With one swing of his right foot, Fredy Montero stunned everyone. From 41 yards, he struck a sure candidate for Goal of the Year—a free kick that left Dallas goalkeeper Darío Sala every bit the 35-year-old he is. The goal gave the Sounders a second-half lead.
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Seattle eventually settled for a 2-2 draw, and Friday’s headlines will discuss the dubious penalty called in stoppage time to gift Dallas a share of the points.
“Bad call,” head coach Sigi Schmid said. “There were couple of bad calls near the end of the game. I haven’t seen the replay, but everyone who has says it was a bad call.”
There will be debates about whether Dallas salvaged a point or Seattle blew a 2-1 lead in stoppage time, just as they did against Real Salt Lake two weeks ago.
“The Salt Lake game was less disappointing because we gave ourselves away there,” Schmid said. “This one sort of got taken away from us. We had a few opportunities to score a goal. It was like Christmas and someone stole your present.”
But another debate brings us back to Montero’s shot. Few players display the confidence to attempt a shot on goal from that distance. Even fewer can put the ball in the net. Montero did both.
With Freddie Ljungberg out of the starting lineup—resting, supposedly—it was the young Colombian who assumed the duties on set pieces. He hit an instep drive with enough top spin to cause the ball to clear the wall, dip down violently like a nasty slider and tuck itself into the upper 90.
Sala isn’t the only goalkeeper that’s been made to look foolish by a Montero missile. Last season, RSL’s Nick Rimando was left flailing at a heavy Montero shot in the second game of the 2009 season. New England’s Matt Reis was beaten by a swerving shot from a similar distance as the one struck on Thursday.
The Sounders attack is having trouble scoring goals in the run of play right now. Which means set pieces are vital. Montero’s shot may force Schmid to rethink who takes the free kicks for Seattle. It has been Ljungberg’s duty since his arrival, but if Montero can hit the target consistently, he could supplant Ljungberg as the first option.
The first chance to see how Schmid plays it comes on Sunday afternoon, when the Sounders travel to BMO Field in Toronto. Ljungberg is expected back in the lineup. Will he also be back over the ball on free kicks?
