It’s always about the big games.
Was the Seattle Sounders’ matchup with St. Louis CITY on Wednesday night one of those? Maybe not. That title would go to the next match on the schedule — a faceoff with LAFC. It’s games like Wednesday’s that allow teams like Seattle (10-7-7) to attack those big matches with vigor, though. St. Louis (4-10-10) was hampered by injury and gave up two-thirds of the ball to the Sounders, but it’s still a game that had to be won.
That was Seattle’s Achilles’ heel…and it’s where the club is beginning to thrive.
Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer continued to rotate his lineup through a busy section of Seattle’s schedule. After leaving Jordan Morris, Albert Rusnák and Cristian Roldan out last Saturday against Austin FC, he dropped multiple other starters to the bench. João Paulo and Yeimar Gomez Andrade were exchanged for Jon Bell and Roldan, and young star Pedro de la Vega waited on the bench.
The home group dominated possession in the first half — and for a team that has a well-documented affection for playing on the counter, having 72% of the ball can be disorienting. St. Louis was happy to allow the Sounders to move into their half once the initial line of pressure was broken, and Seattle was forced to find space on the wings.
Luckily, they’ve got some darn good players out there. Paul Rothrock continued to impress, drawing several fouls and a yellow card off both CITY midfielder Chris Durkin and right back Tomas Totland. He’s been a strong player, especially in the transition moments that the Sounders crave, and has made it near-impossible to drop him from the starting lineup.
It would be the other side that produced the goal, however. Alex Roldan popped up on the baseline and chopped it back towards Seattle’s leading goalscorer, Jordan Morris. The Seattle native wouldn’t even need to make an effort as St. Louis centerback Tim Parker dispensed the ball into his own net.
St. Louis led the statsheet across the board at the half: the visitors took three times as many shots as Seattle and generated 0.31 xG compared to the Sounders’ 0.12. They never looked particularly dangerous in possession, though, and aside from a well-made near post save from Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei and set-piece opportunities didn’t threaten.
When the opportunities aren’t flowing from open play, set pieces are often the answer. Even after losing their biggest dead-ball asset in Nico Lodeiro, the Sounders have continued to threaten. On Wednesday night, it was yet another fantastic service from Rusnák, who found the head of Bell from the right side of St. Louis’ penalty area. Bell headed home for his first goal as a Sounder, and Seattle took a two-goal advantage.
“It's not my first time that [I’ve] sit on the bench for a little bit. You just have to wait for your opportunity, and when your opportunity comes, you've got to take it and run with it. Like I said before, just keep my head down and just stay humble.”
The opportunities were there to stretch the lead even further. As the Sounders began to decipher St. Louis’ system — even with similar possession numbers — they created 1.31 xG from open play in the second half. Most of that came from a chance where Reed Baker-Whiting stormed down the left side before the ball found Ruidíaz in the middle (0.59 xG) and another where Morris broke free and got one-on-one with Roman Bürki (0.51). Neither found the back of the net, with all the credit going to the German goalkeeper.
“I enjoyed the way we closed out the game with solid possession,” Schmetzer said. " You know, even when the subs came on, we were good in our possession sequences. It certainly is enjoyable when you have a two-nothing lead — which is kind of a tricky lead — and you close [it] out.”
Bürki’s counterpart in the Sounders’ net tied the second-most for MLS clean sheets as well with his performance. Frei, who is approaching 400 appearances, was strong albeit relatively untested. He finished with two saves and 0.38 xG prevented.
“It's a testament to all the players have been able to play with,” Frei said. “I think shutouts are extremely fragile. You can absolutely dominate a game and be winning a game three zero and then one mental lapse by a team and that shutout’s gone.”
Morris exited in the 87th minute with just one shot on target. He struggled to get into the game in the first half, and even after moving to the wing and finding his chance in the second half only registered 16 touches. He drew much of the pressure, which left the wide players one-on-one with their respective defenders. It was a quiet game, but it’s showing that teams once again have to gameplan around the forward. It hasn’t been like that for a long time.
“His impact would have been great if he scored that goal,” Schmetzer said, “But look, it wasn't his most productive game on the stat sheet. But he's working hard, he's scoring goals [and] he's done great.”
The Sounders keep rolling through a congested patch of matches, with LAFC scheduled to come to Lumen Field on Saturday evening. The defending Western Conference Champions did battle with top-of-the-West Real Salt Lake in the midweek, and could welcome new signing Olivier Giroud to the squad in Seattle — although it’s unlikely. That match kicks off at 7:45 PM.
Feature photo by Jane Gershovich / Sounders FC Communications
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