After a game that saw both goalkeepers save their teams time and time again, it was fitting that they would be completely in the spotlight at the end -- with penalty kicks deciding the match.
And it was Seattle Sounders 'keeper Chris Eylander who rose to the occasion again, stopping Tyson Wahl's shot in the seventh round of kicks and benefiting from teammate Zach Scott's final penalty to knock the Kansas City Wizards out of the U.S. Open Cup in the quarterfinals on Tuesday at Qwest Field after a scoreless tie through 120 minutes.
Seattle came out the aggressor, a predictable occurrence for the USL team that has given MLS opponents fits in the U.S. Open Cup during the past couple years -- especially in their home city. The Sounders played several long balls in the air early on, looking for the quick breakthrough. The young Kansas City visitors, starting almost none of their regular lineup, seemed content to feel the Sounders out and settle with some long, speculative efforts.
Mere minutes after the opening whistle, Seattle received the opportunity of a lifetime as Andre Schmid beat the Kansas City backline without straying offside and took a looping through ball that left him completely alone at the top of the box behind the defense. But he was uncomfortable with the touch as he moved in on charging Wizards 'keeper Eric Kronberg and nudged the ball too far to the right of the goal when he should have done much better.
Kansas City had its own heavenly opportunity in the 19th minute, as Ryan Pore probed the right side of the box before sending a low boring cross through the area. Wizards forward Mike Kraus met that offering with perfect timing from point-blank range, but Eylander seemingly read Kraus' mind to dive and smother the shot to keep the scoreboard spotless.
Pore was quite active on the right side during the right half, and his offensive mentality was equaled by the consistent threat of Sounders forward Sebastien Le Toux, who made his presence felt with both strong runs through the defense and impressive touch on the ball.
As the half wore on, Seattle seemed harder-pressed to mount dangerous efforts on goal, while the Wizards used turnovers to spring their runs downfield. But Kansas City still settled for some longer efforts on goal outside the box, so even though Eylander ended up with five saves for the first half, few of them were difficult.
Just when Seattle's offense seemed to be waning, though, Le Toux took over the game for several minutes.
First he latched onto a through ball down the right side of the field in the 38th minute, entered the box and forced Kronberg to deflect his strike wide to the right. Then in the 40th minute, Le Toux took a through ball down the middle of the field and seemed to be all alone until he went down around the top of the box after contact from behind from Wizards defender Rauwshan McKenzie. But the referee was oblivious to the penalty appeals from Seattle, while the home crowd expressed their displeasure.
Seattle ended the half with a rocket from Leighton O'Brien that Kronberg parried away to his right to keep the game goalless at halftime.
Just after halftime, Kronberg was again tested on a Zach Scott shot in the box, but he was able to sprawl out and get a glove on it to deflect it away. Then Josh Gardner came even closer to breaking the deadlock when he hit the crossbar from the left side of the box in the 61st minute.
Kansas City, who put regulars Jimmy Conrad and Michael Harrington in for the second half, again had spells of controlled possession but rarely troubled Eylander outside of more long-range efforts.
Then in the 78th, Le Toux took a ball in the box and chipped it past Kronberg right towards the wide open goal. But there was defender Tyson Wahl, who arrived on the scene just in time to volley away the would-be score.
Kansas City seemed to gain momentum after about the 80th minute and began to pepper the Seattle goal, and a shot from Roger Espinoza forced another nice save from Eylander as regulation slowly came to a close with extra time waiting.
Although the Sounders looked to be tired, they came up with extra time's first golden opportunity in the 94th minute. Jason Cascio came onto a ball in the box after a beautiful setup and lasered a shot towards the goal, but Kronberg again dove to his right and pushed the ball just mere feet outside the right post.
In the 105th, Pizarro danced across the top of the box between defenders and laced a shot that rose high and right of the goal. Le Toux again, in the 121st, got a perfect touch on the ball in the box and chipped an unprepared Kronberg but was again denied by the stubborn crossbar, which played its defender role perfectly.
Cascio then made a one-man run through the Wizards defense in the 115th minute and put his cross just over the bar.
Even in the 120th minute, a deflected free kick from Kerry Zavagnin made Eylander switch directions while the ball was in mid-air and lunge to the left to keep the game level and send it to penalty kicks.
It took seven rounds, but for the second year in a row, the Sounders reached the Open Cup semifinals at the expense of two MLS opponents, and this time a date with another USL First Division side, the Charleston Battery, is all that stands between them and the final.
Jesse Baumgartner is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
