A late brace from Roger Levasque has helped the Seattle Sounders overcome Red Bull New York 4-2 in their MLS clash on Thursday.
It appeared Seattle would cruise to victory early on when Erik Friberg and Osvaldo Alonso had the Sounders off to a dream 2-0 lead inside the opening 15 minutes. But goals either side of half-time had New York level with half-an-hour remaining and looking to extend their lead at the top of the Eastern Conference.
Friberg curled home a fine low effort after New York failed to adequately
clear Mauro Rosales’ corner, and Alonso’s mishit left-foot volley
swiftly doubled the Sounders’ lead after a near-identical build-up.
Dane Richards drifted a shot high inside the far post from the corner of the
penalty area in the 31st-minute to cut the deficit to one, and Jan Gunnar Solli’s run
led to an equaliser as defender Zach Scott stretched and deflected his low cross
into his own goal on 58 minutes.
Two cool finishes from Levasque in the 68th and 78th minutes, though, eased the nerves of the home side, as they moved closer to the LA Galaxy on the Western Conference table. The super-sub’s second strike came courtesy of a gaffe by New York goalkeeper Greg Sutton, who was caught in possession outside his penalty box. Levasque made no mistake in front of an empty net to send the 46,065 fans inside CenturyLink Field into raptures.
