Seattle Sounders earn first shutout of the 2022 MLS season in midweek victory against the Houston Dynamo

After spending the first three months of the 2022 MLS season balancing regular season play, their CONCACAF Champions League triumph, and even fitting a US Open Cup game in there, the Seattle Sounders seem to finally be starting to find their footing in regular season play, defeating the Houston Dynamo by a score of 1-0 on Wednesday night, thus registering the team’s first shutout in MLS play this year. With the win over the Texan side, the Sounders have started their first back-to-back win streak in MLS play since October 2021. The streak at that time was broken by, you guessed it, the Houston Dynamo. This mid-week match between the two western conference rivals also marks the last time that the Sounders will have to travel to the state of Texas this season, as Austin FC, FC Dallas, and the Houston Dynamo will now all be tasked to play in Seattle at different points in the season.

The opening 30 minutes of the game featured some back-and-forth action between the two sides, with both Seattle and Houston showing signs of life with some promising build-up play in the opposition’s half. Ultimately, it was the Sounders who broke the deadlock in the 28th minute, when a 22 pass sequence was successfully capped off by Raúl Ruidíaz, who redirected the ball past a familiar opponent in goalkeeper Steve Clark, to put Seattle up 1-0. “The goal might have been a little fortunate because it bounced all over before it went into the actual goal,” coach Brian Schmetzer admitted after the game. “But the build-up was very, very good.” This goal also marked Ruidíaz’s second goal of the 2022 MLS regular season, although he tallied three goals in the CCL, including two clutch goals in the second leg of the final versus Pumas. “I was happy for Raúl to score two games in a row, so a lot of positives on that particular play, and we’ll just keep trying to build our attacking movements so that we can continue to move up in the standings,” Schmetzer stated after the match.

Seattle was able to navigate through the second half with their one-goal lead. The complexity of the game changed when Houston’s Adalberto Carrasquilla received his second yellow card of the game in the 54th minute, thus giving the Sounders the one-man advantage. However, the one-man advantage was erased in the 82nd minute, when Alex Roldan also received his second yellow card of the game, thus balancing the teams at 10 players apiece. Although the Dynamo continued to press, coach Schmetzer’s substitutions, including younger players such as Josh Atencio and Ethan Dobbelaere, helped the Sounders see out the result. “I never complain about his effort, his work rate, all of that sort of stuff, so that’s always a positive,” Schmetzer stated regarding Josh Atencio after the match. “We threw (Ethan) out there in the US Open Cup and he’s had some positive moments in training,” Schmetzer explained in the post-match press conference. “So he’s earned a couple more looks, a couple more minutes, so credit to the kid for staying after it.”

The Sounders have now nearly doubled their point total in the 2022 MLS season in just the past week alone, with a comeback victory versus Minnesota United FC over the weekend and a strong performance on the road in Houston last night. Seattle went from 7 points to 13 points across just these two matches alone, marking a six-point swing and the team’s first win streak in MLS regular season play since last fall. “We’ve only played a few (league) games because it got broken up from CONCACAF and Open Cup, so I’m glad that we’re sticking to the MLS,” Kelyn Rowe stated in the post-game press conference. “We’re glad that we can find that back-to-back win and maybe get on a run as much as we can.”

In addition to the Sounders getting the three crucial points, the 1-0 victory also marked Stefan Frei’s 87th career shutout, which puts him third all-time in MLS history for regular season career shutouts, with only Kevin Hartman and Nick Rimando ahead of him. Although he has had to make some incredible saves in his career, the Sounders goalkeeper felt relatively relaxed during Wednesday night’s match in Houston. “Honestly, pretty easy day for me. I didn’t have much to do,” Frei shared with the media after the game. “We were able to make it sort of difficult for them. They put in a decent amount of crosses (and) had a decent amount of corners, but we handled those balls as well.”

Now, after taking a brief trip back home to catch a breath, the Sounders will hit the road again this weekend, this time to face the Colorado Rapids, another western conference foe. With Alex Roldan’s double-yellow card night in Houston, he will now be suspended for Sunday’s affair with the Rapids. But with the return of Obed Vargas from his own suspension due to yellow card accumulation, it will be interesting to see how Brian Schmetzer reshuffles his line-up again, something that he has had to do a plethora of times in 2022 already. However, with the incredible depth of his squad, it should be of little to no surprise to see the Sounders push for three more points in Colorado this weekend, a result that can turn this short two-win streak into a fiery run of results for the Sounders, which is exactly what Seattle needs to put themselves back firmly in the playoff picture.