The Seattle Sounders wrapped up a three-match week on a positive note, when the boys in rave green collected the full three points against their MLS Cup rivals, Toronto FC, at BMO Field on Saturday evening. Head coach Brian Schmetzer exercised a notable amount of squad rotation for the interconference affair, due to a combination of injuries to key players and electing to provide time for rest to others. Even with a starting line-up consisting of five changes from the starting line-up employed versus Montréal a few nights prior, the Sounders still came together and put on a full team performance to earn their fourth victory and third shutout within their last six games.
The first 30 minutes of the match saw several giveaways from Toronto FC in their own defensive half, but the Sounders were unable to capitalize. Seattle finally broke the deadlock in the 39th minute when Stefan Cleveland hit a fantastic cross-field switch ball that was played onto the left-wing by Jimmy Medranda, where Léo Chú beat his man and provided a low cross to Dylan Teves for the first-time hit and the 1-0 lead. With this goal, Dylan Teves became the first Homegrown Player in Seattle history to score a goal in his first MLS start. “It means the world to me,” Teves spoke of his first professional tally after the game. “Growing up through the academy, they’ve given me so much and I just want to pay it back to them to the best that I can and that’s one way of doing it is just continuing to hopefully win and be a part of it and contribute in every way I can.”
After a back-and-forth opening 15 minutes of the second half that featured a Fredy Montero shot kept out by the crossbar and an Alejandro Pozuelo opportunity stopped by a kick save from Stefan Cleveland, the Sounders would go on to extend their lead at the hour mark. Jackson Ragen’s long ball off the reset was brought down by Alex Roldan before being shifted to the center of Toronto’s final third where both Fredy Montero and Nicolás Lodeiro had some lovely combination play before the former slotted it into Quentin Westberg’s goal to double the lead for the Sounders at 2-0 in the 60th minute. This goal was also a historic one for the club, as this tally marked Fredy Montero’s 56th goal as a Seattle Sounder in MLS regular season play, setting the new club record, although Raúl Ruidíaz is just one notch lower at 55 goals. So surely this record might be broken on several occasions, so long as both players are wearing rave green and scoring goals for the club.
Despite the increased pressure and signs of life that Toronto brought forward in the final stretch of the game, it was ultimately not enough and the Sounders closed out the game with a 2-0 victory. Goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland spoke about the supreme play of his wing-backs, Alex Roldan and Jimmy Medranda, and how that helped ensure a clean sheet for Seattle tonight. “It’s a very similar system to the system that we played last year,” said Cleveland in reference to the three center-back and two wing-back lineup. “So the more work they (wing-backs) do, the better it allows us to keep our center-backs in the middle of the field and cut out the passing lanes because that’s where they (Toronto) were dangerous.”
With Raúl Ruidíaz, Will Bruin, and Xavier Arreaga still out due to injury and Stefan Frei, Cristian Roldan, Jordan Morris, and Albert Rusnák being given time off to rest, it was inevitable that Seattle’s player pool for the match with Toronto was going to look vastly different than typically. In fact, Brian Schmetzer’s roster of 18 for Saturday evening’s match-up included 13 players that have played at least one game for Tacoma Defiance, the Sounders’ MLS Next Pro affiliate. Stefan Cleveland shared his thoughts on how the club has been able to have so much sustained success over the years. “I think it’s a culture that the club has created,” said Cleveland. “The coaches take a lot of time making sure that whether it’s going down to play with Tacoma or bringing Tacoma guys up to play with the first team, that everybody feels a part of the club. Everybody knows everybody, so I think whenever we need somebody to step on the field, they’re comfortable.”
The Sounders are now in more familiar territory in the standings, which is above the playoff line. Seattle has been able to get the month of July started on a very positive note with a shutout road win featuring several non-regular starters, but things will only pick up from here onward. In one week, the Sounders will have their first match with the Portland Timbers this year, a rivalry that some argue may be the biggest soccer rivalry in all of North America. Although Seattle is certainly the better club with respect to the trophy cabinets of both teams, the Portland Timbers have certainly made the Cascadia rivalry increasingly interesting in recent years. Portland now has the albeit narrow advantage in the head-to-head record between the two sides in MLS play, with the Timbers having 17 wins as opposed to the Sounders’ 15 wins. Additionally, the Timbers have not lost to the Sounders in Seattle in any competition in nearly half a decade, with the exception of the 2018 MLS Cup playoffs second leg matchup which was technically a win in the record books for the Sounders, but the Timbers were the team to advance to the next round after a nerve-wracking penalty shootout. Needless to say, the Seattle Sounders are up to the challenge of removing these blemishes from their impressive resume of the last 5-6 years. “Those are my favorite games of the year because you don’t need to build any energy within you to get ready for that game, especially at home,” said Stefan Cleveland. “Those are the games you circle on the calendar.”
