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(AP Photo/Kevin P. Casey)
SEATTLE (Saturday, March 28, 2009) - An early deficit and raucous crowd proved too much for Real Salt Lake (0-1-0, 0 pts.) to overcome tonight in its 2009 MLS season opener at Qwest Field, as Seattle Sounders FC (2-0-0, 6 pts.) used tallies from forwards Nate Jaqua and Fredy Montero to post a 2-0 victory over the Utahns. Jaqua beat his mark to a cross deep inside the area in the 17th minute to put Sounders FC up 1-0, and while Real Salt Lake would begin to take control of the proceedings around the half-hour mark, nothing would come of its growing numbers of chances. The visitors would pay for their inability to score in the 77th minute, as a quick Seattle counter was polished off by Montero, who hit a dipping drive from distance that finished off the night's scoring.
After opening its fifth MLS season tonight on the road, Real Salt Lake will get its first chance to take the field at Rio Tinto Stadium in 2009 this Thursday, April 2, when RSL welcomes the defending MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew (0-0-2, 2 pts.) to Sandy for ESPN2's "MLS Game of the Week" (7:00 p.m. kickoff).
For the complete MLSnet.com recap of tonight's contest, please click on the link below: http://real.saltlake.mlsnet.com/news/team\_news.jsp?ymd=20090329&content\_id=232249&vkey=news\_rsl&fext=.jsp&team=t121
Real Salt Lake (0-1-0) vs. Seattle Sounders FC (2-0-0) March 28, 2009 -- Qwest Field
Scoring Summary: SEA -- Nate Jaqua 1 (Steve Zakuani 1, Osvaldo Alonso 2) 17 SEA -- Fredy Montero 3 (Osvaldo Alonso 3) 77
Real Salt Lake -- Nick Rimando, Chris Wingert, Nat Borchers, Jamison Olave, Tony Beltran (Raphael Cox 84), Clint Mathis (Jean Alexandre 89), Kyle Beckerman, Javier Morales, Will Johnson, Robbie Findley (Andy Williams 74), Yura Movsisyan.
Substitutes Not Used: Ned Grabavoy, David Horst, Tino Nunez, Chris Seitz
Seattle Sounders FC -- Kasey Keller, James Riley, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Tyrone Marshall, Zach Scott, Sebastien Le Toux (Roger Levesque 91+), Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Steve Zakuani (Freddie Ljungberg 61), Fredy Montero, Nate Jaqua (Nathan Sturgis 71).
Substitutes Not Used: Ben Dragavon, Patrick Ianni, Stephen King, Tyson Wahl
Seattle Sounders FC
Real Salt Lake
total shots:
12
(Nate Jaqua 3, Steve Zakuani 3)
13
(Yura Movsisyan 4)
shots on goal:
4
(Nate Jaqua 2)
5
(Yura Movsisyan 2)
fouls:
13
(Jhon Kennedy Hurtado 3, Nate Jaqua 3)
14
(Javier Morales 4)
offsides:
0
0
corner kicks:
8
(Sebastien Le Toux 8)
12
(Javier Morales 11)
saves:
5
(Kasey Keller 5)
2
(Nick Rimando 2)
Misconduct Summary: RSL -- Kyle Beckerman (caution; Unsporting Behavior) 10 SEA -- Osvaldo Alonso (caution; Unsporting Behavior) 21 RSL -- Javier Morales (caution; Unsporting Behavior) 22 RSL -- Jamison Olave (caution; Unsporting Behavior) 45
Referee: Baldomero Toledo Referee's Assistants: Darren Clark; Jeff Hosking 4th official: Yader Reyes Time of game: 1:52 Attendance: 28,548 Weather: Showers-and-39 degrees
All statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial
MLS POSTGAME QUOTE SHEET SATURDAY, MARCH 28, 2009 SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC 2 : 0 REAL SALT LAKE XBOX PITCH AT QWEST FIELD - SEATTLE, WA
RSL DF NAT BORCHERS
On the problems RSL had tonight…
"I would say in the first half we were just a little bit off. Our passing was very sharp and for the most part defensively we were ok. In the second half, I felt we were clearly the better team. I thought it was unfortunate that we couldn't get the equalizer. To be fair they had a nice second goal."
On adjusting in the opening game…
"Every first game of the season I have played in, you're not as sharp as you're going to be midway through the season. I thought we dealt with it well in the second half. Unfortunately they punished us with two counter-attack goals. That was the difference in the game - we gave up the ball on our half of the field, and they were able to capitalize on it."
RSL FW YURA MOVSISYAN
On the atmosphere of the game…
"I thought the atmosphere was unbelievable. We need that more in MLS. Kudos to them, it was really good."
RSL GK NICK RIMANDO
Thoughts on tonight's match…
"We came in here with the right mentality and attitude and fought. It was one of those games where both teams fought, and they did a good job pressuring us. They are a good team and we knew that coming in, and they proved it. We came in here trying to get a result; it didn't fall for us this time. I'm not mad or sad because I think we gave it our all out effort."
On being pleased with the season debut…
"Playing on the road in this environment and this team is good; Sigi (Coach Schmid) has done well with them. He is one the best coaches in the league for a reason. When you have player like [Fredy] Montero, all those guys out there did well today. They make differences out there. Today the ball didn't bounce our way and we missed some opportunities. We also gave up some goals that we can't give up. It was said before: we didn't win the league today but we also didn't lose it."
On the atmosphere of the game…
"I have seen it before, when D.C. United played Real Madrid here it was the same kind of atmosphere. The fans were great and it is great for our league. It is good for Seattle Sounders FC for sure."
SOUNDERS FC HEAD COACH SIGI SCHMID
On whether he's encouraged by the team finding ways to win…
"I love six points. We got six points in two games. I love that. I think our soccer's going to get better and better. It's going to take some time to merge. I watched a few other games today. Obviously when you have teams where guys have played together, have 20, 30, 40 games under their belt as a unit of four, five, six guys, that makes soccer a little bit better. We're not at that stage yet. We're a team that's two regular season games into establishing a passing rhythm and everything else. So there's still a lot of things that we need to work on."
On the crowd's energy at Qwest Field…
"Yeah, it was great. I thought the energy was really, really good. The noise level was fantastic again. That's the first thing Jason Kreis said to me when I walked over at the start of the game. I wished him good luck and he wished me good luck, and I said, ‘How about the atmosphere?' And he goes, ‘Unbelievable.'"
On Fredy Montero's goal…
"It was definitely a goal against the run of play. At that point, they were dominating play. You got to come up with some individual efforts and plays, and that's what Fredy gave us. He just hit a ball, I don't know if it got deflected a little bit, but he hits such a heavy ball, and the thing moves. I think it caught [Nick] Rimando thinking, ‘Hey, it's going to come this way,' and it bent over him the other way. But certainly that goal took a lot of pressure off of us. Kasey had come up with some big saves right prior to that. It allowed us to be able to relax a little bit, even though I don't think we ever looked relaxed in the second half."
SOUNDERS FC FW FREDY MONTERO
On Real Salt Lake being more physical with him…
"Yes, at the start of the game they showed they were going to be a physical team. I continued to play the game with my personality, I continued to call for the ball."
On the goal he scored in the second half…
"It was a great pass from [Osvaldo] Alonso and I carried the ball to just outside the box. When I noticed my defender was in position and I realized I had space and I arranged a strong shot. Thank god it went in."
SOUNDERS FC FW NATE JAQUA
On his first goal of the season…
"He made a good pass on into me, right in front of the box. The goalie tried to knock it down and I was able to put it on frame."
On the play of the team tonight…
"It was a little sloppy tonight, in the second half they really came at us. We need to do a better job at holding the ball and eliminating the pressure. We were able to fight it out and Kasey [Keller] was able to come up with some big saves. Obviously Fredy [Montero] with the bomb at the end that kind of put the nail in the coffin. I thought we played a little better there at the end. The first twenty-minutes were a little sloppy."
