The Seattle Sounders won the A-League title with a 2-1 shootout victory over the Atlanta Ruckus, the king of the shootout.
As more and more soccer championships are being decided by shootouts, a growing number of players and coaches actually seem to be OK with it. At least that was the case as the A-League season wound down to a winner-take-all tiebreaker.
Somehow, it seemed that it was some sort of justice that the Seattle Sounders prevailed over the Atlanta Ruckus to win the shootout, Game 3 and the league championship series, each by a count of 2-1.
Seattle rallied from one game down in the series and from a one-goal deficit in the final game at Memorial Stadium Oct. 12. As many of the 5,115 fans rushed onto the field to mix with their newly crowned champions, it seemed to be a fair result. When they lifted their trophy into the cool night air, it seemed right.
Objectively, it can be said that the Sounders posted the A-League’s best regular season record at 18-6, and had beaten Montreal, owner of the best ’95 point total and defending champion, in each of their four meetings. Furthermore, Seattle had not lost to Atlanta during the final series. Purists will say that two 90-minute games ended in 1-1 draws and Game 2 was won decisively by the Sounders, 3-0.
“It doesn’t matter that, in the end, we won in a shootout,” said Seattle coach Alan Hinton, his head still wet from a recent dousing of champagne. “The fact is, these men deserved this, and for many it was long overdue.”
Lothar Osiander, Hinton’s counterpart for Atlanta, agreed, albeit with sadness.
“In the end, the better team won,” Osiander admitted. “There’s no shame in losing in Seattle to a team as talented as the Sounders. The disappointing part is losing in the shootout, which was our strength this whole season.”
The record will show that Atlanta won eight of nine shootouts during the regular season. The Ruckus disposed of Montreal in the semifinals with a couple more tiebreaker wins, and Game 1 against the Sounders had also gone in their favor via shootout.
Many felt that Atlanta had played for the tiebreaker all season, and that this gritty bunch would do so again in the final game.
Ruckus takes lead after two minutes
Yet barely two minutes into the match, the Ruckus — which had not shown any real interest in attacking during Game 2 — scored to go in front, 1-0. Staale Soebye sprang up amid a crowd of defenders to head home Greg Sheen’s cross, the ball skipping off the top of his head against the right post and into the net.
It would take Seattle some 80 agonizing minutes to equalize. First, a lob from Shawn Medved over Atlanta keeper Mun Young Yi in the fifth minute was chested off the goal line by Tim Wurdack. Later, long-range shots by Peter Hattrup, David Hoggan and Medved, again, scraped past the left post.
Enter Jason Farrell, sort of a Wally Pipp to Hattrup’s Lou Gehrig. Farrell, a 20-game starter and the league’s No. 10 scorer in ’94, had been beaten out by Hattrup for a starting spot on the left side of midfield. Hattrup not only got the job, but he also went on to lead the league in scoring and become the first native-born American Player of the Year since the league was created by a merger in 1991.
With less than nine minutes remaining and Seattle still trailing 1-0, Farrell, a late second-half substitute, started what he called a “stealth” run down the right side. On the left, fullback Marco Rizi was running with the ball. An unmarked Farrell swooped into the box with increasing speed. Atlanta’s John Doyle, who had been clearing almost everything airborne all evening long, had drifted near-post, leaving only a blinded Mo Suri to cover behind. Suri never saw Farrell until he leaped and nodded Rizi’s ball past Young Yi.
In the 85th minute, Farrell and Suri nearly switched roles. Farrell lost possession in his own half and Suri pounced on it. Marcus Hahnemann, Seattle’s keeper, came out quickly, but Suri skirted around him, then fired off-balance from 10 yards. The ball bounced off the left post and Hahnemann dived on the rebound. Regulation ended 1-1.
Atlanta, given its history, seemed to have the upper hand entering the shootout stage. But Seattle captain Neil Megson thought otherwise: “I felt that the pressure was all on them, because they always win the shootouts.’
Soebye was the first man up. He had made all three of his shootout kicks against Hahnemann during the season. This time his shot clipped the left post and caromed out. Brian Moore and Suri went wide left in the next two rounds. Meanwhile, Hoggan and Hattrup gave Seattle a 2-0 lead. After Doyle pulled the Ruckus one back, Hahnemann faced Lenin Steenkamp (season shootout record: 6-for-6) in Round 5. Hahnemann blocked it clean.
Atlanta’s Bruce Murray said his team was overdue to lose in the shootout.
“It’s like playing blackjack,” said Murray. “If you win 10 hands in a row, you know your time is coming.”
For Seattle, which overcame season-ending injuries to two starters and won six of seven one-goal games, it was yet another salvage job.
“In the end,” said Hinton, “we found a way to win, just as we had found a way to win all year long.”
by Soccer America correspondent Frank MacDonald