This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Seattle • Visits to CenturyLink Field haven't been particularly enjoyable for Real Salt Lake these last three seasons. The trend of struggling against its rivals in the Pacific Northwest continued in downtown Seattle on Friday night.
And it happened in heart-wrenching fashion for the visitors.
Thrown to the wolves of CenturyLink Field and down a man the last 20-plus minutes, RSL looked to have survived a late barrage from a fervent Sounders attack to secure a 2-2 draw. But Seattle substitute Andy Rose had other plans. The midfielder buried a rebound shot in the 94th minute to secure three points in the 3-2 win over RSL.
The Sounders, the league's top team, did what they do well Friday night and were able to put more distance between themselves and RSL, the third-place team in the Western Conference. The Sounders padded their lead in the both the Supporters' Shield race and in their quest to finish first in the West, and are now eight points clear of RSL.
"When you play against big teams like Seattle, they have big players [and] details make the difference," midfielder Javier Morales said. "Tonight we made little mistakes and they cost us a lot — three points — because I think we dominated, we played good soccer, we created chances, but in the end, we got nothing. That was the difference. Details tonight was the difference between them and us."
The three points earned by the Sounders extended RSL's winless streak in Seattle to five games. RSL's last win at CenturyLink Field came on May 12, 2012, when former RSL forward Fabian Espindola scored a second-half goal to escape Seattle with three points in hand.
And the Sounders, as they've done all year now with a league-high 17 wins, found a way to continue their late-season charge Friday night against RSL.
They did so by having to chase a deficit, a rarity at CenturyLink Field.
Morales scored his first-ever goal against Seattle in his eight-year career in Major League Soccer in the 30th minute. Morales found space inside the box and was played a ball by fellow midfielder Luke Mulholland. The 34-year-old picked up his head, took a brief touch and put the ball by Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei to put the visitors up 1-0. Mulholland was awarded his sixth assist of 2014.
It was Morales' first goal in 916 career minutes against Seattle and RSL's first goal at CenturyLink Field in two years and four months.
But the Sounders charged.
Lamar Neagle equalized in the 38th minute with a phenomenal left-footed blast from 25 yards out and into the top shelf, past the outstretched arms of RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando. It was Neagle's first goal since June 7.
Five minutes later, forward Obafemi Martins continued his MVP-caliber season with his 13th goal of the season. Martins and forward Clint Dempsey started a quick counter-attack in Seattle's offensive third. Dempsey laid off a perfectly-placed through ball between defenders Nat Borchers and Chris Schuler as Martins ran onto it with only Rimando to beat.
His shot was touched by Rimando, but not enough to keep it out, as it spun in to flip RSL's early first-half lead on the road completely on its back.
Joao Plata ensured Seattle's lead was short-lived. RSL's leading scorer in 2014 scored his 12th goal of the season in the 50th minute as his long-range shot outside the corner of the box took a deflection off Sounders midfielder Osvaldo Alonso, curving into the far post to equalize 2-2. Morales notched his 11th assist on the pass that led to RSL's eventual tying goal.
The free-range, back-and-forth match continued until the 68th minute, when center back Borchers was shown a straight red card for pulling down Martins as the two engaged in a foot race toward the RSL goal. From there, Seattle pressed numbers in search of a winner.
"[Martins] obviously had position," Borchers said. "He was in alone on goal. It's a split-second decision. I definitely got him."
On its heels for the final 25 minutes, RSL defended in search of a road point, but when the ball fell to the foot of Rose inside the box, the Sounder midfielder finished to the far post in the last 60 seconds of extra time.
"Listen, it came down to one play, in five minutes of extra time, which we're [left] searching why there was so much," RSL coach Jeff Cassar said. "It just stinks that it comes down to us getting a red and them pushing on to get a result."
Twitter: @chriskamrani —
MLS standings
EASTERN CONFERENCE
W L T Pts GF GA
D.C. 14 9 5 47 42 31
Sporting K.C. 13 10 6 45 43 34
New England 12 12 3 39 39 38
New York 9 8 10 37 42 39
Columbus 9 9 9 36 38 34
Philadelphia 9 9 9 36 43 41
Toronto FC 9 11 6 33 35 42
Houston 9 13 4 31 31 48
Chicago 5 7 14 29 33 39
Montreal 5 16 6 21 31 50
WESTERN CONFERENCE
W L T Pts GF GA
Seattle 17 7 3 54 51 37
Los Angeles 14 5 8 50 56 29
Real Salt Lake 12 6 10 46 44 35
FC Dallas 12 9 6 42 46 36
Vancouver 8 6 13 37 35 34
Portland 8 8 11 35 47 46
Colorado 8 13 6 30 37 46
San Jose 6 11 9 27 32 38
Chivas USA 6 16 6 24 23 51
Wednesday's Games
Montreal 2, Los Angeles 2, tie
New York 1, D.C. United 0
Vancouver 2, San Jose 0
Friday's Games
Sporting Kansas City 4, Chivas USA 0
Seattle FC 3, Real Salt Lake 2
Saturday's Games
New York at Philadelphia, 1 p.m.
Montreal at New England, 5:30 p.m.
Vancouver at FC Dallas, 6:30 p.m.
Toronto FC at Chicago, 6:30 p.m.
Columbus at Houston, 6:30 p.m.
Portland at Colorado, 7 p.m.