Chivas USA tops Seattle to stay unbeaten
Saturday was a disappointing day all around for Freddie Ljungberg.
First, Arsenal, the club where the Swedish international made his name as a player, was beaten, 2-1, by Chelsea in an FA Cup semifinal in front of 88,103 at Wembley Stadium in London.
Then, the Seattle Sounders, the club Ljungberg now calls home, were beaten, 2-0, by Chivas USA, a result that kept Coach Preki’s squad unbeaten and boasting the best record in Major League Soccer at 4-0-1.
For Seattle (3-2-0), it was the second shutout loss in a row after the expansion team had won its first three games.
The Sounders bear all the hallmarks of a Sigi Schmid-coached team, playing attractive, flowing soccer. But the goals have temporarily dried up.
Those in the crowd of 15,463 at the Home Depot Center who came looking for offensive fireworks were never likely to see them. Seattle came into the match having given up only one goal in its short history, while Chivas USA had yielded only two goals in four games this season.
The defenses prevailed, with the Chivas central pair of Shavar Thomas and Carey Talley effectively denying Sounders forwards Fredy Montero and Nate Jaqua a way through.
The one time Montero did escape, latching onto a perfect through pass from Ljungberg, the Colombian striker chipped the ball over Chivas goalkeeper Zach Thornton, only to watch it sail wide of the left post.
Schmid played Ljungberg as a withdrawn forward, more of a playmaker really, behind the attacking duo of the lanky Jaqua and the tricky Montero.
But with Chivas USA midfielder Jesse Marsch keeping close tabs on Ljungberg, the Swede never really lived up to his reputation or his $1.3-million salary, the fourth-highest in MLS.
“I think Freddie is still trying to get fit,” Schmid said. “It’s been a long time since he’s played a 90-minute game. Tonight he played 90 minutes and he’s probably pretty tired, pretty gassed.
“As his fitness comes, he’ll make better and better decisions. But certainly there were times he put us in and he put a couple of nice combinations together and he helped us keep the ball. It’s just the final pass that was off for us all night.”
Preki saw his team benefit from an own goal by Seattle defender James Riley, who deflected a Jonathan Bornstein cross into his own net in the 32nd minute.
The scored stayed 1-0 until six minutes from the end, when rookie Chukwudi Chijindu scored his first MLS goal, directing a pass from Bojan Stepanovic past Seattle goalkeeper Chris Eylander.
When the teams play each other again June 6, Ljungberg is likely to be much more of a factor. Even so, Preki said his players were well aware of the danger posed by the Swedish star.
“I didn’t have to tell them much,” Preki said. “They all know him. He’s a good player. He moves around pretty good. I just told them to make sure we pay attention to him when we have the ball because those are the most dangerous moments.
“When we have the ball and we’re attacking, we can’t switch off, because that’s when players like that find a little bit of an opening and they can punish you.
“Luckily, he didn’t punish us tonight. I don’t think he had any looks [at goal]. We always had numbers around him. We tried to make it difficult for him.”
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