Seattle summoned a two-goal response in the second half to claim a 2-2 draw at LA Galaxy and ruin Landon Donovan’s final regular season game at StubHub Center.
Donovan and his teammates appeared on course for victory in this scrappy affair when Baggio Husidic and Marcelo Sarvas struck either side of halftime. Seattle instead produced a fine response to level through Clint Dempsey and Lamar Neagle and secure a precious point.
The draw leaves Seattle with the inside track to the Supporters’ Shield ahead of the season finale between these two sides on Saturday. Sounders FC can claim top spot in the Western Conference and secure homefield advantage throughout the playoffs with a draw or a victory at CenturyLink Field.
It proved no less than Seattle deserved on the night after conjuring the brightest spells in the game and punishing the Galaxy for its inability to adjust in the final half-hour. The result will leave the Galaxy furious after squandering the hard-earned lead and frittering away a chance to take control of its own destiny in the race for first place.
The stakes of the game influenced the cadence at the outset with both teams determined to disrupt the rhythm of the affair. Seattle deployed Brad Evans on the right flank in its 4-4-2 setup to provide DeAndre Yedlin with support to cope with Donovan, while the Galaxy relied on Juninho and Sarvas in iheir own 4-4-2 shape to thwart Sounders FC’s tendency play directly and quickly through the middle.
Both teams eventually leaned on their star men to present the odd threat amid the choppy fare. Donovan hit the crossbar with a well taken header from a Dan Gargan cross inside the first 10 minutes, while Obafemi Martins settled a vibrant disagreement with Dempsey by procuring a lunging save from Jaime Penedo after 21 minutes. Martins then collected a Dempsey pass, turned neatly and twisted his shot just over the bar before the half-hour.
Neither team could rely on its preferred routes to goal with Robbie Keane largely held in check and Sounders FC struggling to locate room on the break, but the Galaxy managed to wrest control of the game on the stroke of halftime anyways with opportunistic work in the final third.
Gargan created the problems with his diagonal toward the back post. Evans headed weakly back toward the top of the penalty area. Husidic corralled the attempted clearance and subsequently thrashed his low drive inside the far post to give the home side the lead on the stroke of halftime.
Husidic also played a prominent role in the second as the Galaxy extended its lead five minutes into the second half. Seattle failed to cope with a corner kick to the near post. Husidic collected on the edge of the penalty area and touched a perfectly weighted ball for Sarvas to hit first time. The effort deflected off Martins en route to goal and then tucked inside the far post to double the Galaxy advantage.
The home side pushed the initiative in the following minutes in a bid to snatch the critical third against the stunned Sounders. It never arrived, though, and Sounders FC made a critical change after 66 minutes to create more space going forward and spark a quick revival.
Marco Pappa replaced Evans to allow Sounders FC to stretch the field horizontally and provide space for Dempsey and Martins on the break. The extra room to roam – perhaps inadvisable early in the match given the Galaxy’s potency, but necessary at this stage – altered the proceedings and spurred Seattle to issue its emphatic response.
Yedlin pushed forward the right for one of his first forays on the night and served an enticing ball toward the middle of the Galaxy penalty area. Martins flicked the teasing cross to the back post. Dempsey gleefully smashed home after 69 minutes and cupped his ears to invite a riposte from the home crowd.
The supporters barely had time to reply before Sounders FC drew level three minutes later. Dempsey and Martins once again proved the protagonists as Seattle as they sucked the Galaxy defense over to the left side. Martins funneled the ball over to the right for Martins to thump through Penedo to restore parity.
Seattle enjoyed the better of the late exchanges with the balance well and truly tipped. Gonzalez procured his second yellow card in the waning moments for a challenge on Gonzalo Pineda, but Sounders FC could not score the winner. Sigi Schmid and his players will celebrate this deserved point nevertheless with the knowledge that a positive result in the season finale against the Galaxy will claim the Shield and give them homefield advantage throughout the postseason.
