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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Sounders fall at L.A. but give selves good chance to advance

Galaxy midfielder Marcelo Sarvas, bottom center, celebrates his goal with teammates. (Associated Press)
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The Sounders would’ve preferred a draw or, better yet, a win.

They’d have rather banked a few away goals, silenced the lively StubHub Center crowd in Carson, California, and provided the traveling fans in the northwest corner a few moments of inspiration to take home.

But they came into the first leg of the Western Conference finals with a singular aim.

“We wanted to make sure we came out of the game and had ourselves in a position where we could do some damage at home,” Seattle coach Sigi Schmid said.

The Sounders might have lost the possession battle 61 percent to 39 Sunday and been outshot by double. The team with the most regular-season wins in club history is now winless in three playoff matches and this year’s team, the one with the highest-scoring attack in Seattle history, was silenced again.

But by Schmid’s baseline, the Sounders achieved what they set out to do, as the Galaxy grinded out a 1-0 win on Sunday that kept the visitors very much alive for the home leg next weekend.

“Overall, I was pleased with what we did out there,” Schmid said. “We gave away maybe a bit too much possession, but I was happy.”

To win the finals outright, the Sounders have to beat L.A. by two or more goals next week. If Seattle has a 1-0 lead after regulation, the match goes into overtime. A tie as the final allows the Galaxy to advance to the MLS Cup finals.

Play was occasionally disjointed, and there were four yellow cards handed out in the first leg. But the match was fast and powerful from the start, the top teams in Major League Soccer hurling themselves at each other.

Seattle had little possession in the first half but surrendered the ball on its own terms. L.A. was forced into the wide areas of the field by deep-lying midfielder Micheal Azira, leading to a steady stream of crosses for hulking center backs Chad Marshall and Zach Scott and charging goalkeeper Stefan Frei to clean up.

“I think we tried to hold a little bit,” Seattle midfielder Gonzalo Pineda said.

Seattle did carve out a few open looks. In the 20th minute, L.A. ’keeper Jaime Penedo pulled off a double save on shots by Obafemi Martins and Clint Dempsey from close range.

Martins put Dempsey alone on goal with a 49th-minute back heel, but again Penedo got a hand to the shot.

Attacking moves by the Sounders were fleeting, though. The Galaxy fired off 20 shots to Seattle’s 10.

Sounders midfielder Osvaldo Alonso was not in the starting lineup nor on the bench, having not recovered in time from an injury suffered against Dallas in the conference semifinals.

The Galaxy scored seven minutes after the half, when Marcelo Sarvas’ strike from the edge of the box deflected off Marshall and past a flailing Frei.

The last – and only previous – time these clubs met in the first leg conference final here in Carson, the Galaxy’s first goal was followed by a second and third. This time, Seattle limited the damage.

Revolution 2, Red Bulls 1: Jermaine Jones finished a counter attack the 85th minute with a tap-in and gave the New England Revolution a 2-1 victory in the first leg of the MLS Eastern Conference finals at Harrison, New Jersey.

The result gives the Revolution a significant advantage heading home for the second leg of the aggregate-goals series on Saturday.