The game in 100 words (or less): You don’t have to create a ton of chances to win in Major League Soccer, particularly on the road; you just have to be lethal and put away one or two of the few you do create, then hope and pray the defense bends but doesn’t break. That’s exactly how the Seattle Sounders (7 shots, 4 on target) went about beating the Vancouver Whitecaps (16 shots, 5 on target), 2-0, at BC Place on Saturday night. Obafemi Martins was unable to make the trip to Canada for the Sounders, which of course, means Clint Dempsey picked up the goalscoring burden, right? Wrong. Enter Chad Barrett. Chad Barrett? Chad Barrett.
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Three moments that mattered
5′ — Barrett finishes past Ousted, 1-0 Sounders — Clint Dempsey’s ball over the top was perfectly hit and led Barrett in behind the Whitecaps’ backline. Barrett beat the onrushing David Ousted to the ball and cleverly poked the ball past the big Dane ‘keeper.
38′ — Barrett beats Ousted with a similar, tougher finish — This time the ball over the top came from Marco Pappa, but the result was the same: Barrett, from a tough angle, hits a laser past Ousted.
50′ — Frei saves Rivero’s headed chance — Kekuta Manneh’s left-footed cross found Octavio Rivero at the back, where the Uruguayan headed the ball goalward, but Stefan Frei confidently made the save and held the Caps’ best chance of the second half.
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Man of the match: Chad Barrett — Filling in for Obafemi Martins, who will be a perennial MLS MVP candidate for as long as he’s in the league, is not small task. Barrett turned in a finishing performance of the highest order, to no one’s everyone’s surprise.
LINEUPS
Vancouver Whitecaps: Ousted, Beitashour, Waston, Kah, Harvey, Laba, Teibert (Koffie 64′), Techera (Mattocks 61′), Morales, Manneh (Froese 76′), Rivero
Seattle Sounders: Frei, Mears, Evans, Marshall, Remick, Pappa, Alonso, Pineda, Neagle (Jones 85′), Dempsey, Barrett (Rose 72′)
Goals: Barrett (5′, 38′)
