Sounders and Fire play to scoreless draw and some super sweet analysis

It is too damned hot right now. I'm in a basement unit and it's still 273 degrees. If that temperature were in Kelvin and not degrees celsius, it might be pretty cold right now. But it's not. So we can all agree on that, and that the ref for the game (Baldomero Toledo... what kind of name is that?) was an idiot. I'm sure I've seen equally poorly officiated games, but one thing I do know: it's been a long time since I saw a ref hand out as many cards as Baldo did for things other than dangerous play. At least three cards for dissent. You're a ref not a parent. It's a passionate game, people are going to yell at you. Develop some thick skin, and take some of the oil out of your hair.

Anyway... to the game. I'm glad to report to you that Montero played another amazing game. Granted he didn't score, but he was at the heart of nearly every single dangerous attacking opportunity. Each game that goes by, we're going to see the combination of Montero-Jaqua-Ljungberg gain more and more understanding and become more and more dangerous. It isn't quite the Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard combination... but who is. These guys are starting to link up very well. There were a number of plays in the first half where these three guys and one other (insert Alonso or Zakuani here) combined to create a great scoring chance. I'll say it again, if Montero leaves, we're really REALLY going to miss him. He did miss one golden opportunity to score, and hit the post on another... I'm just sayin'...

Ljungberg. He looks like he wants to be here again. In the middle of that awful streak earlier in the year when we were losing and tying and drawing red cards every game, Ljungberg looked like the last place he wanted to be was on an MLS field. In the last 6 weeks that has completely changed. Ljungberg looks like he's rediscovered joy in the game, despite his explosions at subpar officiating decisions. And the beneficiaries of that joy are guys like Montero, Jaqua, and Zakuani. The attack is flowing these days, and my guess is that it means that the Sounders will take a lot of points from the rest of the games this year.

Other guys I thought played well. Alonso seems like he's back in form, destroying guys all over the place and winning tackles in midfield. His ball in to Montero in the 1st half was beautiful... beautiful vision, perfectly weighted pass, Montero with a perfect run and a perfect first touch. The finish was lacking (which is maybe the most crucial part) but the entire play unfolded perfectly. The other guy I thought played well was Ianni. No bad touches by him this week. All he did was win headers and tackles whenever he needed to, and he was never out of position. You barely noticed him, which is of course, the best thing you can say about a defender.

I have to say... I have liked what Le Toux has done recently. But today's game was a step backwards for him. He made bad decisions, and when he didn't make a bad decision, it was because he was indecisive and was promptly dispossessed. And who really surprised me? The outside backs. I don't give Riley enough credit for his incredible work rate and his improving service from the wing. He's starting to add getting around people to his list of skills. And despite his constant overlapping runs on the wing, he always gets back. Wahl doesn't get involved as much as Riley, but he's shown improved position and better passing instincts. I still think that Gonzalez will be a significant improvement, but his improvement has turned left back into a position of depth.

All things considered, I can't really complain about the effort on Saturday, especially coming off of the Open Cup game on Tuesday when some of these guys played 120 minutes. I would have preferred a Nyassi substitution instead of a Le Toux substitution, but that's my only complaint. The backline was solid. We barely heard anything about Chris Rolfe during the game. We heard about Blanco because he was booed every time he touched the ball, but his impact on the game was minimal. Time to take points against San Jose.