Sounders give Chelsea strong signal

SEATTLE – We could try to break down the differences in skill and guile, in speed and artistry and sheer regality that separate a British soccer institution like Chelsea FC from a Major League Soccer newbie like the Seattle Sounders.

Or we could just spell it out in a way that’s easier to grasp.

Consider that the title of “life president” of the 104-year-old club belongs to none other than Lord Richard Attenborough, the starchy actor and director who portrayed the mastermind of “The Great Escape” and won Oscars for bringing “Gandhi” to the screen.

The Sounders? Well, they are part-owned by Drew Carey, who tells you if you overbid on a vacuum on “The Price Is Right.”

Get the picture?

Each of the 65,289 who streamed into Qwest Field at high noon Saturday got it, as well, in a 2-0 Chelsea victory in an across-the-pond “friendly” that differs from the normal American football exhibition game in that customers aren’t extorted into paying for it just for the right to buy season tickets.

But the Sounders and those same 65,289 also painted a picture for the visiting lords from west London that something quite different is happening in Seattle than what they may have inferred or experienced in previous exposure to the stateside game.

“It’s the best atmosphere I’ve played in here, that’s for sure,” Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard said. “Not only a full crowd, but the way they reacted, the atmosphere they created before the game and during the game. I hadn’t heard too much about it, but today I’ve seen – the buzz in the city is very good.”

Could he see himself in Sounders kit in the future?

“Who knows – one day when Chelsea doesn’t want me anymore,” he laughed.

Ah, yes. For the time being, the MLS will remain the place for Europe’s used-ups or not-quite-theres, which deep down has as much to do with America’s grudging reception over the years as the appeal of the game itself. This is a country that finds it easy to dismiss what it’s not good at.

Not that the Sounders weren’t good Saturday.

“Until they scored I thought that we were probably the more dangerous team,” said Sounders goalkeeper Kasey Keller, who soon enough had to re-evaluate. “We didn’t sit back, we didn’t just try to defend. We wanted to attack and we were unlucky not to get a goal or two.”

But Chelsea didn’t need luck. On its first chance 12 minutes into the match, Daniel Sturridge got just inside the 18-yard line as Sounders defender Tyrone Marshall overran the ball slightly, sending a shot just inside the far post when Keller came over to defend the near angle.

Twenty-three minutes later, Sturridge – just 19 years old and in his Blues debut – triggered a pretty counterattack that ended with a point-blank blast by Lampard.

The discouragement was that the Sounders had been relentlessly pushing the attack in the Chelsea end, getting close on a couple of corners and seeing 6-foot-5 Blues goalkeeper Peter Cech tip Freddie Ljungberg’s free kick over the crossbar. The run of play for the duration of the game was remarkably even.

“We won,” Lampard said, “because of the quality of our chances.”

And the quality of their players. Sounders midfielder Steve Zakuani was blunt about that.

“Their defenders – their recovery is ridiculous,” he said. “Their speed, their touch. There are no mistakes on the back end. And we didn’t see their best. They’re just in the preseason – that shows how good they are. But we competed well and we’ll take that.”

And the crowd? Well, even that deserves a practical assessment.

“Let’s face it, America loves an occasion,” Keller said. “But what’s so important and what I’m so proud of is it’s every day. It’s every day in the press, it’s every day at training, it’s every game day when we come to a home game and there’s 30,000. For me, that is the biggest message sent out from this club.”

It’s a message that Sounders coach Sigi Schmid experienced up close Saturday morning.

“I picked up my dry cleaning,” he reported. “I was walking back to my apartment and around comes this guy in full Sounders strip and regalia, with his Emerald City scarf around his neck.

“It’s 8 in the morning. He was ready for the game. You’re not going to find that in any other city in America. It’s unique in Seattle.”

And routine in Chelsea. Message delivered, in both directions.