Thank you for joining us here at VAVEL USA. My name is Matthew Evans. Have a great night!
Full Time: Seattle Sounders FC 0, Sporting Kansas City 0
90+3': There is the final whistle.
90+3': Zusi plays a ball across the box to Nemeth but the header is over the bar.
90+2': SAVE!!!! Feilhaber drives a shot to the far post but Frei is able to palm it over the bar. Corner kick coming for Sporting.
90+2': Play resumes with Seattle playing down a man for the time being.
90+1': Pineda is down on the field. Looks like it could be cramps.
90+1': Three minutes of stoppage time
89': Roldan looks for space on the wing but he is tackled off the ball. Is there some stoppage time magic for Seattle?
88': Feilhaber gets time after the corner is played, his shot is wide of the target.
87': Salaam draws a corner kick after his cross is deflected out by Remick.
86': MISS! Roldan gives the ball away in the midfield. Feilhaber plays to Nemeth who fires his shot over the bar.
84': Feilhaber pulls down Roldan for a deep free kick. Pineda plays into the middle of the field but Dempsey cannot get his head to the ball.
84': Seattle Sub: Chad Barrett (Out), Darwin Jones (In)
83': Darwin Jones is getting ready to come on.
82': SAVE!!! The free kick is headed out, Evans with the bicycle kick towards the goal that Barrett tries to push into the net but Melia is there to make the save.
81': Roldan is hacked down by Ellis, he earns a yellow card. Mustivar is also booked, looks like it was for the first hard challenge on Roldan.
80': Seattle intercepts deep in the Sporting end. Barrett plays a ball across that is blocked. He attempts to play the ball out to Mears but hits it too hard.
77': Rose gets on the end of a deep Remick throw. Rose clips a ball to the front of the goal but Melia is out to gather.
77': Sporting Sub: Servando Carrasco (Out), Graham Zusi (In)
76': Anibaba with the run down the wing. Remick with a great defensive play to dispossess the Sporting attacker.
75': Looks like Graham Zusi is getting ready to come into the match.
73': Seattle Sub: Marco Pappa (Out), Cristian Roldan (In)
73': Besler sends a cross into the area that Frei is able to get a fist to.
72': Sporting starting to pressure the Seattle defensive third.
70': Bodies going down everywhere. Seattle has a man go down deep in the Sporting area with no call, a soft foul in the midfield area on a Sporting player is then called. The fans do not like that decision.
67': Pineda is down, and just as quickly is back up. Carrasco landed on Pineda's ankle after an ariel challenge.
66': OOOOO! A big no call there as Andy Rose is brought down on the outside of the area. Say what you want but as least the reffing has been consistent.
64': Seattle Sub: Lamar Neagle (Out), Andy Rose (In)
63': Andy Rose is preparing to come in for the Sounders.
63': Remick makes a run in behind the defense, he is taken down from behind by Abdul-Salaam but no call.
61': The ball is sent in and quickly sent out by Sporting
60': A foul is called! Stop the presses. Seattle with a free kick coming.
58': Sporting Sub: Jimmy Medranda (Out), Saad Abdul-Salaam (In)
Score Update: Colorado Rapids 1, Vancouver Whitecaps 0. FT
57': MISS! Carrasco feeds Medranda on the counterattack. The shot is let go from about 25 yards out but it just slices past the far post.
55': Sporting Sub: Jacob Peterson (Out), Connor Hallisey (In)
54': Connor Hallisey is being prepped to come on the field.
53': Melia bobbles a low cross from Remick but he recovers just before Dempsey can get to the ball.
51': SAVE! Peterson gets on the end of a cross at a range of seven yards but Frei is there to make the save. If he heads to a corner, that is a goal.
50': The Sounders are starting to use diagonal runs in the Sporting end to try and clear out some space. Sporting is holding serve on defense.
49': Seattle passes around their own end. Sporting is giving them all the space they want if their own area but they are closing down the Sounders once they cross the midfield stripe.
47': A big recovery run from Dylan Remick to deny a look at goal for Jimmy Medranda.
Score Update: Real Salt Lake 2, New York City FC 0
46': MISS!!! Neagle gets open behind the Sporting defense, he has trouble bringing the ball down and fires his shot well wide of the far post.
46': We are underway
The teams are back out on the field for the second half. Sporting Kansas City will get us underway kicking from left-to-right on your keyboard.
And a look at some of the other stats from the first half.
Here is a look at the possession and passing numbers from the first half.
We will back in just a moment with halftime coverage.
Seattle manager Sigi Schmid says that the team needs to be faster in switching the point of attack.
Halftime: Seattle Sounders FC 0, Sporting Kansas City 0
45+3': There is the halftime whistle.
45+1': Wow, we are starting to wonder what it is going to take for a foul to be called in this match. Another big collision at the midfield stripe but no foul called.
45+1': Two minutes of added time here in the first half.
45': Dempsey with a great move in the midfield to keep possession but his pass to Pappa has too much juice on it. Feilhaber intercepts.
42': We are back after some technical difficulties. Neagle gets a ball down the left side but he is offside by a shoulder.
39': Melia comes off his line to punch a Pappa cross clear.
39': Seattle starting to pressure the Sporting Kansas City area. No shots on goal but they are opening up some space in the penalty area.
36': MISSED!!!! Brad Evans leads the Sounders on a 4-on-3 breakaway. He fires a shot over Melia but it is just over the crossbar. What an effort.
35': The pace has slowed back down.
Score Update: Colorado Rapids 1, Vancouver Whitecaps 0
32': MISS!!! Mears floats a cross into the box, Neagle gets a head on it but the ball is just wide!
Score Update: Colorado Rapids 0, Vancouver Whitecaps 0, the game has restarted after a brief lightning delay.
30': Remick puts a ball in to Barrett but he cannot connect with the volley attempt. Melia gets down to make the easy save.
28': Barrett finds Mears on the overlap. Mears puts the ball towards the penalty spot but Ellis makes the clearance.
27': Frei is getting involved in the passing between Seattle defenders now.
25': Sporting is starting to tighten up their defensive grip on the midfield. Not much attacking action going on right now.
Score Update: Real Salt Lake 1, New York City FC 0
23': Frei keeps his eyes on a deflected shot and makes the easy save.
21': Melia comes off his line to grab a cross from Mears. Barrett was very close to getting on the end of that one.
19': Remick makes a great run down the left side and is found. His first cross is cleared, the second is blocked out to Neagle who cannot put a shot through. The ball is eventually played towards Barrett who is just offside.
18': Seattle is slowing the pace way down. They are passing among themselves in their own end. Pappa to Evans to Marshall to Remick, rinse, repeat.
16': Sporting is starting to get some sustained possession in the Seattle end. The Sounders defense is standing tall though.
14': Feilhaber wins the ball off of Pappa on a tough shoulder-to-shoulder challenge. This game has been very physical so far.
12': WOAH! Ozzie Alonso plays a dangerous ball across his own area but thankfully the Seattle defense was aware and able to clear the ball.
11': Dempsey fires a volley that bounces wide of the net. Not close enough to test Melia.
10': MISS! Besler with the long throw into the box that falls to Nemeth but he cannot connect solidly with the shot attempt. Frei with the save.
9': No replacement for Dwyer on the bench so Sporting will only have six available subs
8': Dempsey feeds a diagonal ball towards Barrett but it is too close to Melia in goal.
7': Seattle really controlling the early possession. Sporting has had a few spells of possession but it has mostly been in their own half.
5': Barrett gets his head on the corner kick, he directs it to the back post but the ball is just behind a wide-open Clint Dempsey. The ball goes out for a goal kick.
5': A beautiful night in the Emerald City tonight. What a move from Lamar Neagle down the left hand side. He earns a corner kick.
3': Nemeth has been pushed to the top of the formation as the lone striker in the absence of Dwyer.
2': The Sounders setting the tempo early
1': Seattle kicks off moving from left-to-right on your keyboard and we are underway from CenturyLink Field
BREAKING NEWS: Dom Dwyer is out of the starting lineup for Sporting Kansas City. Jimmy Medranda is starting in his place.
The two managers exchange a handshake after the anthem.
A few sections of the upper deck directly across the press box are open for tonight's match.
The crowd is observing a moment of silence in remembrance of Memorial Day weekend.
Seattle will be wearing their home Rave Green jerseys and Blue shorts. Kansas City will be in their new all-white kit. This writer is a big fan of those kits, they look great.
The players are coming out onto the field right now for the pre-game ceremonies.
Meanwhile, the Colorado Rapids and Vancouver Whitecaps are underway from Dick's Sporting Goods Park.
DC United finally pulls one back in the 80th minute as Jairo Arrieta scores. Montreal had extended their lead to 2-0 over FC Dallas within moments of the DC United goal.
Some crazy from Gillette Stadium as New England is down to 9 men after two red cards in a span of six minutes. They are still holding on to a 1-0 lead over DC United.
Graham Zusi is on the bench for Sporting Kansas City tonight.
Here is a look at the starting eleven for Sporting Kansas City: (4-3-3): Melia; Anibaba, Ellis, Besler, Dia; Carrasco, Mustivar, Feilhaber; Peterson, Dwyer, Nemeth
Here is a look at the starting eleven for the Seattle Sounders FC: (4-4-2): Frei; Mears, Evans, Marshall, Remick; Pappa, Alonso, Pineda, Neagle; Dempsey, Barrett
Montreal has taken a 1-0 lead on FC Dallas on a penalty kick from Ignacio Piatti in the 25th minute.
The New England Revolution score a late game in the first half to make that score 1-0 to the home team, it was Charlie Davies with the rebound off a Juan Agudelo corner.
There are two other game that will have kicked off by the time ours does tonight. Montreal Impact and FC Dallas kick off at 8 pm ET. Colorado Rapids and Vancouver Whitecaps kick off at 9 pm ET. We will keep you posted on those scores.
For a short preview of that match, check out my colleague Homar Hernandez's piece right here.
Next up on the MLS Docket for the day comes a big Eastern Conference showdown between DC United and the New England Revolution.
Portland's woes continue with a 1-0 loss on the day as well as an injury scare to Diego Valeri. Valeri had to be subbed off in the 25th minute. We will give you an update when one becomes available to us.
The MLS scoreboard is already underway for today as the Portland Timbers traveled to Toronto to take on Toronto FC.
So make sure that you don’t turn this match off early, there will be some late fireworks if history repeats itself.
The list of Sporting Kansas City killers includes Mike Fucito (92’, 4/17/10, 1-0 W), Jeff Parke (93’, 5/21/11, 1-0 W), Mauro Rosales (90’) and Lamar Neagle (92’, 8/6/11, 2-1 W), Djimi Traore (94’, 5/8/13, 1-0 W), and Chad Barrett (94’, 3/8/14, 1-0 W).
This will be the tenth regular season meeting between these two clubs and it is a series that favors Seattle. The Sounders have won seven of the previous nine meeting with Kansas City winning the first one back in 2009. What makes this series very interesting is that Seattle has earned many results in second half stoppage time.
It will be very interesting to see if Seattle continues this possession-based style of play now that they are back in the friendly confines of CenturyLink Field. This is the start of a three-match week all at home for the Sounders. In fact, six of their next seven matches are at home including a U.S. Open Cup match with the Portland Timbers on June 16th at Starfire Sports Complex.
Against the Whitecaps though, Seattle once again earned 56.7% of the possession but they strung together 619 total passes with an 85% conversion rate. The midfield pairing of Osvaldo Alonso and Gonzalo Pineda missed just 12 passes of the 201 they attempted.
Going into last week’s match with the Whitecaps, Seattle had only once dominated the possession numbers in a match where there was not an early red card in their favor. That was the match against the Crew where they earned 56.7% of the possession. Other than that, their highest total in a non-early red card match was just 51.8%. The team was averaging 450.2 passes per game as well with a conversion rate of 78.8%.
Seattle has been playing some great football this season but last week may have been their best match of the season. The Sounders have been turning more into a possession based team, they are not bombing down the wings or playing long balls over the top of the defense. They have started to use quick triangle passes and possession to open up lanes for runs behind the defense.
It appears as though Martins will miss his second consecutive match after suffering a tibial contusion. He has not trained this week. There were fears that Chad Marshall may miss this match as well after suffering from a calf injury which kept him out of training this week. Manager Sigi Schmid said yesterday that Marshall had “suffered no setbacks” and should be good to go tonight.
Seattle comes into tonight’s match off of a 2-0 win away to the Vancouver Whitecaps last weekend at BC Place. Chad Barrett scored both goals in relief of the injured Obafemi Martins.
Opara, Sinovic, and Myers have all been ruled out for tonight’s match. Espinoza and Anor are both questionable while de Jong and Zusi are both probable. Expect to see Zusi make the 18-man game day squad. He traveled with the team according to Sam McDowell of the Kansas City Star. Marcel de Jong did not travel however.
The win over New England in midweek was very surprising considering the long injury list for Sporting. They were without defenders Ike Opara (Achilles), Chance Myers (Achilles), Seth Sinovic (Concussion), and Marcel de Jong (Hip) as well as midfielders Roger Espinoza (Groin), Bernardo Anor (Hamstring), and Graham Zusi (Concussion).
Sporting has struggled on the road so far this season. In their five matches away from Sporting Park, the team has earned only five of a possible 15 points to date. After today’s match Sporting will play three of their next four matches at home against FC Dallas, Seattle Sounders FC, and the Colorado Rapids. The lone road game between Sunday and July 12th is a trek to Rio Tinto Stadium on June 21st.
The emergence of Nemeth has forced defenses to not solely focus of the threat of Dwyer up front. Sporting has also benefitted from the great start by Benny Feilhaber who has tallied three goals and seven assists in 11 matches so far.
Last year, Dom Dwyer pretty much was the only consistent scoring threat for Sporting. He tallied 22 goals in 2014 during the regular season, the rest of the team combined for 25 goals led by the five of Graham Zusi.
The match was a coming out party for Hungarian international striker Krisztian Nemeth. Nemeth scored two goals and added an assist in the victory to bring his goal scoring total up to five on the season. This elevated play from Nemeth adds another dimension to the Sporting Kansas City offense that they have been looking for in the past few seasons.
Sporting comes into tonight’s match off of a big mid-week win at home over the New England Revolution 4-2. That result extended their current unbeaten streak to five matches (two wins and three draws).
Both clubs have started their seasons fairly well. As of the end of Friday night’s matches Sporting Kansas City sits in a tie for fourth place in the West on 17 points from 11 matches. The Seattle Sounders FC are just two points ahead with 19 points from 10 matches in third place.
Good evening and welcome to VAVEL USA’s live coverage of Major League Soccer. Our match tonight comes to you from CenturyLink Field in Seattle, Washington as the Seattle Sounders FC take on Sporting Kansas City in a clash of Western Conference foes. My name is Matthew Evans and I will be your host for tonight’s match.