The Fredy and Eddie show

The Sounders kicked off their defense of the Cascadia with a performance that was what could only be described as a tale of two halves, as they went on to salvage a point in a 2-2 draw at BC Place thanks to their reunited attacking force.

The first half had to be one of the worst that the Sounders had ever had the misfortune of playing. While Vancouver allowed them a fair share of the possession, the Sounders offense just couldn't click. To make matters worse, Vancouver was content to catch the Sounders on the counter with disconcerting ease which resulted in the Whitecap's first goal and two other golden opportunities that rookies Omar Salgado and Darren Mattacks sent wide. That first goal came courtesy of left back Alain Rochat, who came streaking down the lefthand side of midfield completely unnoticed and gathered up a pass from Salgado and easily made his way into the penalty area and deposited the ball into the net past Bryan Meredith. Heading into halftime the Sounders were incredibly lucky not to be down two or three goals.

Coming out of halftime, it was abundantly clear that the Sounders got the message. Just two minutes in they found an equalizer, Fredy Montero lobbing the ball across into the path of Mauro Rosales who gathered it up and crossed it into the box for Eddie Johnson who powered the header in past Joe Cannon. The Sounders would continue to press, Montero getting two excellent looks on goal in the space of two minutes, both of which were skillfully denied by Cannon. Despite the constant pressure from the Sounders, the Whitecaps regained the lead through an excellent free kick from substitue Camilo Sanvenzzo who served the ball into the box which managed to evade everyone including Meredith into the Sounders' goal. The Sounders would not let that be the killing blow, and immediately fought back with increased pressure and urgency. It all paid of in the ninetieth minute, when after receiving a headed pass from Eddie Johnson Fredy Montero worked his magic, evading the Whitecaps defense and cooly curling the shot past a helpless Cannon for the equalizer. The Sounders nearly got the game winner in the dying moments of stoppage time, as Zach Scott sent a free header directly off of a free kick from Montero just wide.

Next up the Sounders face the Columbus Crew on Wednesday.

Trade fever

In just the last week the Philadelphia Union has been confirmed to be in talks with Chivas USA over Danny Califf, and now this morning Chivas is apparently orchestrating yet another trade, apparently trading Heath Pearce over to the New York Red Bulls. Oddly the trade was announced via Pearce's Twitter account:

Heath Pearce has officially been traded to the new York red bulls. Thanks Chivas fans for your love during my time here...

— Heath Pearce (@HeathGPearce) May 17, 2012

Now it's just a matter of waiting to find out who and/or what the Goats got in return for these trades. What are your predictions?

EDIT: It's sounding like Chivas is getting Juan Agudelo in return for Pearce and sending out Michael Lahoud in return for Califf.

Eric Hassli's latest work

Thought his golazo against the Sounders last season wasn't repeatable? Well, Hassli proved yesterday night that that goal wasn't exactly out of the ordinary for him with another stunning volley to tie things up in the first leg of the ACC final. Check it out below:

The Sounders keep rolling

 

Despite being on short rest and having to use their eighth different line-up in as many games as a result, the Sounders extended their winning streak to four games and an overall unbeaten streak to five. Not only did the Sounders get the three points, they registered their fifth shutout of the season.

From the first whistle the Sounders dominated the match, defensively allowing only a single shot in the first half and ultimately allowing Philadelphia only a single shot on target while endlessly harassing Philadelphia's back line on the offensive side. Despite the pressure and number of chances the Union's Zac McMath held strong, denying all but one. That goal came in the sixty-third minute, Fredy Montero picked up the ball from Eddie Johnson at the top of the penalty area and slid a beautiful pass to a completely open Mauro Rosales who easily slipped it home into the far corner. MacMath didn't do all the work, however. On two occasions he got a little help from the woodwork, one saw Andy Rose with a header off of the crossbar direct off of a corner and the other a beautiful chip from Montero off of the upper ninety.

After the goal, the remainder of the second half proved to be nervy times for the Sounders as several giveaways and poor passing gifted the Union a handful of opportunities that thankfully they just could not capitalize on. The Sounders held on, though, winning for the third time in eight days and Bryan Meredith earning his first shutout in his first ever MLS start. Now to look forward to next Wednesday, when the Sounders travel down to Frisco, Texas to face FC Dallas.

The legend of Fredy Montero

The curse has been broken, and in spectacular fashion. Leading into tonight's match the Sounders had been winless against the Galaxy since their inaugural season, but one of the Sounders' best offensive performances of the season and an anemic Galaxy lineup saw that winless streak finally and triumphantly broken.

The first half was purely Sounders domination, taking roughly fifty five percent possession and denying the Galaxy any shots on goal. Eddie Johnson highlighted the half with his second strike of the season (his last coming last weekend against Chicago), off of a feed from none other than the captain Mauro Rosales. Rosales received the ball at midfield, took a stride forward, picked up his head and saw Eddie and served in a fantastic ball that Eddie easily headed in past Galaxy 'keeper Bill Gaudette.

The second half saw Michael Gspurning come out after having struggled the first half with a right hip injury, which gave Brian Meredith his MLS debut for the Sounders. The Galaxy began to look more dangerous as the game came to a close, but past a Landon Donovan shot straight at him Meredith's first half of MLS action was largely inactive. The real story of the second half, however, was Fredy Montero's beautiful golazo. He received the ball at midfield from Osvaldo Alonso, took a couple strides forward and upon noticing Gaudette off of his line and performed the audacious, taking a crack from a full thirty five yards out, the ball finding it's way into the top left corner of the goal past a completely helpless Gaudette. There has been frustration voiced over Montero's lack of production, and what a way to satiate the fans and open his scoring account for the 2012 season. You can see the goal in the video below: