Sounders draw 0-0 at Vancouver remain undefeated

The Seattle Sounders(3-0-1, 10 points)  goalless draw with the Vancouver Whitecaps  (0-3-1, 1 point) Saturday night in BC Place was an early warning sign for things to come for the visitors. The high flying Sounders with their lofty goal of winning the Supporters Shield on the way to another MLS Title had scored ten goals and allowed just three in there first three games played. All wins that showcased the Rave Greens offensive firepower led by  Nicolas Lodeiro, Victor Rodriguez, Jordan Morris, and Raul Ruidiaz.

 The formula for success in the first three games for the Sounders was retained offensive possession by moving the ball from side to side, flood the opponent’s goal box with multiple players then pass the ball into the crowded penalty box.

On Saturday the 0-3 Whitecaps used a classic soccer counter strategy to the Sounders bum rush the goal mouth strategy. The Whitecaps had all of theirs back on defense and inside the goal, box clogging up any potential passing lanes for the Sounder forwards. In soccer terms, the Whitecaps parked the bus in front of their goal.

The Sounders were unable to create any space inside the Whitecaps goal area and for some unknown reason abandoned their patient and methodically build apart. The result was a game with limited chances by both teams.

The games most crucial play came late in stoppage time when Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei made a spectacular save only to see the Whitecaps awarded a penalty for a Kim Kee-hee tackle on the Whitecaps  Inbeom Hwang. After video review, the penalty was rescinded and the Sounders left BC Plac with the tie.

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”und” dir=”ltr”>👀👀👀 <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/VANvSEA?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>#VANvSEA</a&gt; <a href=”https://t.co/TKVDrnJrTZ”>pic.twitter.com/TKVDrnJrTZ</a></p>&mdash; Major League Soccer (@MLS) <a href=”https://twitter.com/MLS/status/1112202800824573952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>March 31, 2019</a></blockquote>
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• Saturday Nights starting lineup was the first time in the organization’s MLS era that Seattle has fielded the same first XI for four consecutive league matches to start a season.

• Making his 400^th regular-season start this evening, defender Chad Marshall became only the second field player to reach this milestone in MLS history. Among non-goalkeepers, only RSL midfielder Kyle Beckerman has started more regular-season games (436 starts).

• Saturday nights match was the 139^th all-time meeting between Seattle and Vancouver across all eras dating back to 1974. In MLS, the two Cascadia rivals have met 24 times (including postseason play), with Seattle holding a 11-7-7 advantage.

• Saturday’s match in Vancouver marked Sounders FC’s first Cascadia Cup fixture of the season. Last season, Seattle captured its fifth Cascadia Cup title (third in MLS) after earning nine points from four matches, including a 2-1 win at Vancouver to clinch the trophy.