Sounders are out. End of a club after a great season, and an ever better history. For this game, you wonder what the refs were thinking. However, in the history of the Sounders USL, this is just one game. We are all sad about tonight. We should all be encouraged for next season! I must admit, I have not been a huge supporter of Sounders USL. I went to a few (great) games, but never embrased the Sounders as my "home" team. With the "promotion" to the MLS all I can do is give my support in the future. Congratulations to the Montreal Impact. Good luck in the playoffs, good luck in the chamipons league, and good luck with getting a MLS team in the future. For us sounders fans let's look back to the past with pride, and look forwards to the next season with excitement!
For the record, the PK goal that the ref took away from us (that put us ahead on aggregate with like 15 minutes to play) - one announcer thought it was Nyassi that was in the box early, the other corrected him saying it was Treschuk. Actually, it was a MONTREAL player! There were no Sounders in the box! Here's the video evidence:
Here's something else for Mr. Holt (league VP) to look into, along with the actions of Limniatis, on Friday night. Not that it will do a damn bit of good, but an acknowledgment that we got screwed would be nice. Along with Johnnyboy being suspended for the remainder of Montreal's playoffs, at the minimum.
They will have that much more time to prepare for the MLS and not worry themselves any longer about the USL. Now is the time to start planning the team for that leageu so they shouldn't worry about the USL anymore. If yoy follow the Quakes for example, had they had a team in place at this point last year, as the Sounders have now, they will have been already leading the league. They only started jelling in July but I could just imagine if they were organized from the beginning where they could have gone. Even if the Sounders only keep 4-5 starters, they will be that far ahead of many other MLS teams.
I spoke to a USL spokesman this morning. He said nothing appeared in the referee's report to his knowledge but Treschuk had been mentioned by the commentator. That appears to be the official line.
How'd the commentator miss the three Montreal players who are even with, or ahead of Treschuk (or whomever that is in the middle at the edge of the 18 yard box) -- two of which are clearly already inside the area (the one obvious one on the far left, and the player in the far right of that photo who is one step inside). Even presuming that Treschuk was in the box, how did we gain advantage given there were three other Montreal players in a more advanced position? If the problem is being inside the 'D', then there is also a FOURTH Montreal player who has encroached... 1 v. 4 is an advantage??
the one positive thing in my mind is that we dont have to go down to Starfire again. But then again I am relatively new to the USL sounders and dont have the emotional attachment that others in ECS have. So gentlemen, now is the time to step it up and get fired up for MLS. It is time to really start pushing the momentum for SoundersFC and ECS. I know this sounds too rational, but we must keep our heads up and keep the eye on the ball. Lets now focus on growing the ECS so that we may support our Sounders in MLS with the biggest of voices and proudest of hearts. Let's do this people. They are still our boys and we will have always have 4 stars in our tifo to represent them. We owe it to them to grow as a group because in a certain way we will be the only real visible memory of the older sounders days through our tifo and through our chants. FORZA SOUNDERS DAI FORZA SOUNDERS DAI VINCI ANCORA VINCI ANCOOORA E NON MOLLARE MAIIIIIII
Firstly, even if there are ten Montreal players encroaching it doesn't matter if one Sounder is. The point of the game is not to have the least amount of players breaking the laws. Sadly, if one Sounders player was encroaching, the referee is technically entitled to order a retake. That Montreal players were is only an issue if the kick is saved or missed, otherwide the advantage rule applies. Secondly, yes. Time for all to move on. The USL Sounders wil always be in our hearts and memories, some of us have more memories than others of course. But all our active energy should be put to building something new in Seattle. In my mind that is the best way to honour the past, as without the efforts of fans going back three decades, Seattle would never have become a soccer city in the first place. There could be no finer monument to their efforts than 25,000 new Sounders fans come April 2009.
Ah, if we're going that direction, why not a "Siamo noi, Siamo noi, Verdeazzurri, Verdeazzurri, Siamo noi."
actually, I do believe that being in the semi-circle is encroachment, not just in the box. This is why you see players fighting for the position where the semi-circle and the box meet. It is closest to the goal.
Prost, seems ESPN Soccernet disagrees with you regarding your view on the encroachment: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/column...s&root=us&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1&cc=5901 I went frame by frame on the retake as well and while not blatant, there's a couple Montreal players (look at 3:38 on the highlight portion on usllive), the one at bottom left and possibly one or two at the upper right who are over the line before Hugo struck the ball. Not by much, but about the same as Kenji and the other three Montreal players (besides the one already at Hugo's side on the first attempt). A ref could call encroachment on virtually *any* spot kick taken... and I remember a youtube put up somewhere on here from Asia where the ref called it 8-10 consecutive times (the kick was converted each time), then the one time the kick was saved, it was allowed. Don't have a problem with the law, but how it is applied. There's a number of laws that aren't applied consistently... the time it takes a GK to return the ball to play, tackles from behind, last defender, etc. This was one where the law was applied in a very fringe case with the case for unfair advantage hard to present. All in all, this tie was decided in the first leg... many chances went begging and there was opportunity galore to have buried Montreal with a hopeless deficit to overcome in the return leg.