Sounders tie

SEATTLE – Dwayne De Rosario and Freddie Ljungberg had their share of near-misses Saturday, but no one found the back of the net as Toronto FC and Seattle played to a 0-0 tie at Seattle.

The expansion Sounders (8-6-10) have gone three straight games and 314 minutes overall without scoring at home. Toronto (8-8-7), in the middle of a three-game road stretch, bounced back from a 2-0 loss at Chivas last Saturday.

TFC, which took 13 shots but put none on goal last week at Chivas, had five shots that nearly went into the Seattle net in the opening half.

In the third minute, a long distribution downfield by goalkeeper Stefan Frei found De Rosario. He got behind the Sounders defense into the penalty area, went one on one against goalkeeper Kasey Keller and had a wide-open net from 6 yards, but poked his shot wide to the right.

In the ninth minute, De Rosario had another try from the top of the box, but headed one wide left. In the 22nd minute, Chad Barrett headed a perfectly placed De Rosario target ball just wide left from the top of the box.

One minute after that, Amado Guevara’s shot from inside the top left corner of the box bounced off the far side of the crossbar.

Sam Cronin had a one-on-one try against Keller near the end of the first half, but sent his shot wide right.

Ljungberg gave Seattle two prime scoring opportunities during the first 45 minutes. One shot from the top of the box was stopped with a diving save by Frei in the 26th minute. Near the end of the 41st, Ljungberg lofted a free kick toward the top of the arc for Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, whose header was barely wide of the left post.

Ljungberg then had two shots within two minutes midway through the second half that were on target. The first was deflected over the top, and the second flew just wide of the far post. He also had a point-blank shot from inside the 6-yard box during second-half stoppage time that was blocked by Frei.