By Will Martin
Seattle is notorious for having some the most raucous fans in the US of A. Studies have been done to confirm this factoid be it Husky Stadium, the old Kingdome and Qwest Field. Visitors always have a sense of anxiety when you factor in the 12th fan of sport.
When it was announced that Clint Dempsey indeed had been signed on as part of the Sounders team an attendance of over 39,000 fans roared their approval to the strains of Metallica’s ‘Don’t Tread On Me’ video introduction to the newest Sounder. That seemed to get the home team fired up and off and running.
If you include the friendly exhibition FC Dallas played last week with Stoke City, a 1-0 loss the current streak of games now sits at nine where FC Dallas has not led in a match.
That number increased to ten when Obafemi Martins found the net in the 9th minute of play on a no-look header after a free kick from Mauro Rosales. At no time was Martins facing Raul Fernandez yet the corner of the net was found.
Some 13 minutes later the Sounders of Seattle made it a 2-0 cushion with a Brad Evans overhead pass that Eddie Johnson caught in mid-stride. One deke of ‘El Matador’ and Seattle added to their lead. A lead they would not relinquish.
Brad Evans would cap the final goal of the match well beyond the 90th minute of stoppage time for a 3-0 final. The victory marked the tenth straight time the Sounders have done so. For the team of Schellas Hyndman nine games have passed without a lead or a win at any point.
Equally frustrating has been the inability to score a single point. 540 plus minutes have now elapsed since that 2-2 draw in Philadelphia. Mauro Diaz had two scoring chances late in the second half beyond the 69th minute only to go wide and high on both shot attempts.
It was also the first start at goalie in 14 years for Sounder Marcus Hahneman. A clean uniform was kept for the majority of the match. Kellyn Acosta, at 18, entered play in the 74th minute to become the 2nd youngest player for FC Dallas to see playing time.
What was that experience like?
“It caught me by surprise to be honest,” Acosta told FCDallas.com on Tuesday. “I’m just glad I got the opportunity to play, a crazy atmosphere, the fans are great over there. It was just a crazy experience for me.”
Schellas Hyndman had this to say about the efforts of Mr. Acosta.
“Kellyn played against Stoke City and that was his real test playing against a good team and seeing how he would handle the pressure and handle [playing against] a seasoned professional,” said Hyndman. “I thought he did well looking back at the Stoke City game, he played the whole 90 minutes in three or four different positions and it was really an opportunity for me to evaluate him.”
A memorable first game amongst the Sounder crazies, Kellyn?
“I think I did alright, there were a couple things I could’ve done better, getting forward, helping the team create some chances,” said Acosta. “Defensively you can always do better, but overall I thought I did pretty good for my first game.”
Now out of the playoff picture at 8-5-8 in 6th place FC Dallas will play a Sunday night game that will be nationally televised with the L.A. Galaxy beginning at 7pm. Good seats still available. You can get them at www.fcdallas.com
