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Sounders Climb Closer To Playoff Spot With 3-0 Win

September 7, 2008 - USL First Division (USL-1)
Seattle Sounders News Release


TUKWILA -- Leighton O'Brien made up for some lost time on Saturday night.

Or at least, he made up for some down time.

Back onto the field at the Starfire Sports Complex for the first time since breaking his left wrist on July 26, O'Brien scored two goals -- one on a penalty kick, the other unassisted -- as the Seattle Sounders moved closer to clinching a playoff spot with a 3-0 rout of Miami FC in front of 3,676 fans.

"I felt like before I got injured, I was playing very well," said O'Brien, who actually got back onto the field last Tuesday in Seattle's 2-1 exhibition victory at San Jose against the MLS Earthquakes. "I've been dying for a month to play. There's only a few games left, so the intensity has to step up. That's three (wins) in a row for us against good teams (counting the Earthquakes exhibition)."

The victory, their second straight on a season-ending seven-game homestand, put the Sounders on the brink of postseason position. At 10-8-9 with 39 points, Seattle climbed into fourth place in the United Soccer Leagues First Division standings, and can make it official by beating Montreal on Wednesday at Starfire.

"I think we're running downhill now. We feel like we're on a roll," O'Brien said.

Seattle's three goals were the first for either team in this season's three-game series. The Sounders and Blues played to a pair of 0-0 ties during a three-week span in June: the first at Miami on June 1, then at Seattle on June 20.

Seattle now has scored seven goals in its last two games at Starfire after going scoreless in the first two games of the homestand, falling 3-0 to Puerto Rico on Aug. 15, and playing to a 0-0 tie against Vancouver on Aug. 20.

"It's always great to be clicking on offense," coach Brian Schmetzer said. "Defense wins championships, but we can't rely on them all the time. We have to put the ball in the back of the net to keep teams honest."

Goalkeeper Chris Eylander posted his 10th shutout in league play and 14th overall, counting his four clean sheets in the U.S. Open Cup.

With their 39 points, the Sounders can max out at 48. That won't be enough to catch Puerto Rico (which currently has 49) for the top spot, but still leaves them with a shot of finishing as high as second. Vancouver currently occupies that rung on the ladder with 46 points.

"We're a confident, veteran team with a lot of good players. If we can win these next few games, no one is going to want to play us (in the playoffs)."

In a series where goals had been impossible to come by, the Sounders took the easy route to their first one on Saturday: 12 yards away, one-on-one from the penalty spot.

Sebastien Le Toux started the play. He had the ball near the top corner of the box on the left wing side, and Blues goalkeeper Josh Saunders came out to Le Toux trying to clear it. In so doing, Saunders took down LeToux, and referee Andrew Gage immediately pointed to the spot.

O'Brien, making his first start since breaking his left wrist in a 1-0 victory against Charleston on July 26, stepped up and launched the ball into the back left corner, planting it midway up the net at 32:27.

Le Toux and Kenji Treschuk teamed up to make it 2-0 at the 48:50 mark. Treschuk had the ball deep in the corner on the left wing side. He sent a cross sizzling along the ground right in front of the net. Saunders went down to play it at the left post, but before he could get to it, LeToux redirected it into the goal.

O'Brien sealed the deal at 76:38. The ball went from the right of the box toward the center, and O'Brien ran onto it, drilling it from 18 yards with Saunders rushing out toward him and watching it skip into the wide-open net.

Although the broken wrist kept O'Brien sidelined, it didn't render him inactive.

"It was one of the worst injuries I could have had for timing," he said. "But I was still able to run. It was a difficult month to be out, but I tried to work on whatever I could."

The Sounders sent dangerous tries goal-ward earlier in the first half, but both were cleared away. Yousouff Kante blasted one at a wide-open goal from 20 yards away to the right of the arc in the fifth minute, but a Miami defender kicked it clear of the right post.

Then, nine minutes later, Josh Gardner had the ball at the top of the box and crossed it to Roger Levesque running in from the right side. Levesque's shot was cleared off the line by another Blues defender.

Eylander kept the Blues off the board twice. On a Miami corner kick from the right side late in the 34th minute, Eylander blocked a short range header, bobbled the ball, but quickly reached up to pull it in. During stoppage time, a Blues corner kick from the attacking left side got loose on Eylander's front porch. In the ensuing scramble, a shot was sent well wide of the left post.

QUICK KICKS -- Forward Sanna Nyassi, signed on Friday by the MLS Seattle Sounders FC and loaned to the USL Sounders, saw his first action, subbing into the game for O'Brien in the 83rd minute. It didn't take long for him to impress Schmetzer. "I think I was telling you he was quick. But he's lightning quick," Schmetzer said. ... Roger Levesque exited the game in the 19th minute after taking a knee in the back from a Miami player. Schmetzer said he'll be day to day. ... Alex Afonso, the USL-1 leader in goals (14) and points (32) sat out Saturdays' game on a mandatory suspension for yellow cards. Sounders defender Zach Scott was out for the same reason, serving the second game of a two-game suspension, his second of the season for yellows. He currently has nine, and if he gets two more, it'll be a three-game suspension. ... While Leighton O'Brien was back in the lineup for the Sounders, younger brother Ciaran is back in Denver with the Colorado Rapids. The MLS club loaned the Federal Way native to the Sounders earlier this summer, then recalled him after O'Brien's two-assist performance in a 4-3 Seattle victory against Carolina on Aug. 24.



USL First Division Stories from September 7, 2008


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