Real Salt Lake: Beltran's slow start leads to Seattle goal

SEATTLE — Tony Beltran's first start since July 12 of last year didn't exactly go as expected.

Thrust into the starting lineup because of Ian Joy's hamstring injury, Beltran looked shell-shocked in the opening half of Saturday's game at Seattle.

He twice gave the ball away pushing up into RSL's offensive third, each putting his team in a defensive scramble mode. Then, in the 18th minute Seattle midfielder Ian Joy danced around Beltran like he wasn't there, easily sending a cross to Nate Jaqua, who finished it for the 1-0 lead.

Beltran eventually settled down, but in the opening half-hour he didn't look anything like a player who started 10 games during his rookie campaign in 2008.

Joy was one of the two projected wide defenders throughout the preseason, and started last weekend's final tune-up game against lower-division Austin. Joy, however, injured his hamstring in the opening five minutes and is expected to miss at least a month.

IMPRESSIVE DEBUT: Zakuani, the London, England, native who was the first player selected in the 2009 SuperDraft out of Akron University, made his MLS starting debut on Saturday.

Touted as one of the best No. 1 picks in league history, Zakuani started in place of Sanna Nyassi as the only difference in Seattle's starting 11 from Week 1 to Week 2. Nyassi was listed as probable heading into the match but was a late scratch by the coaching staff.

It worked in Seattle's favor as Zakuani was credited with an assist on the Sounders' first goal

Zakuani played 28 minutes as a substitute in last week's win over New York, and gave fans a glimpse of his outstanding speed up the flank.

ANOTHER SELL-OUT: For the second week in a row, there were no unsold tickets at Qwest Field.

The team decided to cap attendance at 27,700 this year, placing downsizing banners over the empty seats, and Seattle sold every seat Saturday.

In the club's first match in franchise history last week the team increased capacity to 32,523 to accommodate the demand, and sold that match out as well.

The league is looking increasing more and more intelligent for finally placing a team in Seattle, and the team is rewarding the fans with a sold start to the season.

E-mail: jedward@desnews.com