[MLS PLAYOFFS: Seattle-Colorado] Nothing comes easy these days for the Seattle Sounders.
They looked to be in control of their Western Conferenceplay-in game against Colorado when goalie Michael Gspurning was sent off with four minutes left in regulation and the Sounders leading 1-0 for catching the balltwo yards outside his area. But the Sounders went on to beat the Rapids, 2-0, and move in the Western Conference semifinals against Portland.
The win ended the Sounders’ seven-game losingstreak.
U.S. national team players Brad Evans in the first half and EddieJohnson in stoppage time came through with the goals for Seattle, which has reached the conference semifinals all five years of its existence.
Gspurning had already fumbled several balls when he came of his area to catch the ball like a punt returned making a fair catch. Referee Silviu Petrescuhad no choice but to send off the Austrian, who had only recently regained his starting job after being benched in the middle of the winless streak.
Marcus Hahnemann, 41, was brought on for the game’s 10 minutes. Honduran Hendry Thomas had an open header that sailed over the bar, but otherwiseHahnemann didn’t have much to go.
Gspurning will have to sit out the first leg of the semifinals against Portland, so Hahnemann will remain in goal.
“I told Marcus after thegame he’s definitely starting the next game,” said Seattle coach Sigi Schmid. “I wanted to make sure there’s no confusion, going into practice Thursday andFriday not sure if he’s going to play or not. Marcus is a quality goalkeeper, it’s not going to be an issue.”
Schmid said a high bounce of the ball threw Gspurning off.
“Hefelt that if he would have been sideways on that he might have noticed that there was no one from their team that was going to break in behind him and he could have let the ball go over his head andhe could have picked it up in the 18-yard box,” the Seattle coach said. “But he wasn’t sure and he wanted to come out and head the ball, and realized the ball had bounced too high for him to head it.He thought he had jumped back into the box and then caught the ball, and then he was outside the box. The referee decided it was a red card. I don’t know how their goalkeeper doesn’t get a red card onthe play earlier, but that’s the referee’s decisions.”
Drew Moor, the only holdover from Colorado’s 2010 championship team to start on Wednesday,was disappointed with the team’s start.
“I think for one thing,” he said, “I wish we would have start off a little brighter. [It was] a playoff game — it’s different. If we start thegame the way we finished the second half, I think we give ourselves a little better chance.”
Oct. 30 in Seattle
Seattle 2 Colorado 0. Goals: Evans 28, Johnson 93+.
Seattle — Gspurning, Yedlin (Burch, 46), Traore, Hurtado, Gonzalez, Evans, Alonso, Moffat (Scott 90), Dempsey, Johnson, Neagle (Hahnemann 87).
Yellow Cards: Seattle — Neagle 78, Johnson 88; Colorado — Thomas 28, Harris 45+1, Irwin 53, Mera 79.
Red Card: Seattle — Gspurning 86.
Referee: Silviu Petrescu.
Att.: 32,204.
Gspurning was atrocious on the day, and it’s honestly a wonder to me how he got back in the team after that Vancouver game. The red card play was of howler proportions, and his play up until that point was laughable. It’s honestly a pretty big weak spot for the Sounders right now. Don’t know how he even argued the red, made him look like even more of a fool. Deserved send off.
I am trying to figure out how Irwin didn’t get sent off for his foul on Dempsey. That was a clear goal scoring opportunity and he made no effort to go after the ball. What was Gspurning doing? He looked like he had been smoking something.
There was a defender behind him, and to be fair he just stood there, he didn’t do much else. Could’ve seen it go either way.
Details…. It was a FIVE game losing streak. Bad enough, don’t make it worse. Seven game winless (two draws). At the time I thought Irwin deserved a red. Gspurning…give him a break. I saw a 10 year old do that a few years ago.:)
As his track record speaks for itself, Petrescu once again proved his lack of judgment and incompetence in this contest. This guy has no legitimate qualities to speak of and the league’s head of officials needs to be booted back to England where he came from; simply irresponsible.
Just like today’s Stoke City goal vs. Southampton… caught by the wind, the ball bounced between the defense and goalkeeper. With the GK off his line, the ball bounced high and into the net.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0zRE_M3l10