Two goals from Chad Barrett gave the Seattle Sounders an important victory to go third in the Western Conference and maintain pressure on the Vancouver Whitecaps with only four points seperating them. It was a victory in a match where the home side in particular dominated for the full 90 minutes. Seattle had 7 shots and 4 on target in comparison to the Vancouver Whitecaps, who had 16 shots and 5 on target.
It didn't take long for the away side to get comfortable and take the lead quickly. In the 7th minute, Clint Dempsey’s ball was given to Barrett in behind the Whitecaps’ backline. Barrett was able to beat the oncoming David Ousted to the ball and cleverly poked the ball past the Vancouver shotstopper to take the lead in Canada.
Various chances came from the Whitecaps as well as Pedro Morales' free kick, which went wide shortly after that goal, and from Octavio Rivero in the 37th minute. While the home side were dominating in terms of shots and chances, Seattle just found their chances and scored.
Two minutes later, Barrett again received a ball played by Marco Pappa and again his efforts go directly past Ousted to give the Sounders a 2-0 lead as halftime apporached.
In the second half, Kekuta Manneh’s left-footed cross found Octavio Rivero at the back, where the Uruguayan headed the ball goalward, but Stefan Frei confidently made the save and held the Caps’ best chance of the second half in the 52nd minute.
In the 63rd minute, Marco Pappa's left footed shot from the left side of the box was saved in the bottom left corner by Ousted. One last chance was to be made by Vancouver as Rivero's right footed shot from outside the box was blocked by Frei. It wasn't enough and Seattle got the three points and an important away win.
With this result, Seattle go third as they look to continue to make a run in the best of the Western Conference. They will now host Sporting KC next Saturday while Vancouver travel to Colorado to take on the Rapids.