Match Thoughts: Seattle Sounders vs. San Jose Earthquakes

San Jose's Chris Wondolowski during Saturday's match (Getty Images)

Yes I'll admit that given Seattle's form to start the season, I really didn't give the Quakes much of a shot coming into Century Link Field last night.  They proved me wrong though.  Whether or not they got a little extra help from the ref...well, I imagine your opinion on that will vary whether you're a Sounders or Quakes supporter.  More on that later.

The Sounders came out and started brightly enough, but I got the feeling early on that they might not be as sharp as they needed to be.  While they did press into the San Jose area, the final ball just really wasn't there for Seattle for much of the evening.  For the Quakes part, they defended stoutly and weren't intimidated by Seattle or their crowd in the slightest.

Of course, what eventually cost the Sounders was the fact that they let Steven Lenhart, that's right the guy with the Sideshow Bob haircut, get into their heads.  Now, I like Lenhart, in a way.  He does his thing.  He tries early and often to get into your head.  Often, it works.  I wouldn't mind having him on my team, but he's rough to play against.

Lenhart was in the heads of the Seattle defenders all night, particularly in the head of Marc Burch.  In the 24th minute, the Quakes set up for a corner kick.  During the regular pushing and shoving, Lenhart got into Burch and the Seattle man gave him a little cynical shove with his side and his leg.  Lenhart went down immediately, earning San Jose a penalty kick.  Obviously Wondo is probably going to convert the spot kick, and he did, giving the Quakes the 0-1 lead.  It would end up being the game winner.  Seattle did have a few decent chances in the second half, but Jon Busch came up big in goal for San Jose.

So, about the penalty.  There was definitely contact from Burch on Lenhart.  I can see it as a foul.  Of course, there is this kind of contact on many corner kicks in professional soccer, but Lenhart went down.  Could he have stayed up?  Maybe.  However, those of us that watch soccer say all the time: he made the referee make a decision.  Once that happens, it's 50/50.  Unfortunately for Burch and Seattle last night, they found out that the mental part of the game, the frustration can really hurt you too.

Last thing I'll say on this match and this issue is this: Seattle fans, you have to know that if the shoe was on the other foot, and one of your players went down like that, you'd be wailing for a penalty.  Just sayin.  Sometimes the calls go your way, sometimes they don't.  Also, Seattle had 65 minutes to score after the PK, so a lot of credit goes to the Quakes as well.