October 29, 2009
MLS PLAYOFF ROUNDUP
Scoreless start for Dynamo, Sounders FC

SEATTLE—The Houston Dynamo and Seattle Sounders FC battled to a lively, but scoreless, draw Thursday in front of the largest crowd ever for a Major League Soccer postseason match, 35,807 at Qwest Field.

The 0-0 result in the opening match of the two-game, total goals series means winner-take-all for the return date, hosted by the Dynamo at Robertson Stadium on November 8.

The match got off to a chippy start, starting with a 16th-minute, double-yellow card altercation between Dynamo ‘keeper Pat Onstad and Seattle’s Fredy Montero, seconds after Houston’s Brian Mullan headed Patrick Ianni’s header off the goal line.

Ianni, a surprise starter for Seattle defender Tyrone Marshall after Marshall strained a knee ligament, also cracked a shot off the crossbar shortly before halftime.

The second half was a duel between Onstad and Seattle netminder Kasey Keller, both of whom came up with heroic saves to keep the game scoreless. In the 58th minute, Keller one-handed an 18-yard shot by Brad Davis just wide of the far post, and came up with a somewhat less challenging stop on another Davis shot from distance in the 60th.

In the 74th minute, Onstad made a reflex save after Nate Jaqua – playing with a heavily bandaged head and generic replacement jersey after an accidental high boot from Ricardo Clark opened a gash over his left eye in the first half – sent a sharp header on goal off Freddie Ljungberg’s corner kick.

The five minutes of stoppage time were spent mostly in Houston’s end, with a succession of Sounders corner kicks and throw-ins, but no serious chances of breaking the deadlock before the final whistle.