Despite playing a man down, Sounders FC (12-8-4, 40 points) earned three points on the road with a 1-0 result over the Columbus Crew (8-13-5, 29 points) Saturday night at Crew Stadium. Eddie Johnson and Mauro Rosales connected for the second consecutive game, giving Seattle five wins in the past six games.
In the 15th minute, Rosales found Johnson in the box with a free kick and the striker headed inside the far post to put Seattle up 1-0. Rosales and Johnson have connected for a goal in two consecutive games, giving Rosales a team-leading seven assists and Johnson a share for the team-lead with seven goals.
Before the goal, Leo Gonzalez was issued a red card in the seventh minute, forcing Seattle to play 83 minutes with 10 men.
Sounders FC is now second in the Western Conference with 1.67 points per match after losing just once (5-1-1) in the past seven games.
Michael Gspurning made three saves en route to his second consecutive clean sheet, giving him eight on the season. In the 80th minute, the Austrian came off his line to challenge Dominic Oduro on a breakaway, deflecting the shot wide of the post.
Columbus nearly scored four minutes earlier when Chad Marshall’s header from a free kick hit the crossbar before being cleared away.
Jhon Kennedy Hurtado came up with a couple of crucial first-half stops. First in the 33rd minute when he slid in to cut off a dangerous Odurco cross in the six-yard box, then broke up another Oduro run deep in the box in first-half stoppage time.
Sounders FC held on to win despite being out-shot 24-7, including 14-2 in the first half, and keeping just 42.4% of the possession.
Brad Evans suffered an injury and was replaced by Servando Carrasco in the 19th minute.
