Funny, but an important result with two games left before the playoff picture finalizes. Barrett shrugged off his teammates, leapt onto the railing near the corner flag and greeted an adoring public.
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It was Seattle assistant coach Kurt Schmid.
Scott also was in the lineup due to injury. Barrett was being added to the bench.
The Sounders couldn’t be more glad he did.
As the Seattle Sounders were warming up Sunday afternoon at the Clink for a crucial match against the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chad Barrett, not on the 18-man active roster, was up in the pressbox in a sports coat, drinking a soda.
With the draw, the LA Galaxy clinch a berth in the 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs and temporarily rise to the top of the Western Conference standings with 51 points.
Despite a consistent spell of possession and chances that stretched over the course of almost the entire second half, the equalizer was stubbornly obstinate in following.
The back and forth action came to a climax in the 36th minute when LA Galaxy captain Robbie Keane capitalized on an egregious mistake by defender Zach Scott.
Seattle pressed on, but no goal seemed forthcoming.
Despite a flurry of chances, they wouldn’t fall. “It’s, ‘Let’s go.’ Pick the ball out of the net and we’ll carry on”. And he did it two hours after he was about to eat dinner. “They push hard, get the goal, and earned it at the end”. Barrett, dead-set on crashing the net, beat marker Gyasi Zardes with a nifty move toward goal and shimmied into wide open space.
Barrett took the elevator down to the locker room, changed into his uniform and was on the bench as the Sounders conceded a gruesome goal that put rival Los Angeles ahead.
Keane said there was a lesson in how things finished, and “it’s good if you learn the lesson”. “He ended up getting a good goal”. They made good on all three.
“At this point in the season, a point is a point, and we have to take it in stride”, said Evans. “We deserved the three points, the way we defended as a team, but it wasn’t meant to be”.
I’ll be back with notes and quotes.
The first half was an ugly affair, specifically for the Sounders.
“You don’t say anything there”, Evans said. “It’s a guy that’s done so much for the club and that bleeds rave green”. (And) Gerrard and Keane, just a step above everybody else.
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“When you get your moments, you’ve got to step up”.
