David Estrada was presented the gift of the Statue of Morelos at Kent's Cinco de Mayo celebration on Sunday honoring him as a shining example to his fellow Morelianos.

Unfortunate red card and last-minute goal sours Sounders road trip

With Adam Johansson, Zach Scott, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, Jeff Parke, Patrick Ianni, Leo Gonzalez and Marc Burch manning the back line, Sounders have five shutouts and have allowed just three goals.

Andy Rose’s professional debut was equal parts promise and compromise.

Rose showed an ability to connect players through the midfield and provide an offensive threat moving forward.  His near-miss header in the 47th minute that pinged off the crossbar was a window into the player that has impressed the coaching staff in practice all season.

In preseason, he scored goals like that in nearly every training session, earning his spot on the Sounders FC roster after being drafted with the sixth overall pick in the 2012 MLS Supplemental Draft – a pick the Sounders traded for because they thought so highly of Rose.
That was the promising side of his debut.

“It’s obviously very nice to get the first one out of the way.  Obviously there were some nerves.  Once I got a couple touches on the ball I calmed down a little bit, but there were definitely a couple of rushes of blood where you just get so excited that you kind of feed off the atmosphere,” Rose said.  “I enjoyed every minute of it and I hope there’s much more to come.”

The compromise came in the 28th minute.

Rose was shown a yellow card for a tackle in the 18th minute, though he felt the call was in anticipation of contact as opposed to any actual contact.  Replays support his thought on that, as Rose doesn’t actually make contact with Union midfielder Michael Farfan on the tackle in question.

However, carrying a yellow card, Rose came in hard on a challenge in the 28th minute in an attempt to dispossess Freddy Adu and got more ankle than ball to take down his man.

Referee Ricardo Salazar pulled the rookie from UCLA aside and issued a stern warning, but did not pull a second yellow card, as players from both sides pleaded their cases.

“Some referees would have pulled the second yellow.  I think that it could have been a second yellow, but I think that Salazar was aware how early it was in the game,” Sounders FC head coach Sigi Schmid said.  “I think the first challenge I don’t know how much he got him, I didn’t see the replay.  He came in high but I don’t know if he really got him, I think he might have jumped over it.  I think some referees might have pulled a second yellow at that stage.”

The sum of his 61 minutes, though, was a positive experience for Rose.

“The win was fantastic and we want to keep this ball rolling,” Rose said.  “The main thing Sigi said is not to drop the level we’ve been playing at the last few matches.  I was just happy to get out there and get the jitters out of the way early, get some touches on the ball.  I really enjoyed it, playing in front of that crowd.”

Seattle goalkeeper Bryan Meredith recorded his first MLS shutout in his first start on Saturday in a 1-0 win over the Philadelphia Union at CenturyLink Field.

Mauro Rosales' first MLS goal gives Seattle their fourth victory in as many matches and Bryan Meredith's first career clean sheet becomes Sounders' fifth of 2012.

This week on Sounders FC Weekly Matt Johnson and Ross Fletcher discuss last weeks Sounders match, preview today's match, and they talk to soundersfc.com writer Matt Gaschk, Philadelphia Play-by-Play Man JP Della Camera and Pete Fewing.

The Sounders play the middle match in a stretch of five games in 15 days when they meet the Philadelphia Union Saturday afternoon at CenturyLink Field.

Here is a look at the Union.

RECORD: After starting the year with three straight losses, the Union are now 2-4-1, 8th in the 10-team Eastern Conference. 
HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Sounders topped the Union 2-0 in Philadelphia’s inaugural match in 2010, but have not posted a win since, going 1-2-1 overall.
WHO TO WATCH: Midfielder Gabriel Gomez, the Panamanian international, leads the Union with three goals in their first seven matches.  Midfielder Freddy Adu captained the US U23s at Olympic qualifying and comes back in a strong leadership role with the Union in his second year back in MLS.  Goalkeeper Zac MacMath has six shutouts in 14 career MLS starts and is 5-4-5.  Danny Califf and Carlos Valdes form a strong defensive pairing in front of the 20-year-old goalkeeper.
INJURY REPORT: Sounders FC - OUT: GK Josh Ford (R knee stress fracture); DF Michael Tetteh (L hamstring strain); MF Steve Zakuani (R leg fracture); FW Babayele Sodade (R knee ACL tear); QUESTIONABLE: GK Andrew Weber (L ankle sprain); MF Alvaro Fernandez (R quad strain); PROBABLE: GK Michael Gspurning (R hip injury); DF Patrick Ianni (lower back pain). Union - OUT: FW Krystian Witkowski (concussion); MF Roger Torres (L knee surgery recovery); DF Chris Albright (L big toe sprain); QUESTIONABLE: DF Gabriel Farfan (L hamstring strain); PROBABLE: MF Brian Carroll (R hamstring strain).
NOTES: Sounders FC forward Eddie Johnson and Adu were teammates at Aris in Greece in 2010. … Union head coach Peter Nowak will be suspended for the match, along with midfielder Gabriel Farfan.  Nowak came onto the field following a red-card tackle by Farfan to earn his sending-off. … Sounders FC goalkeeper Michael Gspurning will miss 2-3 weeks with a hip injury.  Bryan Meredith was named starter by Sigi Schmid, with a now-healthy Andrew Weber backing him up on Saturday.
TV/RADIO: NBC Sports Network; 97.3 KIRO FM

For a coach who just learned that he might be without starting goalkeeper Michael Gspurning for the next 2-3 weeks, Sigi Schmid was in a good mood after training on Friday.

Such is his confidence in backup Bryan Meredith, who will serve in the starting role on Saturday when the Sounders face the Philadelphia Union at 1:30 pm at CenturyLink Field.

“He’s gone through it – he came on and played a half against the Galaxy and he played against Monterrey, who is the CCL champions and he had a good game against them,” Schmid said.  “We’re confident in him.”

Gspurning was limited in some training sessions last week because of the hip ailment, but felt well enough to play in a 2-1 win over the Chicago Fire on Saturday and started the match against the LA Galaxy on Wednesday.

However, one particular kicking motion causes inflammation in the hip, according to Schmid, and it became agitated during the first half of the match against the Galaxy.

Gspurning will miss the match tomorrow, as well as matches against FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake next week.  The hope, Schmid said, is that he will be available for the match May 19 against the Vancouver Whitecaps.

“There’s an outside shot that he would be able to be back by the time we play Vancouver, or maybe that week after,” Schmid said.  “They feel pretty confident in terms of it’s something that will take two to three weeks to ramp him up to full activity.”

Gspurning had three shutouts in seven starts, posting a 0.46 goals against average.  Andrew Weber will be fit for the bench after recovering from an ankle sprain that has sidelined him since April 10.

Goalkeeper Josh Ford has been placed on the disabled list due to a right knee stress fracture.

Philadelphia Union forward Freddy Adu's career bears a striking parallel to Seattle Sounders FC forward Eddie Johnson.

The FIFA certification process is conducted by an accredited laboratory and includes measurements to gauge shock absorption, foot stability, rotational resistance, linear friction and ball-to-surface interaction, among other items. 

Sigi Schmid showed confidence in his 22-year-old goalkeeper and that confidence paid off as Bryan Meredith finished a shutout against the LA Galaxy.

A wonder-strike from long-range shocked the LA Galaxy and could be the catalyst to another string of great goals by Seattle's all-time leading scorer.

Sigi Schmid spoke with the media after the Sounders FC topped the LA Galaxy 2-0 to improve to 5-1-1 on the season.
 
(On the result…) “We’re happy with the win. Winning games means that we’re starting to make up some games in hand on other teams in our division. To be able to pick up three points in that process is very important. I’m happy to see [Fredy] Montero get his first goal. He chose a difficult one rather than an easy one, but that’s probably a ‘Goal of the Week’ winner, if not a candidate for sure, but I think a winner. Again, Eddie Johnson, I think you’re starting to see now what he can provide for our team with his running up front. He got a good goal off a header and I think as Mauro [Rosales] and Montero and Eddie and Flaco [Alvaro Fernandez] are eventually on the field as well, as they all get to know each other better it’s going to be become a more dangerous combination as we move forward. So I was pleased with what we did. We got another shutout. It’s tremendous for Bryan Meredith to come in and keep a clean sheet for 45 minutes. I think he showed what I said last week, in that I think there are a lot of teams in this league he can be starting for. He’s a quality goalkeeper and we have a lot of faith in him.”
 
(On Michael Gspurning’s injury…) “He’s OK. It’s that same hip sort of thing, but not nearly as bad as it was last time. So we’ll see how it is tomorrow and we’ll evaluate it tomorrow.”
 
(On the chances they created for goals throughout the game…) “It was good. This time it bounced our way a little bit. This time we ended up scoring an unbelievable goal instead of them scoring an unbelievable goal. Overall I thought we played well, especially the first 45 minutes I thought we were very good. In the second half I thought we started to fade a little bit because of fitness and fatigue, and they obviously had played more fresh guys than we did, so that made a little bit of a different there in the second half. But overall, I think we still made good decisions. It was a good, veteran move by Alex Caskey late in the game just to take it to the corner. It’s great to see a young player have that kind of awareness in a game like that.”
 
(On if the Galaxy being without star players takes anything away from their win…) “No, because I think it’s tougher to play against a group like that. You know how you’re going to play against [David] Beckham – you’re up for that, you’re prepared for that. You know how you’re going to play against [Robbie] Keane. But our guys don’t know a Brian Gaul, they don’t know how to play against him. They don’t know what [Sean] Franklin is going to look like in midfield, [Adam] Cristman hasn’t played much – we saw him in the reserve game. [LA Galaxy head coach] Bruce [Arena] is going to play what he thinks is the best team and the team that he thinks is going to give them a chance to win this game. So obviously, he felt playing Keane and Beckham, for whatever reasons, were things that he couldn’t do in this game. Whether it was because of their injuries, fatigue, or because he just wanted to shuffle the lineup, but he’s putting out a team to try and win the game. So I don’t think it takes anything away from our victory.”
 
(On the team’s lineup choices…) “He [Bruce Arena] is going to put the team out that he thinks can win and we’re going to put the team out that we think can win. So he’s made a different decision. Maybe he wanted to rest them [Keane, Beckham] because he feels New York [Red Bulls] are pretty beat up and he wanted to make sure he got three points at home. I can’t answer for him. He has to make his decisions and I have to make mine.”
 
(On if the Galaxy holding certain players out of tonight’s matchup is offensive to him…) “No, not at all. Because, again like I said, I think he puts out his best team and the team that he thinks is going to win the game. I’ve always said that sometimes it’s harder to play against the guys that you don’t know that are coming out there that are full of energy and everything else.”
 
(On if Fredy Montero is relieved to get his first goal of the season…) “I think you could see it after he scored it. There was definitely a sense of relief that came over him, so hopefully it’ll be the start of many. I think as him and Eddie [Johnson] even learn better how to combine with each other that they can really set each other up for some goals.”
 
(On their competitiveness of past matchups with the Galaxy…) “Obviously, that one game [4-0 Galaxy victory] I sort of throw out because it was just one of those weird games. The other games have all been tight. I think we’ve always been there and we’ve always been in the battle. When you take away that one score line at four-nothing I think the goal differential is miniscule between the two teams. So it was good to get a win. It was good for us because sometimes you have a team that you call your, ‘Boogey team’ – a team that sort of gives you a problem and for some reason you can’t seem to jump over them. Like Chicago [Fire] can’t seem to get past us right now. LA was that team for us a little bit, but we always felt we had confidence that we could beat them and today it showed.”
 
(On Eddie Johnson’s goal…) “It was a good goal. A tremendous cross by Mauro Rosales to find him in the middle. Eddie is a good athlete. He provides the speed, but he can also get up in the air. He’s got some hops and hit a good header – sliced it off into the far corner and Bill Gaudette had no chance. Gaudette had done well on a couple of earlier plays – on the shot from Eddie and then the rebound from Fredy Montero, Fredy’s header that was straight at him, so there were good things that he had done. So I think it was a good goal. It shows Eddie’s versatility that he’s not just going to score goals by breaking in behind defenses, but he’s going to score goals in different ways.”
 
(On their lineup moving forward…) “We’re going to stick with it. I don’t think it’s going to be the last time you see us play a game where both Eddie Johnson and [Fredy] Montero score in the same game. I think this is the first of a few that are going to go that way.”
 
(On Eddie Johnson’s role…) “I said this the other day to some other people, but not everybody was there, but O’Brian White last year I thought was really starting to provide that for us because he was a guy maybe a little more physically in the mold of an Edson Buddle. But he was able to hold the ball, combine, scored a great header against Chicago if you remember that game and he was really starting to come on. Unfortunately, we lost him due to an injury and he hasn’t been able to return. So I think Eddie [Johnson] is providing us some of those same things. That’s what we’re looking for – a forward that has speed, a forward that can play with his back to goal and can hold up the play. His first touch is pretty good, he’s technically pretty sound and I think his game is going to get better because he just needs to continue to get games and the understanding is going to get better. So it was what we were looking for and it was a trade that we felt was going to pay off at the end of the day.”