NY's Connor Lade takes a kick to the head from Adam Johansson (Getty Images)
Neither the Seattle Sounders or the New York Red Bulls have exactly been on fire in recent weeks. but both sides had reason to be more confident heading into Sunday's match at Red Bull Arena. The Sounders picked up their first win in many weeks last matchday against Colorado, and had secured a birth in the US Open Cup final after beating Chivas USA. New York had made two deals earlier in the week, one bringing in tried and true LA backup 'keeper Bill Gaudette and bringing in Sebsatian Le Toux from Vancouver.
The opening minutes of the match were all Seattle though as they came out absolutely on fire. The dirty little secret of the Red Bulls this year is that only two teams in MLS have given up more goals than they have. and Seattle looked to exploit that right off. Their first quality chance of the match came on 11 minutes when Brad Evans went driving into the top of the area. Gaudette came for him and hit the deck immediately, just snatching the ball off of Evans' foot as he shot it. However, Seattle continued to pressure and it finally paid off in the 16th minute when Adam Johansson sent a beautiful cross in to Alvaro Fernandez, who calmly headed the ball past Gaudette to make it 0-1 to Seattle.\
At that point the Red Bulls, who had looked absolutely helpless, decided to try to get back into the match. In the 24th minute the Seattle defense parted like the Red Sea for Kenny Cooper who smashed a drive at the Seattle goal. Bryan Meredith managed to save it, but gave up a big rebound to a lurking Le Toux, who drilled the ball into the net for his first Red Bulls goal to tie the match at 1-1.
After that New York largely took control of the match. A major talking point emerged right before half time though. Thierry Henry went up to play a shot on the side of the six yard box, and Osvaldo Alonso clearly stuck his hand up to the ball. Replays were pretty clear that the he made contact, and New York was awarded a corner kick as the ball went over the end line. It should have been a deliberate hand ball call, with a PK awarded and a red card to Alosno, but play continued and the first half ended 1-1 as Markus Holgersson's header rattled off the cross bar on the ensuing corner.
New York mounted a fairly heavy assault on the Seattle goal in the second half, but they failed to really test Meredith severely. After several shots off target, Joel Lindpere took a ball from Brandon Barklage and opened up the Seattle defense. The NY midfielder managed to tuck his shot between Meredith and the near post to make it 2-1 to the Red Bulls.
Seattle countered by inserting Fredy Montero to give their offense a jump start, and it paid dividends right away. In the 67th minute Brad Evans teed him up with a nice ball, and Montero banged home the equalizer to give the Sounders a chance at a point.
The heat began to take a toll the match late on, and there were few chances for either side to produce a winner. New York got the best look in stoppage time as Roy Miller got his head to a corner kick in the final minute. Unfortunately for the home side his shot went wide of the post and the match finished at 2-2. The Red Bulls will feel like they let one get away, but on the balance, it was probably a fair result.
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