SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Turns out one Fredy is all the Seattle Sounders need.
In their first game since divesting themselves of unhappy designated player Freddie Ljungberg, the Sounders’ remaining Fredy—Colombian midfielder Fredy Montero—continued his scorching hot streak, scoring in the 26th minute to provide the only goal in Seattle’s 1-0 win over the San Jose Earthquakes.
Montero has now been involved, either assisting or scoring himself, in 12 of Seattle’s last 15 goals, including each of the Sounders’ last eight. He did the latter on Saturday night against the Quakes and almost did the former.
Montero opened the goal-scoring sequence by steering a long pass to open space in the right corner. Sanna Nyassi ran onto the ball and delivered a lovely first-touch cross to the doorstep, where an unmarked Montero lurked. He powered his header into the back of the net past the fruitless dive of goalkeeper Jon Busch.
The breakdown was most disappointing for the Quakes because Ike Opara and Sam Cronin had closed down on Montero on his first touch, but neither of them stuck with the Sounders’ most dangerous player when he made the follow-up run.
Despite his inability to stop Montero’s goal, Busch saved the Quakes again and again. Without him, the match would have gotten out of hand.
He kept the Quakes from an early deficit with a leaping save in the 9th minute, using his left hand to redirect a Montero header onto the underside of the crossbar and out. A diving stop on a poor back pass by Opara in the 30th minute and another one on a blast from 16 yards by Blaise Nkufo in the 63rd showed why Quakes coach Frank Yallop inserted Busch as the side’s number one a month or so ago.
San Jose coach Frank Yallop is normally loath to change a successful side, so it was a bit of a surprise when he tapped Scott Sealy in favor of leading scorer Chris Wondolowski, who hadn’t opened a league match on the bench since April 10, a string of 13 consecutive starts.
But the changes had little effect. San Jose generated only one shot on goal in the first half, and that came about in the 14th minute when Sounders defender Jeff Parke slid and missed at a long lead pass from Opara. Cornell Glen streamed onto the ball and forced an uncovered save from Kasey Keller, but no other Quake could catch up in time to pose a danger on the rebound.
Yallop abandoned his favored 4-4-2 at halftime, bringing in Ryan Johnson and Arturo Alvarez in place of Sealy and defensive center midfielder Brandon McDonald, then sought even more offense in the 74th when he replaced right back Jason Hernandez with Wondolowski.
It was all to no avail, however, raising questions of how effective the Quakes offense can be the rest of the way without an infusion of new blood.
Meanwhile, the Sounders introduced their own newcomer, Uruguayan World Cup veteran Alvaro Fernandez. The lanky attacker came on in the 69th minute for Steve Zakuani, and had a decent chance to snag a debut goal, but his touch let him down in the box.
After a poor stretch of results, the Sounders have now ripped off three straight wins in MLS, and moved within two points of FC Dallas for 3rd place in the standings.
With this victory, the Sounders claim the Heritage Cup—the two-team competition between San Jose and Seattle based on their shared NASL lineage—after San Jose won it last season. The teams actually split their season series this year, but Seattle won the cup on the tiebreaker—more points in the standings. (There is no provision in the rules for Seattle having played three more matches to this point.)
Scoring Summary:
SEA -- Fredy Montero 7 (Sanna Nyassi 3) 26
Misconduct Summary:
SJ -- Sam Cronin (caution; Reckless Foul) 15
SJ -- Ramiro Corrales (caution; Reckless Foul) 80
SEA -- Osvaldo Alonso (caution; Reckless Tackle) 91+
Seattle Sounders -- Kasey Keller, James Riley, Patrick Ianni, Jeff Parke (Tyrone Marshall 46), Leo Gonzalez, Sanna Nyassi, Nathan Sturgis, Osvaldo Alonso, Steve Zakuani (Alvaro Fernandez 69), Fredy Montero, Blaise Nkufo (Nate Jaqua 86).
Substitutes Not Used: Roger Levesque, Zach Scott, Mike Seamon, Terry Boss.
San Jose Earthquakes -- Jon Busch, Jason Hernandez (Chris Wondolowski 74), Bobby Burling, Ike Opara, Ramiro Corrales, Joey Gjertsen, Sam Cronin, Brandon McDonald (Arturo Alvarez 46), Bobby Convey, Cornell Glen, Scott Sealy (Ryan Johnson 46).
Substitutes Not Used: Steven Beitashour, Justin Morrow, Brad Ring, Joe Cannon.
Referee: Edvin Jurisevic
Referee's Assistants: Eric Boria; Ian Anderson
4th Official: Ricardo Salazar
Time of Game: 1:50
Attendance: 10,351
Weather: Clear-and-72-degrees
