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Saturday, July 25, 2009

Sports Seattle Sounders vs. Chicago Fire Match Open Thread

Posted by Christopher Frizzelle on Sat, Jul 25, 2009 at 2:04 PM

• Does the crowd seem three times louder than usual? From the glassed-in press booth, it's normally very difficult to hear the fans. Today the glass walls are humming with the roar of the crowd, coming in huge waves: "Seeaaaaaahhhtttuuuhhhl Sooouuuunnnnddddeerrrrrrs... " I love this chant. So easy to sing, so affectionate, and yet weirdly almost mournful. Maybe the crowd's just really loud because we're playing well. A man in a suit in the press booth was serving himself some food and a giant wave of noise came through the room. He looked up and grinned. I asked if it was just me or if the crowd is louder than usual. "Much louder," he said.

• Chicago Fire is just collecting yellow cards. In the 39th minute, they have three so far.

• All right, a bunch of craziness just went down. It began with Chicago's John Thorrington getting his second yellow card of the game in the 54th minute, resulting in an ejection. Awesome. (Now that Chicago will play the rest of the match one man down, maybe we can score something?) Then, three minutes later, Seattle's Patrick Ianni got a yellow card. Ugh. Then, two minutes later, Ljungberg got a yellow card for something I didn't see ("flopping in front of the opposing goal," Sam Machkovech says in comments) and then lost his cool with the ref, walked away, kept losing his cool, the ref followed him, and then the ref held up a yellow card again. Within moments of the first one. What a sensitive little slimeball of a ref. Let Ljungberg yell a little—who cares? Ljungberg's teammates ran over to plead with the ref, but the li'l slimball wasn't having it. So now Ljungberg's out—kicking, screaming, furious, but out. Leaving both teams down a man.

• What'd Ljungberg say to the li'l slimeball ref that so upset his feelings? Sam in comments: "Anybody think Jungberg called the ref 'the son of a terrorist whore'?"

• The "Seeaaaaaahhhtttuuuhhhl Sooouuuunnnnddddeerrrrrrs..." chant really is starting to sound mournful.

• Today's attendance: 32,405. Third-largest attendance ever for a Sounders match at Qwest Field.

• The match ends in a tie: 0-0.

Comments (24) RSS

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Maybe the crowd realizes they're on national tv.

Posted by Renton Mike on July 25, 2009 at 12:36 PM

After Chicago lost a player to a 2nd yellow card, Jungberg was ejected in the 59ish minute after arguing a yellow card he got for flopping in front of the opposing goal.

Anybody think Jungberg called the ref "the son of a terrorist whore"?

Posted by Sam Machkovech

on July 25, 2009 at 1:31 PM

Well, Ljungberg should be well rested for the Open Cup final.

Posted by Renton Mike on July 25, 2009 at 1:33 PM

Now Freddie knows how Prof. Gates feels.

Posted by Olo on July 25, 2009 at 2:14 PM

0-0 at home happens. It tests the fairweather fans.

Posted by PedestrianMe

on July 25, 2009 at 2:38 PM

It's a draw, not a tie.

Posted by Massive Attack on July 25, 2009 at 3:09 PM

another draw - shocker

Posted by Reader1 on July 25, 2009 at 3:12 PM

zero...

to...

zero

Posted by Sums it all up pretty well.... on July 25, 2009 at 3:18 PM

Funny... my friend with season tickets said he thought it was the worst playing he's seen by the Sounders.

Posted by dingleberry dipshit on July 25, 2009 at 4:17 PM

They were SO unlucky not to score. I wish we had a real striker who (a) is facing the right way in front of goal and (b) bashes it in instead of dithering about. We had four balls that looked like they bounced off plexiglass across the goal mouth. At least one of those HAS to go in.

We continue to have temper tantrums. Hurtado's yellow was well-earned; he committed a foul, the ref blew his whistle, and Hurtado carried on attacking a new player and fouled HIM too. How to turn an ordinary foul into a yellow. And Freddie, well, maybe he dove, maybe he didn't, but he was shown red not for diving but for almost attacking the ref. He then walked to the sideline and not only turned on his heel to Sigi, but shoved his own assistant coach.

I was booing louder than anyone, but I have to say the refs got pretty much everything right today. Another unpopular opinion: Blanco is my favorite non-Sounder. I like the way he runs: he looks like an old man hurrying to the liquor store before it closes. And you KNOW that he's saying "if they're not booing my every touch by the 60th minute, I haven't been doing my job".

Shoulda had a win, dammit. And now my brain is completely melted.

Posted by Fnarf

on July 25, 2009 at 4:24 PM

I had a good view of it from my end: Freddie didn't dive, his shirt was grabbed and he was pulled. That's why he was so pissed.

Angry game, but they happen. Onwards and upwards to next week.

Posted by Abby on July 25, 2009 at 4:30 PM

This was my first match live! They purposely didn't score just to get me to go again. Thanks to the dude who gave me a free ticket, you are a saint. And thanks to the Stranger for recommending Maximus Minimus, which was yummy.

I really thought the ref was jobbing us all day, not just with the red card to Ljungberg, but with calling every "foul" on a Chicago player, while swallowing the whistle as our guys get kicked to pieces.

Apparently the red-shirted section in the NE corner were not Chicago Fire fans, but Portland fans who wanted to make trouble. I really do not understand why some American soccer fans think hooliganism is cool. Even hooligans don't think hooliganism is cool anymore.

Posted by Max Power on July 25, 2009 at 6:47 PM

FYI, from USSMariner's blog, they claim this is on every Sounders ticket:

"The ticket holder will not transmit or aid in transmitting any picture, account or description (whether text, data or visual) in any media now or hereafter existing of all or any part of the Events."

Posted by better not describe anything that happened on July 25, 2009 at 8:03 PM

@13, that's ok, apparently nothing happened at this game. Didn't you see the final score?

Posted by joykiller on July 25, 2009 at 8:14 PM

As with Houston, the Sounders had most of the ball and most of the shots. Is the Sounder midfield that good or are teams playing a bit of a bunker defense against us?

Posted by Moag on July 25, 2009 at 8:47 PM

How do you all sophis-ta-macatid Euros feel when a soccer game ends in a tie. Seriously, you invest all that time and there's no resolution. Kinda makes you want to riot, or trample someone to death, huh?

Posted by Imtoodumbtogetit on July 25, 2009 at 10:05 PM

I just watched the replay and Ljungberg dove. No shirt pull. Plenty of shirt pulling afterwards. Ref got it right.

My Sounders ticket says on the back "If a legal baseball game is not played, ticket may be exchanged for a same priced seat for any other regular same season game if available." No, "baseball" is not a typo.

It also says "No recording or transmission of any description, account, picture, or reproduction of event permitted." Same thing it says on baseball tickets (obviously, this IS a baseball ticket with a soccer match on the front).

You are also technically breaking the rules if you watch a game on TV -- ANY game -- and tell your friends what happened.

Posted by Fnarf

on July 25, 2009 at 11:08 PM

Imagine how good the Sounders would be if refs weren't trying to job them in every other match. You'd swear they were on orders from MLS to get us like the commissioner was Dr Claw and the Sounders were run by Inspector Gadget.

Also, Qwest Field always tarps off seats in order to create a sellout-crowd and intimate feel, but I wonder how many more seats they could sell if they opened up more than the current configuration. It's fools gold to expect they could fill every seat in Qwest (save for the Chelsea match which was a special circumstance since Chelsea has a huge worldwide following), but given that they sell out every match, you have to wonder if they could draw 35,000 or 40,000 to a match given the ticket demand.

Posted by Gomez

on July 26, 2009 at 12:36 AM

Oh, fer chrissake, the refs aren't jobbing them. Our players are asking for it by losing our tempers so easily and often. I've never seen a team that could turn a simple foul into yellow, or a yellow into a red, faster than this one. The ref did a great job yesterday.

Posted by Fnarf

on July 26, 2009 at 9:34 AM

I'm guessing by fnarf's comments that Ljungberg scored more goals at White Hart Lane than I can remember.

Posted by Bubba on July 26, 2009 at 2:30 PM

Don't be stupid.

Posted by Fnarf

on July 26, 2009 at 9:27 PM

Crying about the refs having it in for your team is really weak -- and you guys do it after just about every game.

Posted by realjournalist on July 26, 2009 at 10:08 PM

Are the chants played through the speakers so that the crowd can join in, or do unpaid fans initiate them independently from Sounders managment? Also, I heard a drum but couldn't locate the drummer - is that staged too? I'm not complaining, just curious.

Posted by blank12357 on July 27, 2009 at 12:16 AM

The chants are not piped through the speakers. The band is (which is sad), but not the supporters club (who hate the band). The drummer is real, not staged. Your paranoia is ridiculous.

Posted by Fnarf

on July 27, 2009 at 1:04 AM