It's a different atmosphere. It's electric. The best word is tradition. If we play an early Open Cup game now in CenturyLink it wouldn't feel the same, so it's sort of tradition for us to play here and I think our guys thrive in the closeness of the crowd and helps spurn them on to good performances."

(On sitting certain players...) "Dempsey's been going since January, he's been going seven months so we got to get him fresh again. Our plan was to hold him out of this one, alter his training a bit, get his freshness back... Oba would have came in earlier if we were struggling. It was great to see him get involved, get a goal and an assist as well. That helps him try to keep his rhythm."

Andy Rose- Seattle Sounders FC Midfielder

(On the victory...) "It doesn't matter who it is, we are excited to get a win. That's not a problem-who we are playing-we had confidence and we had to take advantage of the opportunities."

(On players stepping up...) "It's huge... We have players who can step up and come out with big ones like that. It's big for the group."

Chad Barrett- Seattle Sounders FC Forward

(On the approach to the game...) "They had to play on Sunday like we did and they had to fly out here. We knew they were tired. They were going to put everything they had into the opening 45 minutes, so by scoring early we could kill the momentum and really get after them."

(On starting the match...)"I started to feel tired by the end, because I haven't started in a month. It takes a while to get that fitness back, even though I feel fit, a game finish is a completely different thing, but I was happy to get 75 minutes in."

(On the team's depth...) "It's great. We had five or six new starters in today, I felt really awesome for Andy Rose. He's been injured this entire year, to see him come off and be the star of the game was huge today. We got to rest our important guys-Clint Dempsey, Oba Martins, a few other guys like Chad Marshall-and that will pay dividends against Salt Lake on Saturday."

DeAndre Yedlin- Seattle Sounders FC Defender

(On finalizing the Tottenham transfer...) "It feels good to finally get it all over with. Now I just can keep my focus on Seattle."

(On the decision process...) "It was a very long process. Asked coaches, family and friends, and coaches and family were the big one. Ultimately I feel this is the best decision for me and I am excited for the next step in my career."

(On the general reaction...) "Pretty positive. Arsenal fans don't like it too much, but for the most part pretty positive. From what I have seen the Seattle fans have been positive and they've supported me and my decision. I'm just so grateful for Seattle and I am excited for the rest of the season."

(On the opportunity...) "It gives me the confidence I need to take it to the next level. Sigi put the trust in me from the very beginning by putting me out on the field, and I owe him a lot of credit and that's why I have grown so much on the field."

(On choosing Tottenham...)"I feel it's the best fit for me. Their playing style, it's in a great location, a great team-a top team in the EPL"

Frank Yallop - Chicago Fire Head Coach

(Opening statement...) "I think just shocked and stunned with the result but I just think Seattle was better in every sort of department, so that ends up a rout, which in the semifinal of anything is shocking. It's not good."

(On when the game might have gotten away...) "Well obviously at 2-0 you have a half chance of getting back in the game but once the third goal goes in we've got to just see the game through really. You know you're not getting anything out of that match. We're still very naive in what we did after that so you know it's where we're at. We have a great result at home against New York and then our next game we get beat 6-0. I think it's...just shocking to have that difference of a performance, just not good."

(On possibly capitalizing on a few chances in first half...) "It's irrelevant really. You can't play the game and concede six goals in the match. Whether we scored or not I don't think it would have changed anything. It would have been 6-1. So, no you have to look at it as a whole. We've been battered by a good team at their place and that's all you can say about that."

Check out the Seattle Sounders FC Statistics

• Discuss this story on the Major League Soccer message board...

Major League Soccer Stories from August 14, 2014


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central