Last year, the Seattle Sounders scored four goals in the semifinals, but they weren’t enough to avoid elimination. This year, one goal proved enough to lead the second-year team into the A-League finals.
A goal by 37-year-old Gary Heale in the 80th minute gave Seattle a 1-0 win over Vancouver in the first game of the best-of-three semifinal series, and the Sounders won the second 3-2 in a shootout after the two teams finished tied 0-0 after regulation (See American Scoreboard on page 35).
The Sounders meet the winner of the Montreal-Atlanta series, which is tied 1-1.
In the Sounders’ shootout win, all three goals were scored by the Sounders’ thirtysomething brigade. Billy Crook, a veteran from the days of the NASL’s Seattle Sounders, scored the deciding goal in the eighth round of the shootout. Heale and A-League MVP Peter Hattrup, 31, had the other shootout goals.
“Who says 30-year-olds can’t play this game?” Seattle coach Alan Hinton joked to the Seattle Press-Intelligencer afterwards. “They really helped us tonight.”
Last season, Seattle beat Colorado 4-1 in the second game of their semifinal series after losing the first game 2-0.
Colorado won the mini-game in a shootout to advance to the final. Montreal, the eventual APSL champion, also won the mini-game in a shootout on the road after losing decisively in the second game of the series. The A-League abandoned the use of the mini-game, opting for best-of-three series for both the semifinals and final.
Montreal looks set to return to the finals after beating Atlanta 3-0 Sept. 17 to tie their series at 1-1. The third game is scheduled for Sept. 20.
After losing the first game in a shootout, Montreal outshot Atlanta 26-4 and got goals from Brazilian Paulinho, Jamaican Lloyd Barker and Canadian international Lyndon Hooper.
Paulinho joined the Impact this season after winning MVP honors in Los Angeles the last two years, but his season has been curtailed by injuries.
Paulinho says he’s healthy and ready to lead the Impact to title No. 2.
“I’m here to win the championship,” he told the Journal de Montreal after the win.
Injuries have plagued the Impact — striker Grant Needham missed his fourth straight game with a knee injury — but it managed to finish as the A-League regular-season champion.
The only down note for the Impact was the disappointing crowd of 2,684 on hand for the Atlanta game at Claude Robillard Stadium, where it drew crowds in excess of 7,000 during the second half of the season.
“We are in the semifinals,” Impact president Joey Saputo told the Montreal Presse. “I am disappointed with the attitude of the officials of the regional soccer associations. We worked with them during the summer. Their season is over, but that doesn’t prevent them from supporting us Sunday afternoon.”
by Soccer Ameica Managing Editor Paul Kennedy