The Crew fell to the Seattle Sounders, 2-0, Wednesday in a hotly contested preseason match at IMG Fields in Bradenton, Fla. Fredy Montero and Cordell Cato tallied for Seattle in a match played in two 45-minute and one 30-minute periods.
Seattle defenders Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and Amadou Sanyang, as well as Crew midfielder Bernardo Anor, all received red cards during the match. Being a preseason match, however, the teams were permitted to substitute for the ejected players.
The Crew put the pressure on the Sounders early on, earning two consecutive corner kicks in the opening minutes of the match. In the 10th minute, Tony Tchani took a shot from the top of the box only to go see it high. Three minutes, later Ethan Finlay hit a 19-yard free kick that went over the top for a goal kick.
The match was quite physical and the referee doled out three yellow cards to Sounders players by the 13th minute. Two of the cards were shown to Hurtado who was then ejected from the game.
In the 32nd minute, Emilio Renteria took a long-range blast but his shot went wide, and two minutes later Milovan Mirosevic was unable to capitalize on an opportunity in the box, sending the ball past the end line for a goal kick.
As the second half started and Seattle tried to pick up the tempo, back-to-back attempts by Mike Fucito and Mauro Rosales were thwarted by the Black & Gold defense just a few minutes in.
In the 51st, Finlay took a shot from the top of the box, but Seattle keeper Michael Gspurning was able to deflect the ball into corner. In the 54th, Seattle’s Adam Johansson brought the ball up the right side and crossed it to an open Montero, who was able to head past Andy Gruenebaum for a 1-0 lead.
Nine minutes later, Anor was shown a straight red for a challenge on Seattle’s Osvaldo Alonso. After a lineup change by both teams in the 75th, things stayed heated as Sanyang was sent off for a hard tackle on Justin Meram in the 82nd.
The Crew continued to attack into the third period, with Aaron Horton trying to chip Sounders goalie Bryan Meredith, but the netminder was able to push the ball away for a corner. In the 114th minute, Seattle’s Christian Sivebaek brought the ball all the way down to the endline and chipped it towards Cato who headed it in for the 2-0 final score.
The Black & Gold will return home on Thursday for a week of training before leaving for Charleston, S.C. on Feb. 23 to participate in the Carolina Challenge Cup, which runs Feb. 25-March 3.
Seattle Sounders FC 2, Columbus Crew 0
IMG Fields, Bradenton, Fla.
Scoring Summary:
SEA – Fredy Montero (Adam Johansson) 54
SEA – Cordell Cato (Christian Sivebaek) 114
Columbus Crew (first 75 minutes) – Andy Gruenebaum, Sebastian Miranda, Chad Marshall, Carlos Mendes, Kasali Casal, Ethan Finlay, Milovan Mirosevic, Tony Tchani, Bernardo Anor (Shaun Francis, 62), Olman Vargas, Emilio Renteria.
Columbus Crew (final 45 minutes) – Matt Lampson, Aubrey Perry, Eric Gehrig, Josh Williams, Shaun Francis (Lance Laing, 103), Korey Veeder, Kirk Urso, Cole Grossman, Justin Meram (Darren Amoo, 109), Tommy Heinemann, Aaron Horton
*Non-roster trialist
Seattle Sounders (first 75 minutes): Michael Gspurning, Adam Johansson, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (Patrick Ianni, 20), Jeff Parke, Leo Gonzalez, Mauro Rosales, Osvaldo Alonso, Brad Evans, Alvaro Fernandez, Fredy Montero, Mike Fucito (David Estrada, 62)
Seattle Sounders (final 45 minutes): Michael Gspurning (Bryan Meredith, 91), Amadou Sanyang (Lamar Neagle, 84), Zach Scott, Andrew Duran, Marc Burch, Roger Levesque, Andy Rose, Mike Seamon, Cordell Cato, Babyele Sodade, David Estrada (Christian Sivebaek, 94)
Misconduct:
SEA – Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (Caution) 10
SEA – Osvaldo Alonso (Caution) 12
SEA – Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (2nd Caution/Ejection) 13
CLB – Bernardo Anor (Caution) 29
CLB – Tony Tchani (Caution) 38
CLB – Bernardo Anor (Ejection) 60
SEA – Leo Gonzalez (Caution) 68
SEA – Amadou Sanyang (Ejection) 82
CLB – Tommy Heinemann (Caution) 118
