For the second consecutive game, Fredy Montero tacked on a second-half goal with a piece of individual skill. After an excellent goal on a breakaway against New York last week, Montero's thunderous effort to put away Sounders FC's 2-0 win against Real Salt Lake on Saturday was the toast of the post-match talk.
"I think the goalie is maybe a bit far out, but we won't complain at all," said teammate Freddie Ljungberg. "It was a great shot and it killed the game. Happy days!"
The scorching goal came when Real Salt Lake was pressing its momentum. Just minutes earlier, Kasey Keller had to come off his line to preserve the lead. As Real Salt Lake continued to attack in waves, Seattle was looking for a life preserver.
It came in the form of Montero, who is heading towards his second MLS Goal of the Week honor. The victim of some heavy-handed treatment in the first half, Montero made sure he laughed last. After taking a short pass from Osvaldo Alonso, the Colombian waltzed into the attacking third. Looking up and seeing no one within 10 yards of him, he decided to have a go.
Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid was certainly glad he did.
"It was definitely a goal against the run-of-play," Schmid said. "I don't know if it got deflected, but he hits such a heavy ball and the thing moves. I think it caught Rimando thinking, 'it's going to come this way' and it bends over him the other way.
"Certainly that goal took a lot of pressure off us. Kasey had come up with some big saves right prior to that and it allowed us to relax a little bit, even though I don't think we ever looked relaxed in the second half."
Montero proceeded to the corner of the field and treated the sellout crowd to another dance routine. This time, it was Sebastian Le Toux, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado and Osvaldo Alonso providing the backing moves. Sounders FC fans will be eagerly awaiting his future celebrations.
"We knew over the course of the season that Fredy Montero was going to surprise a few goalkeepers, the way his ball moves when he (hits) it, Schmid said. "Obviously (he got) the league's attention."
Montero's blast also made some all but forget that Ljungberg, Sounders FC's designated player, saw his first MLS game action.
"I thought he looked good. It's his first competitive minutes in a long time. It's his first competitive minutes since June in 2008, so when someone's out for nine months ... he's going to get better," Schmid said. "He's been out nine months. To get the rhythm of the game, he was able to hold the ball for us at times. He's going to help us connect passes."
Ljungberg said he felt good and possibly could have gone longer than the 30 minutes he played, but that he still wants to see how his body reacts.
"We wanted to make sure I wouldn't have a setback after this. We started for 30 minutes. I felt very, very good. Like I said, it was quite nice to get some tackles as well. My hip felt great," he said.
Schmid knows two weeks does not a season make. But, after two weeks, Sounders FC are the only team to have six points from two games and they sit three points clear atop the Western Conference. Still, the only coach to have brought two different teams to an MLS title, he also likes what he sees.
"I love six points. We got six points in two games. I love that. I think our soccer's going to get better and better. It's going to take some time to merge," he said. "I watched a few other games today. Obviously when you have teams where guys have played together, have 20, 30, 40 games under their belt as a unit of four, five, six guys, that makes soccer a little bit better.
"We're not at that stage yet. We're a team that's two regular season games into establishing a passing rhythm and everything else. There's times where our passing looks really good and there are times where it becomes really disjointed. So there's still a lot of things that we need to work on," he continued. "But the one quality this team is showing at a very early stage is the ability to compete, the ability to cover for each other, and the ability that nobody's too proud not to work a little bit extra if somebody ends up making a mistake or a bad play or something happens. That's what you need if you want to eventually compete for a championship."
Andrew Winner is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
