The Seattle Sounders had to wait to until the last five minutes to put away the Atlanta Ruckus in Game 2 of the Championship Series.
With just over five minutes remaining in their do-or-die game with the Atlanta Ruckus, the Seattle Sounders had just one complaint. The scoreline was only 1-0 in their favor.
And if there’s anything to be said for the Ruckus, it’s that they have a propensity for bounding back from the brink. On the other hand, the Sounders have a history of bad luck when making the final reach for the brass ring.
But maybe a reversal of fortune is in the works.
Seattle finally broke down the Atlanta defense in the final 15 minutes, scoring two late goals to beat the Ruckus 3-0 and square the A-League championship series at 1-1 and force a third game at Seattle’s Memorial Stadium. The Sounders lost Game 1 in a shootout at Atlanta.
The coaches of both teams agree that Seattle is a logical pick to take Game 3 and the crown.
“We’re playing at home so we should be the favorite,” said Seattle’s Alan Hinton. “There’s no doubt, player for player, [the Sounders] are the stronger team,” stated Atlanta’s Lothar Osiander.
While Game 2 was a mismatch of sorts, Seattle’s talent could not take hold of the match until the latter stages. Chance Fry put the Sounders in front in the 25th minute, and for the next 60 minutes, Seattle mounted a statistical landslide, with huge advantages in shots (22-8) and corner kicks (9-1).
Furthermore, Atlanta — after a 42nd minute red card to Michael Araujo — was playing a man short.
“I wasn’t worried,” said Seattle’s Peter Hattrup, whose knock-down header from a James Dunn cross set up Fry’s first strike. “I think when we got that first goal early, they were in trouble. That was more important than them losing a man.”
The Sounders took advantage of the extra space. Hattrup repeatedly stretched the defense to his left flank, dribbling deep into the corner and taking two defenders with him. The buildups were also swift, forcing Atlanta’s depleted midfield to quickly cover back. When the Ruckus began its counter, lone striker Staale Soebye needed to retreat farther to get the ball.
Mo Suri provided Atlanta’s two distinguishable scoring chances. After Seattle failed to sufficiently clear the sole corner kick awarded his team, Suri had a good look from 12 yards out. His well-struck shot was blocked in front by Shawn Medved. Later in the first half, Suri cut his dribble into the edge of the box only to be bounced off the ball by Bill Crook. Referee Esse Baharmast waved play on despite protests from the Atlanta players and bench.
A few minutes later, Baharmast reached for his book. After Araujo bounced back to his feet following after another non-call, he bumped chests with Baharmast, and out came the red card.
“Once we got a man up, we stretched them wide and made them run,” Hinton said. “They got very tired, and in the end we broke them.”
Dunn, freed from many of his defensive responsibilities at right fullback because of Atlanta’s anemic attack, overlapped and served a low right-wing cross that Fry volleyed home for 2-0 in the 85th minute. Less than three minutes later, Dunn’s twin brother, Jason, a late substitute, scored at the end of a long breakaway. Finally, the Ruckus had been put away.
Fry returns to starting lineup
Fry’s two-goal game made Hinton’s decision to start him seem like a masterstroke. The 31-year-old striker had been hot and cold all season, and Hinton had benched him for three late-season games and Game 1 of the title series.
“I scored nine goals this year, but it wasn’t a good season,” Fry said. “I missed a lot of chances. I should have scored 16 or so if I’d been my normal self.”
But both of his goals in this game were vintage Fry. Each was one-touch hit on the end of a passing sequence. He slid into Hattrup’s header at the far post for his first, then perfectly timed his run into the box to bang home the second at the near post.
“Alan decided to go with his over-30 team, and it paid off,” joked Fry, who will undoubtedly get the call again for the winner-take-all final. There, again, the Sounders will likely take the attacking initiative from the outset.
Atlanta, meanwhile, will try to weather one more storm. The first-year franchise almost folded before the start of the season due to financial difficulties, then squeaked into the playoffs by winning eight of its 12 games via the shootout. The Ruckus then eliminated defending champion Montreal by winning two more through tiebreakers.
Hinton — whose original Sounders faltered in Soccer Bowl ’82 and whose born-again brand was eliminated in a semifinal shootout by Colorado in ’94 —
hopes Seattle’s hard-luck days are history.
by Soccer America correspondent Frank MacDonald