The Sounders put on an absolutely disgraceful performance tonight, falling to Real Salt Lake by three goals in the the first leg of the Western Conference semi-finals. Until the dying minutes of the match, the Sounders simply couldn't hold possession and build and develop on the attack to save their lives. To put it simply, RSL called all the shots.
After claiming a dominant hold on the match early on, it took until the final five minutes of the first half for RSL to start off the scoring. Chris Wingert whipped in a cross coming off of an overlapping run that was destined for the far corner of Kasey Keller's net on it's own, but Alvaro Saborio put a foot in to tap it over the line. RSL then struck again just minutes into the second half, Saborio neatly flicking the ball served up by star playmaker Javier Morales past Keller. Towards the final fifteen minutes, after both of RSL's key center backs had been removed from the game due to injury, the Sounders were finally able to get a foothold in the match. Unfortunately they couldn't staunch the bleeding, RSL added one more goal before the night was done. Substitute Ned Grabavoy knocking the ball in past Keller after a frantic scramble in the box to clear the ball saw it land at his feet.
Next up, the return leg is this coming Wednesday. If the Sounders can't get Rosales back out on the field, I don't think that they stand a chance.
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