Monday Morning Game Changers: Pacific North Red

1.) Clint Dempsey gets an assist on Chad Marshall's goal. While it doesn't show in the scoresheet, Deuce certainly should get some credit for Marshall's goal. Richie Marquez was playing the far man on the scrum, between Marshall and Dempsey (who remained more toward the center). When Marquez saw the ball heading out for Marshall, he tried breaking out toward him but was instead bull rushed by Dempsey toward goal, allowing Marshall an easy goal.

The Union were furious after the goal, and they had every right to feel aggrieved, as a foul could have easily been called and the goal disallowed.

2.) Another red card sinks the Union. Warren Creavalle had an excellent game back from his one game suspension for his red card, and now we'll get to see if Roland Alberg gets back into the lineup against the San Jose Earthquakes in two weeks after picking up a second yellow on this tackle.

Not a very good challenge - especially when you're already sitting on a yellow card and you've been warned repeatedly for persistent infringement. Alberg has to be smarter here. Even if he had gotten all ball, away teams don't usually get those non-calls in Seattle. Of the Union's three losses, two of them have come down a man. This team - while much improved on any iteration of the Union in club history - is still not immune to the laws of probability, and when they're down a man they're probably going to lose.

3.) Jordan Morris's goal was a result of everything going wrong at once. I know I'm being bitter and perhaps ruining the narrative about the next (in a long line of supposed) American soccer savior(s), but Jordan Morris's goal was more a result of the Union breaking down defensively than some display of individual talent. Josh Yaro had looked really good all game, keeping Morris and Dempsey from having much of an impact on the match, however the one play he'd rather have back is this goal.

For some reason, Yaro stayed upfield and rotated out to the right toward Keegan Rosenberry instead of dropping back and staying close to his center back partner Marquez. When Andreas Ivanschitz played the through ball up to Morris, Marquez did well to keep pushing Morris out wide. Fair play to Morris, who caught Andre Blake cheating toward his left (Morris's right) - expecting Morris to shoot a better angle shot with his left foot instead of tapping the tight angle shot with his right foot.

4.) Sebastien Le Toux's goal was a tad miraculous. It was good to see Seba get his 50th goal for the Union against the club that he started his MLS career against, however watch the replay closely.

As Le Toux makes his run toward goal, it looks like he tweaks something as he approaches the top of the box. He hops and slows down, however once CJ Sapong (who did an amazing job winning that ball) heads it back toward Le Toux, he steps forward and hits it past a defenseless Stefan Frei before falling over onto the turf and motioning for the training staff. Le Toux would not play another minute, but his goal gave the Union a spark. It would have been easy for Le Toux to go to ground and wait for the whistle, but through sheer intestinal fortitude he was able to hang in there and give his team a chance. This is exactly the sort of conduct that earned Le Toux the captain's armband, and we all hope he is not seriously injured as a result of this play.

5.) Andre Blake was amazing again. Save for the Morris goal, Blake had another outstanding game. Just when I think I've written the last article praising his heroics in net, he goes out the next week and comes up with something even more ridiculous. So enjoy these clips of Andre being Andre.

Just ridiculous.

Did I miss anything? Any other moments in the game catch your eye? Let us know in the comments below!