SEATTLE, WASH. – Chad Marshall tied a career high with his fourth goal of the 2016 campaign as Sounders FC (12-13-5, 41 points) moved into postseason position with three points at home over the Chicago Fire (6-15-9, 27 points) Wednesday evening on the Xbox Pitch at CenturyLink Field. With the win, Seattle moves above the red line in the Western Conference for the first time this season, as the club continues its late-season push for a berth in the 2016 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs. Interim Head Coach Brian Schmetzer’s club now turns its attention to a road meeting with Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Sunday evening at BC Place.
Seattle struck first in the 24th minute of play via an Andreas Ivanschitz corner-kick, with the Austrian delivering an in-swinger that met Marshall for a bouncing header past Sean Johnson and inside the far post. With his fourth tally of the season, Marshall ties a career high set in 2008 and 2009, while also moving into sole position of third on Seattle’s 2016 scoring list. It was Ivanschitz’s eighth assist of the season, tying Nicolás Lodeiro for the team-lead.
Goalkeeper Stefan Frei made two saves en route to his second-consecutive home shutout, giving the Swiss netminder a goals-against-average of 0.79 at home in 2016. With seven clean-sheets this season, Frei has 26 shutouts all-time with Seattle, four short of Kasey Keller for the club record.
Lodeiro was issued a yellow card in the 58th minute, meaning the Uruguayan playmaker will miss Seattle’s next regular season match against Vancouver this weekend.
Now in postseason position for the first time in 2016, Sounders FC continues its late-season push for an eighth-consecutive playoff berth this Sunday with a nationally-televised road Cascadia clash at Vancouver Whitecaps FC (5:00 p.m. PT / FS1, KIRO Radio 97.3 FM, El Rey 1360 AM).
MATCH SUMMARY
Seattle Sounders FC 1 – Chicago Fire 0
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Venue: Xbox Pitch at CenturyLink FIeld
Referee: Hilario Grajeda
Assistants: Eduardo Mariscal, Jonathan Johnson
Fourth Official: Baboucarr Jallow
Attendance: 39,269
Weather: Partly cloudy and 62 degrees
SCORING SUMMARY
SEA – Chad Marshall (Andreas Ivanschitz) 24’
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
SEA – Nicolás Lodeiro (caution) 58’
CHI – Razvan Cocis (caution) 75’
LINEUPS & STATS
Seattle Sounders FC – Stefan Frei; Tyrone Mears, Chad Marshall, Román Torres, Joevin Jones; Cristian Roldan, Osvaldo Alonso – captain; Alvaro Fernandez (Erik Friberg 57’), Nicolás Lodeiro, Andreas Ivanschitz (Nelson Valdez 71’); Jordan Morris (Herculez Gomez 90+1’)
Substitutes not used: Tyler Miller, Zach Scott, Oniel Fisher, Oalex Anderson
Total shots: 11 (Lodeiro, 3)
Shots on goal: 4 (4 players, 1)
Fouls: 12 (Morris, 3)
Offside: 5 (Lodeiro, 2)
Corner-kicks: 5 (Ivanschitz, 4)
Saves: 2 (Frei, 2)
Chicago Fire – Sean Johnson; Johan Kappelhof, João Meira, Jonathan Cambell, Brandon Vincent; Matt Polster, Razvan Cocis – captain, Arturo Alvarez (John Goossens 66’), David Accam, Michael de Leeuw; Luis Solignac (David Arshakyan 76’)
Substitutes not used: Patrick McLain, Michael Harrington, Eric Gehrig, Michael Stephens, Khaly Thiam
Total shots: 10 (Accam, 3)
Shots on goal: 2 (Arshakyan/Cocis, 1)
Fouls: 19 (Polster, 5)
Offside: 0
Corner-kicks: 2 (Alvarez/Goossens, 1)
Saves: 3 (Johnson, 3)
MATCH NOTES
- With 41 points (12-13-5), Sounders FC moves into sixth place in the Western Conference standings, level with Portland but holding the total-wins tiebreaker for the final spot in the 2016 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs. With four games remaining in the 2016 regular season, Sounders FC has one game in-hand on all but two teams in the conference. This marks the first time in 2016 that Seattle has been in postseason position.
- Sounders FC is now 7-1-3 all-time against the Fire in MLS regular-season play, including an unblemished 4-0-1 record at CenturyLink Field.
- Wednesday’s opening goal marked the fourth tally of the season for defender Chad Marshall, tying his career high set in 2008 and 2009 and moving him into sole position of third place on Seattle’s 2016 scoring list.
- Andreas Ivanschitz recorded his eighth assist of the season on Marshall’s opening goal, tying him with Nicolás Lodeiro for the team-lead. This marks the fourth time in eight seasons that at least two Sounders FC players have registered eight assists in a single season.
- Lodeiro was cautioned in the 58th minute, meaning the Uruguayan playmaker will miss this weekend’s match at Vancouver due to yellow-card suspension.
- Since taking over managerial duties on July 26, Interim Head Coach Brian Schmetzer has lost just once in 10 matches, posting a 6-1-3 record.
- Wednesday marked the final match of the 2016 MLS regular season against the Eastern Conference, with Seattle finishing 6-4-1 against the East this season.
