Losing streak ends with inadequate tie vs Seattle
June 20, 2009
The road trip to Hell took a detour at Giants Stadium, staying there long enough for Metro to salvage a 1:1 tie with Seattle. An idiotic mistake by Jeremy Hall late in the first half led to the Seattle equalizer. Terrific play by Danny Cepero and a lot of luck preserved the useless point for Metro.
The lone change in the Metro lineup was the returning from injury Kevin Goldthwaite for the suspended Mike Petke. Goldthwaite picked up a yellow early in the match, so he'll be suspended for the next game for caution accumulation.
When Juan Pablo Angel walked in all alone on the Seattle net and sent a header wide of the net, you knew it was gonna be that kind of night... it's been that kid of season. But, in the 40th, the Cherubic Assassin (still Assassin?) finally got on board, after a Seattle pass bounced off Tyrone Marshall. Angel pounced on the ball, got by Kasey Keller, and easily scored into the empty net.
But this is Metro, and this is 2009 Metro. So, four minutes deep into first half injury time, all Hall had to do was to send the ball upfield from his corner of the field. Freddy Montero stole the ball, and walked in on the Metro net, tying the match.
Cepero might have allowed that goal, but he was terrific throughout. Getting a hand on the ball to tip it off a crossbar in the first, getting a hand to tip it off the goalpost in the second, and then making a huge save in injury time to walk away with a point.
There were also two sequences in the second half when the ball seemed to cross the Metro penalty area back and forth, somehow avoiding going into the net on both occasions. We would call Metro lucky, but... this is not a lucky point. This is wasted two points, another in a string of wasted opportunities in this doomed season.
Lineup: Cepero, Pacheco, Goldthwaite, Mendes, Hall, Stammler, Celades, Rojas, Zimmerman, Kandji, Angel. Subs: Richards, Borman, Wolyniec.
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