Andres Escobar threaded his way through three Seattle players, notably Lamar Neagle, and passed to David Texeira for a tap-in goal in the 79th minute for what proved to be the game winner in a 3-1 victory over the Sounders Wednesday night at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, TX.
Losing to Dallas for the first time in three matches this season, and for the second time in 10, the Sounders are 0-2 since claiming their fourth U.S. Open Cup in Philadelphia 10 days ago, outscored 7-2 in the pair. The game was the fourth in the past 12 days.
The Sounders (17-9-3) remain stuck on 54 points (in 29 matches), still good for a tie with LA Galaxy in the Supporters Shield standings. But the Sounders no longer have a game in hand.
The Sounders seemed to take control in the 58th minute when Neagle, minutes after coming off the bench, took a Clint Dempsey heel pass and whacked it 30 yards just inside the far post, tying the match 1-1.
But Texeira, who opened the scoring in the eighth minute when he guided home a header from Escobar, knocked in the go-ahead goal past a startled Stefen Frei. Blas Perez sealed it for Dallas in the 88th minute when he headed home a cross from Michel. Texeira has three goals this season, all against the Sounders.
The Sounders had plenty of opportunities to win, with 13 shots to 10 for Dallas. Late in the first half, Dallas goalkeeper Raul Fernandez made saves to deny Marco Pappa and Dempsey. Seattle framed only four shots to five for Dallas. The Sounders also dominated time of possession, controlling the ball for 56.6 percent of the match. But they couldn’t convert when presented chances.
Notes
The Sounders fell to 5-8-0 when conceding the first goal . . . The Sounders finished 2-1 against Dallas (won 3-2 in April and 2-1 in May) and are 8-3-4 all-time against the Texans . . . The Sounders are chasing an unprecedented triple: No team has won the U.S. Open Cup, MLS Cup and Supporters Shield (best record) in the same season. Sigi Schmid, with the Galaxy in 2002, came closest when his team won the MLS Cup and Supporters Shield (lost the U.S. Open Cup final).
Next
The Sounders return to CenturyLink Field at 1 p.m. Saturday to face Chivas USA. After that match, the Sounders have four games remaining before the MLS playoffs, including a final pair (Oct. 19, Oct. 25) against the LA Galaxy.
1 Comment
No idea what happened there. The match started strong on the Sounders part and they had a good amount of shots on goal but Dallas controlled the ball on the Sounders end of the pitch far too much and it cost them. Dempsey and Martins never seemed to get in a rhythm.