Final
Toronto, Seattle play to scoreless draw
Aug 30, 2009 - 3:05 AM By MARK MOSCHETTI STATS MLS CorrespondentSEATTLE (STATS) - Dwayne De Rosario was delighted to come out of the game with a point.
Freddie Ljungberg was disappointed - even disgusted - to do likewise.
Toronto's De Rosario and Seattle's Ljungberg each had their share of near-misses Saturday, and no one found the back of the net as Toronto FC and the Sounders played to a 0-0 tie.
Toronto (8-8-7), in the middle of a three-game road stretch, bounced back from a 2-0 loss at Chivas last Saturday. The expansion Sounders (8-6-10) have gone three straight games and 314 minutes overall without scoring at home.
"It was just one of those days," said De Rosario, who had four of Toronto's 11 shots but was kept off the board for the second straight game after a four-game goal streak. "At the end of the day, you take the point. And hopefully, we can go on to Colorado (next Saturday) and win there. If you get four points in three road games, we'll be just fine."
For Ljungberg, last Sunday's come-from-behind 1-1 tie at MLS-leading Houston was a much better effort than the one the Sounders put forth at home Saturday against the third-place team from the Eastern Conference.
"We played so well in Houston, and we were looking forward to today," Ljungberg said. "We created some chances at the end (including point-blank try of his own during second-half stoppage time that was stopped by Stefan Frei). But I would say it's disappointing that we tied the game. We want to win at home, and you're always (ticked) off when you draw."
Toronto, which took 13 shots but put none on goal last week at Chivas, had five shots that nearly went into the Seattle net during the opening half.
In the third minute, a long distribution downfield by Frei found De Rosario. He got behind the Sounders defense into the penalty area, went one-on-one with goalkeeper Kasey Keller and had a wide-open net from six yards, but poked his shot wide to the right.
In the ninth minute, De Rosario had another try from the top of the box, but headed one wide left. In the 22nd minute, Chad Barrett headed a perfectly placed De Rosario target ball just wide left from the top of the box.
One minute after that, Amado Guevara's shot from inside the top left corner of the box bounced off the far side of the crossbar.
Sam Cronin had a one-on-one try against Keller near the end of the first half, but sent his shot wide right.
"The first half was the best 45 minutes we have played," Toronto interim coach Chris Cummins said. "We had a lot of chances in the first half, we're just unlucky. I thought we had legs today, we had energy, and the tactics we set out there were good."
Ljungberg gave Seattle two prime scoring opportunities during the first 45 minutes. One shot from the top of the box was stopped on a diving save by Frei in the 26th minute. Near the end of the 41st, Ljungberg lofted a free kick toward the top of the arc for Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, whose header was barely wide of the left post.
Ljungberg then had two shots within two minutes midway through the second half that were on target. The first was deflected over the top, and the second flew just wide of the far post.
Seattle has gone 1-3-3 in its last seven games.
"I thought we were lucky to go into halftime 0-0," said Sounders coach Sigi Schmid, whose team will play at D.C. United in the U.S. Open Cup final Wednesday. "The second half was better. We had two chances - I wouldn't say to win - but we had to chances to steal it at the end.
"I'm actually a little bit happy we got a point, because we could have walked away with nothing."
- MLS UPDATE
TORONTO FC 0
SEATTLE 0 FINAL
Aug 29 6:01 PM - MLS UPDATE
TORONTO FC 0
SEATTLE 0 0:00 LEFT, 2ND HALF
Aug 29 5:55 PM - MLS UPDATE
TORONTO FC 0
SEATTLE 0 HALFTIME
Aug 29 4:54 PM
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