After suffering three consecutive shutout losses through mid-July, the Seattle Sounders got back to their winning ways with a comeback win versus the Colorado Rapids on Saturday night at Lumen Field. Having lost four out of their last five matches and recording only three goals across those five affairs, Brian Schmetzer’s squad understood the task at hand this weekend. “We’ve been to finals and we’ve won CONCACAF and we’ve played away in tough stadiums,” said Schmetzer. “So they weren’t afraid, the game wasn’t too big for them.”
The match certainly didn’t start out on the right foot for the Sounders, with Jonathan Lewis getting his second goal of the season against Seattle in the 3rd minute after dribbling the ball past Stefan Frei for a finish in an empty net. Despite this early setback, the Sounders continued pressing numbers, applying more pressure on the Rapids, and even manufacturing several goal-scoring opportunities that Schmetzer’s side seemed to struggle with during their three-match losing streak. “After they scored the goal, which I wasn’t pleased about, I thought the last 35 minutes of the first half that we were okay,” said Schmetzer.
Seattle’s goal drought dating back to their July 2nd interconference contest with Toronto FC finally came to an end in the 43rd minute, when a free kick taken quickly by Nicolás Lodeiro landed at the feet of Jimmy Medranda who laid it off to Jordan Morris who chipped the ball over William Yarbrough to level the game at 1-1. The beginning of this sequence sparked quite a bit of outrage from the Colorado players and bench, as it seemed that they took issue with the spot of the free kick with respect to the location of the foul, whether the ball was moving or not, or if the challenge that was awarded as a free kick to the Sounders was truly a foul in the first place. Brian Schmetzer gave his thoughts after the match. “The location of the foul and then Nico putting the ball behind, I think the referee just let the play go,” said Schmetzer. “It’s just one of those decisions that referees have to make. So if our team wants to play it in quickly from behind the spot of the foul, why shouldn’t we be allowed to do that?” While main official Rosendo Mendoza had a lengthy conversation with one of his assistant referees, VAR was not utilized and the goal ultimately stood for the Sounders.
Coming out of the gates in the second half, Seattle found themselves suffering another setback when Kelyn Rowe was given his second yellow card of the game for delaying the match by tossing the ball over the signboards in his own defensive half. While several fans were frustrated that Kelyn Rowe was disqualified from the contest for a seemingly harmless move, Brian Schmetzer says the call by the officials came as no surprise to him or Kelyn. “You cannot toss the ball over the signboards,” said Schmetzer. “I give Kelyn a lot of credit, he waited at the entrance from the field into the locker room and he made sure he said thank you to each one of his teammates for that mental mistake. So I give Kelyn a lot of kudos, but that’s something that the league has tried to crack down on.”
While any second-half adjustments that Seattle discussed in the halftime break were likely thrown into disarray due to going down a man just minutes after the teams kicked off again, the Sounders demonstrated that they were still up to the task and were hungry to somehow get a full three points out of the match. This determination from the home side manifested itself in the 69th minute when Albert Rusnák hit a superb through ball to Jordan Morris, whose initial shot was stopped by Yarbrough before the Colorado goalkeeper took Morris down on the rebound to give the Sounders an invaluable penalty kick opportunity. Nicolás Lodeiro made no mistake in putting the ball away to give his side a 2-1 lead in the 71st minute. “I know Albert was taking some heat from people about not scoring or whatever, but that pass that he plays into Jordan, not a lot of guys see that,” said Schmetzer. “Kudos to him, kudos to Jordan for following up on the play.”
Despite going down a goal in the 3rd minute and going down a man in the 47th minute, the Sounders found a way to see the rest of the game out and earn their first three points after a disastrous three-loss scoreless drought. Saturday’s 2-1 win also marks Seattle’s fourth comeback victory of the regular season. Brian Schmetzer spoke to the significance of this weekend’s result, specifically with respect to the poor run of performances the team had in the preceding couple of weeks. “The impact of this win and how we won, coming off a three-game slide, should just reaffirm to any of the naysayers or anybody that thinks that we’re happy with CCL and we’re just ready to pack it in for the rest of the year,” said Schmetzer. “So you look at that group of players and their determination to grind out a victory, and you got to give it to them because they put everything into that game and it was a well-deserved three points.” The Sounders will certainly like to have this momentum carry over to their next match, which will be against Supporters’ Shield favorites, LAFC, on the road this Friday night. If Seattle can find a way to collect a full three points against the best in the west, that will certainly go a long way in re-establishing the confidence that many fans have lost in the club in recent weeks.
