Chad Marshall’s stoppage-time goal salvages Sounders’ draw with Houston Dynamo

The basics: The Sounders were listless in the first half, falling behind 1-0. They rallied in the second half, especially after Oalex Anderson and Herculez Gomez subbed on up top. Chad Marshall poked home the equalizer in stoppage time, seconds from the final whistle.

The goals: 35^th minute, Giles Barnes takes advantage of space in front of the goal to redirect a low cross from former Sounder Jalil Anibaba. 94^th minute, Oalex Anderson chases down a loose ball on the left side and fires into the box. Houston goalkeeper Joe Willis gets a hand on it, but Chad Marshall sends in the rebound.

Player of the match: Stefan Frei made six saves to keep Sounders in it long enough for the late goal to matter.

Key moment: It has to be Marshall’s goal. Referee Ismail Elfath already had his whistle in his mouth, and didn’t even allow time for a kick after the goal. Less directly, the game changed when forwards Oalex Anderson and Herculez Gomes were subbed on. In any case, the difference between a 1-4 record and 1-3-1 seems like a significant bullet dodged.

Notes: The Sounders still have never won in Houston. … The Dynamo still has never shut out Seattle – although they came about as close as possible. … After scoring 11 goals over their first three games, the Dynamo have scored one over their last two matches. … The temperature was in the low 80s at first kick. … Gomez made his Sounders’ debut. … Seattle starting forward Nelson Valdez was held out with a leg injury.

Next match: 7 p.m. Saturday, Philadelphia Union at CenturyLink Field.

Quote: "It was a game of two halves. The first half I thought they were the better team for sure. They were probably unlucky not to get more than one. … I thought in the second half we took the game to them. I think the equalizer was deserved." — Sounders coach Sigi Schmid

More quotes:

Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid

(on his initial thoughts about the game) “It was a game of two halves. The first half I thought they were the better team. They were probably unlucky to [not] get more than one. We gave them way too much space in the midfield to play. In the second half I thought we did a much better job of cutting down their space. I thought our ball movement was quicker and better, and I thought the second half we took the game to them. The equalizer was deserved based upon how many chances we had gotten prior to that, so we’re very happy to come out with a 1-1.”

(on FW Herculez Gomez entering and effecting the game) “I thought Herculez was good. He came in and the ball he hits (MF) Oalex (Anderson) gets on the end of and he finds (MF) Clint (Dempsey) at the far post. He had a couple of good balls. His running was good as well. I thought Herculez’s experience really helped us today.”

(on the play of MF Oalex Anderson on Seattle’s late goal) “I thought he did well. I don’t know if he’s going to get credited with the assist on that one, because I think the goalkeeper touched it in between, so you have rules and he can’t get an assist there. I thought he played well on that play. He almost got in on the end of the one where he almost poked it past (Houston GK Joe) Willis as well. Oalex is still young player. He has a tendency to sometimes make a good play and then shuts down for a second or two, and we’ve got to constantly remind him off the bench, in fact that’s kind of why we brought him to the left side, he likes to go inside from there, but it’s also so we could keep him into the game. Obviously he’s got a marvelous talent and marvelous speed.”

(on adjustments made at halftime) “Halftime talk was simply that we didn’t come out to play in the first half. We’re rested, we’re fit. We didn’t train hard this week. It was a little bit of a lowdown week. I went really light on them yesterday, and there was no reason for us to not put in the effort. I challenged them and they came out and as a team they responded.”

(on all of Houston’s first half chances) “We gave them too much space in the midfield. We gave too much space to Maidana and Alex. Didn’t cut them down, in terms of getting close enough to them to alter their play-making. They had plenty of time to get their head up, and make pick final passes. We didn’t get to guys as they were in crossing positions. We didn’t do a good enough job, a hard enough job, to try and block crosses.”

(on the Dynamo pressure in the second half) “(Houston head coach) Owen (Coyle) can answer that better than I can. From what it looked like to me is in the first 20 minutes of the second half we were carrying the game to them. They were still trying to play. They were still trying to move forward. With about 15 minutes to go, I think they started to think about, ok, let’s see if we can just kill the game a little bit here. Willis was looking, all the sudden the ball boys disappeared behind the goal, he was looking for the ball when it went out for a goal kick. There was all kinds of things going on that they were trying to take the air out of it, and that just allowed us to keep out foot on the gas, but I really don’t think they went into that until about 15 to go.”

Sounders DF Chad Marshall

(on his tying goal and where it ranks on all others) “It’s up there. Obviously it’s a tough place to play. They had a lot of numbers behind the ball. It was tough to break them down. I’m just glad I got to go out there and throw the body around, and luckily get one.”

(on the physical game with Houston FW Will Bruin) “He’s a good player. He’s a handful. Physical guy, and knows how to use his body well, so it’s always a challenge going up against him, but I like those physical battles. We always have a good laugh at the end of it, and respect each other’s game, so it’s fun.”

(on playing up front the last few minutes of the game) “Yeah, to go back to the high school days. Senior year, I played forward against the bad teams and defender against the good teams, so that was fun.”

(on the team moving forward) “Like I said, it’s a tough place to play, so anytime you can take points from here we’re happy to take a point given the way the game went. We look to carry this momentum these last two games into Philly next week and hopefully get a result at home.”

(on his involvement in the goal) “(Seattle DF) Brad (Evans) told me to go up, so I just ran up there and tried to be a handful for the center backs with long balls in the air. Luckily a head off won that go put off to Tyrone who had a good cross in. Oalex did well to battle and send a good cross back in, and luckily it just deflected out to me. I saw the near post and just went for it.”

Sounders DF Brad Evans

(on DF Chad Marshall’s goal and the match) “A bit up and down at times, but I’m very happy with the response in the way the team came out in the second half. We put them under a lot of pressure and we were unfortunate not to get a goal earlier than that. Big credit to the guys to put their head down and keep working, and battling to get that goal with literally zero time on the clock. They didn’t even get to kick it off and he blows the whistle, so we’re lucky. It’s one of those ones you got to put in the bag. Now we got the home game and we got to keep doing some work at home, and keep climbing the ladder.”

(on the difference between each half) “I think in the first half, a bit careless with the ball and certain points of the field – dangerous parts – losing the ball in front of (DF) Chad (Marshall) and I. A couple of costly turnovers. With that team, they play a lot off confidence. (Houston MF) Giles (Barnes) is confident. He is an awesome player. Playing them on a bye week, they come out strong, we kind of gave it to them in the first half. But like you said, a tale of two halves. We came out second half, put them under pressure, and connected our passes. When we did that in the first half we were fine. It was just the turnovers that cost us in the first half.”

(on the final movement) “(MF) Oalex (Anderson) is using his speed from the first moment he got in the game, he was sprinting on a long ball and wins us a corner. You got to play to guys strengths. And in that instance he does well with his left foot to get a cross. (DF) Chad (Marshall) is at the right place, right time and bangs it home. I was really happy for the big guy.”

(on playing in Houston and coming away the tie) “I think ties come in different forms. You go up and you give one away, you have a different feeling. You go down and you get one in the 90, 94 plus, it almost feels like a win. You grasp onto something, you hold onto it. You get home with a point before a home game this weekend.”

Sounders GK Stefan Frei

(on being excited to be able to just salvage something) “Yeah, we had a good result last week and we wanted to keep building upon that so it’s good to get at least something out of the game. It’s a tough place to play at, they scored a good goal but we kept out heads down and kept plucking away and trying to work and work and believe in ourselves. I think sometimes it also goes a long way when you have games like this where you score something at the end and get something out of the game; I think those games can stick with you throughout the season and you can recall on those games and say, “You know we’ve done it before, we can just keep our heads down and keep working and something will come out of it. So it’s good in that aspect as well.”

Sounders FW Hérculez Gómez

(on the playing time he got towards the end of the match) “It felt good to get my feet wet and get out there with the boys. I’ve been training with them a couple weeks so it just feels good to help out and be part of a good result against a very good team.”

(on the final possession) “You know that’s just us going all in pretty much and (MF) Oalex (Anderson) is such a dangerous player. Sometimes he doesn’t realize how physically gifted he is now and how much a detriment that means to the defensive backline. We were just trying to apply some pressure, I kept telling him to get in behind and just be relentless and he really created the whole play you know? He stuck with the whole play, beat his guy, got inside of him, and stayed strong. Most guys would have taken a foul and gone down but he did very well to stay on his feet, put in a great service with loose ball in the box and we took care of it. It’s a very good result for us because Houston is a very good team and anytime you get a result against a good team then it’s a good day.”

Dynamo head coach Owen Coyle

(on his initial thoughts about the match) “I think, as always, when a game finishes and you’ve lost a late goal, those are disappointing because we certainly felt we were worthy of all three points for the first 38 or 39 minutes. We were outstanding. We were one – nil up and it could’ve easily been two or three with the quality of our play and then Evans scored the goal. We had opportunities to pick them off, could’ve easily got that second goal. And when you don’t get that second goal you leave yourself open to a sucker punch and that’s what happened.

“Of course it’s disappointing, frustrating, whatever you want to say, but nobody will tell us that we didn’t play well. We’ll take the hurt and the disappointment but we’ll certainly move forward looking to replicate those performances but making sure we’re learning our lessons, in terms of game management in those last five minutes, making sure we see that out without being under undue pressure.”

(on the Seattle goal) “(Houston GK) Joe (Willis) actually got a great touch on it, but unfortunately it comes off of Raul’s (Houston DF Raul Rodriguez) heel and it sat perfectly. Doesn’t happen often but it’s happened. But Joe was perfect today once again.”

(on Seattle’s substitutes) “I think that they’re good players, but I don’t think it changed anything in terms of how the game played out. They were still putting pressure on us and we were putting them off on the break, but again they’ve got good players, haven’t they? As we’ve all. We brought in (MF Leonel) Miranda and (MF) Boniek (Garcia) who are good players. And that’s what the MLS has got now. I’ve got to say that for most of the game, we met up with them very honorably. That first 40 minutes we were outstanding.”

(on the attack slowing in the second half) “At any game, you’re never going to dominate a game for the duration of 95 minutes. And bearing in mind the quality of the team you’re playing against, there’s going to be certain times that they’re going to get the upper hand in the game and that’s what happened. They started using the midfielders well and they started passing the ball better. I think there’s sometimes a subconscious thing when you’re in a game and you’re leading one to nil that you’ve got to protect what you’ve got, whereas I think we’re a very good team when we’re playing on the front foot. As good as we were for periods, there are things we can do better. There’s been a lot of good signs.”

(on GK Tyler Deric’s health and whether he or GK Joe Willis will start) “Tyler’s had three or four sessions and he’s trained with the players this week, and Joe’s been terrific in the goal. It’s always a fair fight and if someone is doing well, they’ll retain their place and that’s a simple answer to that one.”

(on MF Giles Barnes’s health) “You’ve seen it for yourself. When he went driving at people, he scored a wonderful goal. There’s no doubt that when he’s that form and running at people he’s a huge threat in this league.”

Dynamo DF DaMarcus Beasley

(on Seattle tying the match in the final minutes) “It’s difficult, obviously, but it’s not even the second time. It’s the same thing from last year. At the last minute, we either lose a game, or we draw a game. The name of the game is points – in Europe you try and win the league and here you try to get to the playoffs and go from there. It’s tough to swallow, for me we can’t keep saying, ‘It’s bad luck, bad luck.’ It always happens. Something’s not right, whether it’s the mentality of our team, or whatever. But we have to nip this in the butt because we can’t keep going on like this.”

(on the style of play in the last 20 minutes of the game) “Yeah, I think they switched to 3-5-2, so I think they put a little more into the midfield. They let the two outside backs move forward a little bit, so it changed and they got more of the ball. But for the most part, I thought we moved together pretty well. Our top ten guys moved alright, and I think let them come to us. Counter attack and when we did get the ball, keep it. It was hot, they didn’t really press us much, but in spurts we didn’t really do that well. We didn’t keep the ball well enough. You either waste more time, get a chance, but in games like that, we have to keep the ball more. Going side-to-side. Keep the ball. Make them run.”

(on whether Seattle MF Oalex Anderson and FW Hérculez Gómez changed the pace of the game when they subbed on) “Obviously they’re both very fiery players. I know Herc very well, he’s always willing to run and do the extra effort. It looks like they made two good decisions with bringing them on the field. That’s what it looks like. But for us, obviously the last, literal second, we defended alright and when we had the chance to go, we would counter. And it just didn’t happen. But like I said, we can’t keep saying, ‘It’s bad luck.’ It happened last year, it’s happening this year again, so for me, it’s something we need to change and make sure we’re mentally ready for 95 minutes, and not 94. It’s frustrating. The guys who have been here a while know. But like I said, we can take positives from the game, always things we can do to get better. But the good thing about it is that we have a quick turnaround. Friday, we have another game at home. We’re going to play one of the big boys, LA, so if we can’t get up for that game, then we shouldn’t be playing football. So we’re going to be ready to go, we’re going to come out blazing, so I’m looking forward to the game on Friday and hopefully we can forget this game today and move on to tomorrow.”

(on whether he experienced a similar record during his international experience) “It’s definitely something we need to nip in the butt because it’s been happening a lot. Not just this season. But we’ll look at the tapes and see what went wrong and what we can try to improve in the weeks coming and that’s it. But these things happen. That’s football. That’s why people play it. That’s why people watch it. I’m sure it was fun for the fans, but it wasn’t fun for us.”

Dynamo MF Giles Barnes

(on his overall view of the game) “I thought it was the rub of the green. We feel there were two fouls before the goal eventually goes in, but we’ll have to pick ourselves up and get ready for Friday.”

(on his goal and return from injury) “It’s been a frustrating few weeks, watching the boys go and play in Vancouver and play at New York, I always want to be out there, missed some international games as well, but thank you to the medical staff for getting me fit and ready to play again, it was really good to be out there.”

(on the performance today) “I thought for the first 42 minutes we were incredible, thought we did really well, thought the last five minutes or so of the first half we just sort of weathered the storm a little bit, came out nice and bright in the second half, we felt we were in control for most of the game, just unfortunate in the last little bit.”

(on whether it felt like a game of two halves) “You could say that, yeah. Obviously they’re chasing the game and packing numbers forward, but we took them to the last five seconds of the game and we feel obviously there’s two fouls before but as I said it’s the rub of the green and hopefully next time we’ll be able to see it out.”

(on GK Joe Willis and the defense) “As I said I thought we played well, I’ll watch the video, gather my thoughts, think about the whole game and how it went but I feel we played well.”

(on what he tells the team after a result like today’s) “It’s bitter, but I’m always proud of my team no matter what we do, we controlled the game for most of the parts, it’s just that last little bit, that last percent we need to get ready, need to get right, and once we do that we’ll be, we’ll be fine.”

Dynamo FW Will Bruin

(on the match this afternoon) “It sucks. We can’t keep doing it. We’re five games in and I’m already sick of saying, ‘Hey, we’re getting unlucky.’ We’ve got to be three points, plain and simple.”

(on similarities between today’s match and the season opener vs. New England on March 6) “I mean, when we go forward and we take the game to teams, I think you saw the first 35-40 minutes we’re so good going forward when we play our game. I think when we try to hold a lead or try to change ourselves during the game that it makes a difference in the way we play, so I think we’ve just got to keep going what we’re doing no matter what the score is and we shouldn’t change ourselves based on who’s playing on or who the other team is, or what the score is.”

(on how the team can bounce back for Friday’s match vs. LA Galaxy) “It’s tough. It’s definitely a punch in the gut, but you know the best way to heal is to get back out there on Friday and do what we can to get the three points, (which) we can. In this league, every point matters and luckily it’s a short week so we get to get back out on the field on Friday. We just have to take our medicine and learn from it.”

Dynamo GK Joe Willis

(on his confidence) “It makes it easy when you’re playing behind those guys. They’ve been doing well all season. Most of the game was in the other half so the times it did come down to me I did what I needed to do but for the most part we dominated the game and kept the ball in the other half.”

(on the goal Seattle scored) “I didn’t know what was behind me so I’m going for that ball no matter what. As it is, I get a touch; it bounces off of (DF) Raul (Rodriguez) and right to the guy.”

Dynamo D Jalil Anibaba

(on the pattern of last-minute defending and if perhaps continuing the attack is a better option) “We tried to push on. We tried to take our chances when they came, and I thought we could’ve been a little bit better defensively in the last couple of minutes, it wasn’t just the last play. But that’s football. We have a lot of positives to pull from this match for sure.”

Dynamo MF Boniek García

(on the outcome of the game) “We committed errors, didn’t manage the clock and it cost us today. We needed to manage the ball more efficiently and towards the end we just didn’t keep possession. Towards the end, a small mistake costs us the victory. It’s tough to walk away with one point but we have to turn the page and focus on our next rival. LA Galaxy is a tough rival and we return to the training ground tomorrow to prepare for them.”

(on the moral of the team) “It’s normal to see the team upset about the result. We will reflect tomorrow on the match, look at what we did right and what we did wrong and learn from that.”

(on head coach Owen Coyle’s message to the team) “Well, to be honest we have to wait for tomorrow so we can look at the tape for a fair assessment. We know he will have a plan in place to fix our errors by the time we arrive to training.”

Dynamo MF Cristián Maidana

(on the outcome of the game) “Overall, we played well. We had the majority of the possession and more scoring opportunities. Unfortunately, we weren’t lucky towards the end, those last 15 minutes we spent a lot of time in our half of the field. You can’t do that against a team like Seattle that moves the ball really well. Things like this happen. Tomorrow we will look at the tape and see where we made errors, we will correct them and focus on the [LA] Galaxy. We don’t want this to happen again against them.”

(on the pressure applied in the first half) “We definitely wanted to maintain the ball on the wings, we don’t want to play up the middle against this team. We wanted them to run a bit more. We were able to do that here and there. We couldn’t keep it up in the second half but our focus is now on the LA Galaxy. We don’t want to commit the same errors in a few days when they come here.”

(on what the team has to change to pick up three points instead of one) “Let’s see what coach has to say. Our coach will identify our errors and what we need to do to fix them. We also have a say and that’s how we will avoid making the same errors moving forward.”

(on MF Giles Barnes first game back ) ”He’s an important player for us so I’m happy to see him on the field. As a whole, we are happy to see him and we hope to see him score more goals.”

This story was originally published April 10, 2016 at 3:14 PM with the headline "Chad Marshall’s stoppage-time goal salvages Sounders’ draw with Houston Dynamo."