SEATTLE – Kasey Keller has seen it before. When he played in Europe, he recalled conceding goals to great players such as Dennis Bergkamp (“two goals were insane”) and Raúl (“a ridiculous goal”) that were outstanding individual efforts.
After the match, the veteran goalkeeper put Edson Buddle’s goal in that category, admitting there was nothing to be done about the heat-seeking volley from well outside the penalty area.
“Sometimes you just have to hold your hand up and applaud the effort of the guy who scored,” Keller said.
No one had a better view than Patrick Ianni, who was defending on the play. Ianni bodied up on Buddle, who took a touch to his left before spinning his body around and launching what would be the game-winning shot in the Galaxy's 1-0 win.
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“At that point, I thought, ‘Kasey’s got this,’” Ianni said. “He hit an absolute wonder strike. … There’s nothing you can do about it.”
With Seattle trailing 1-0 in the home-and-away series, the locker room remained confident in the ability to make up the deficit. Coach Sigi Schmid tipped his cap to the goal-scorer while complimenting his team on its overall effort.
"When you weigh the whole game, I thought we created more chances than they created,” Schmid said. “You take a goal where, hats off to Edson, but he just turns and hits the ball in the direction of the goal and it could go anywhere, but it went in.”
Despite the disadvantage, Keller said his team isn’t panicking. He thought they played well overall and will have a chance to even the score in Southern California.
“It would have been great to then win 2-1, but it wasn’t happening today,” Keller said. “We have 90 minutes to put it right.”
Seattle’s Jeff Parke, meanwhile, said he’ll be examined on Monday after he sustained an ankle injury and had to be subbed out for Tyrone Marshall in the 65th minute.
“I don’t know if I have a high ankle sprain right now but it didn’t feel right," Parke said. "I was running and I rolled it again when I hit a long ball."
