The Seattle Sounders traveled north of the border this past weekend to take on the Vancouver Whitecaps and they had to do it without one of the best players in the league in Obafemi Martins. Some were wondering what the Sounders would do in his absence.

Never fear, Chad Barrett is here. Barrett’s two goal effort led the Sounders to a 2-0 victory over the Whitecaps and their first win over their Cascadia rival in almost two years. It was also enough for him to be named MLS Player of the Week

It should be no surprise that Barrett was able to produce in Martins absence. Barrett appeared in 26 games during the 2014 MLS regular season, including eight starts. His seven goals in league competition ranked fourth on the club and three of those goals were game-winners.

Barrett has appeared in five games this year, starting in two. He has played only 201 minutes but has scored two goals in those limited minutes. Sometimes, this writer believes Barrett is undervalued by other fans. Many were wondering how he would do against the Whitecaps considering his last start didn’t end well. That was against FC Dallas when multiple chances to score were missed not only by Barrett, but the rest of the team. He made sure they counted this time around.

Barrett got the Sounders on the board early in the match, the 5th minute to be exact. After a lovely through ball by Clint Dempsey, Barrett found himself one on one with the Whitecaps goalkeeper, David Ousted. Ousted hesitated a split second in coming off his line and that was all Barrett needed to beat him to the ball. He was able to get a toe on the ball and it rolled the final 16 yards into the back of the net.

The second goal was preceded by a 25 pass sequence from the Sounders, the longest unbroken passing sequence by an MLS team this season and the second-longest since 2010. Barrett waited for the ball to settle down a bit and scored on an excellent half volley if you will.

Brefully, this performance by Barrett will instill more faith in some Sounders fans. He should see more playing time with Dempsey possibly being called for international duty in the next couple of weeks.</p>  <p>The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season by a panel of journalists from NASR. The group consists of members of print, television, radio and  media.</p> </section><div class=

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