SEATTLE — Seattle coach Sigi Schmid recently decided that his most dangerous attacking group was a young Colombian star, an experienced Argentinian professional, a Uruguayan with World Cup experience and a shaggy-haired forward from Portland, Maine.
It looked to be a perfect union on Saturday.
Fredy Montero scored his third goal in two games with a diving header in the 82nd minute, Mauro Rosales scored off a pass from Montero two minutes later and the Seattle Sounders remained unbeaten in their last nine matches with a 4-3 win over the Colorado Rapids.
Seattle rallied twice against the defending MLS Cup champions, getting an early goal from Alvaro Fernandez and Roger Levesque's goal early in the second half before breaking through for a pair of goals in the final 10 minutes for its sixth victory during the unbeaten streak. Seattle has not lost since May 25 against Dallas.
"It was great that different people scored and different people found themselves in a spot to capitalize," said Levesque, who scored his third goal of the season in the 48th minute. "That's just one of the characteristics of this team. It's not just one person, it's each day, each moment can be someone else stepping up and contributing and making it work."
For the second straight game, Seattle scored three times in the second half, putting on an entertaining display in front of a crowd that included Manchester United coach Sir Alex Ferguson. The Sounders will play Man U in an exhibition Wednesday night.
Levesque got Seattle's rally started when he flicked a cross from Rosales past Colorado goalkeeper Matt Pickens early in the second half. Montero then headed home Brad Evans' deflected shot to give Seattle the lead, and before Colorado had a chance to react, Rosales sneaked behind the defense and netted his second goal of the season.
"We played very nice football today in the game," said Rosales. "I think we didn't going down in the game. We were playing very good in the first half and they were winning the game that they didn't deserve to. We changed mentality in the second half and we worked for everything. This is the prize. We won."
Rosales' goal proved huge as Colorado's Caleb Forlan scored off a corner kick in the final minute before stoppage time. But the Rapids ran out of opportunities. Colorado got a first-minute goal from Wells Thompson and a goal from Jeff Larentowicz in the 43rd minute, but ultimately couldn't hold off Seattle's continuous offensive attack.
EARTHQUAKES 0, CREW 0: At Columbus, Ohio, San Jose goalkeeper Jon Busch and his counterpart William Hesmer made several crucial saves as the Earthquakes and Columbus Crew played to a scoreless tie Saturday.
Despite six saves by Busch, the Earthquakes (5-6-8) extended their winless streak to six games (0-2-4). Hesmer had five saves for the Crew (7-5-7), who have four wins, two losses and a tie over the past seven games.
Hesmer parried a header by Chris Wondolowski over the crossbar in the 75th minute, just after Busch denied a break by Andres Mendoza. Busch also slid to the right of the goal to stop Justin Meram in the 90th minute.
San Jose was blanked for the fifth time in six games, while Hesmer recorded his second straight shutout and seventh of the season.
TIMBERS 1, FIRE 0: At Bridgeview, Ill., Jack Jewsbury scored on a penalty kick to lift the Timbers to a win over the Fire.
The Timbers' first road victory snapped a seven-match winless streak (0-6-1), and an 0-5-2 road streak. Their last victory came at home against Columbus on May 21.
Chicago's winless streak in MLS play was extended to six matches (0-2-4).
Jewsbury hammered the ball low to the left of Chicago goalkeeper Sean Johnson in the 25th minute for his fifth goal of the season. The penalty kick was awarded when Chicago defender Gonzalo Segares pulled down Portland forward Jorge Perlaza about 10 yards from the goal.
Portland goalkeeper Troy Perkins stopped eight Chicago shots in earning his fourth shutout of the season.
SPORTING KC 1, DYNAMO 1: At Houston, Aurelien Colin scored late in the second half and Sporting Kansas City extended its unbeaten streak to 11 games with a draw against the undermanned Dynamo.
Houston (5-6-9) played the final 21 minutes down two men, but stretched its unbeaten streak to four games and kept a one-point lead over Kansas City (5-6-8) for fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
Brad Davis gave Houston a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute on an unassisted direct kick from about 25 yards out to the right that found the net inside the far post.
Colin tied the score in the 90th minute hitting a low drive from 25 yards out in the middle that deflected off of Houston's Kofi Sarkodie and into the middle of the net.
RED BULLS 0, CHIVAS USA 0: At Carson, Calif., Frank Rost's New York debut was overshadowed as Chivas USA goalkeeper Dan Kennedy stole the show for his first shutout of the season.
Kennedy made three saves to help the Rojiblancos extend their unbeaten streak to four games.
The struggling Red Bulls were unable to get past Kennedy, who stopped numerous chances. New York had its best opportunity in the 21st minute when midfielder Teemu Tanio fired a shot from 30 yards that forced Kennedy into a diving save.
With the draw, the Red Bulls have only one win in their last seven matches.
RSL game postponed
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Real Salt Lake's game this afternoon at Vancouver has been postponed because of soggy field conditions on the temporary grass playing surface at Empire Field.
The match will be rescheduled later this year.
The temporary grass playing surface was laid in preparation for a friendly between Vancouver and Manchester City on July 18. Steady rains and no drainage have made the field too soggy to play on.
Real Salt Lake returns to action next Saturday at Rio Tinto Stadium against San Jose.