In a match-up featuring two teams regarded by some as the best in all of MLS, the Sounders found themselves drawing with the visiting LAFC as both sides scored one goal each and received one point apiece as a reward for their efforts at Lumen Field on Saturday afternoon. The affair between the two western conference rivals marked the first time the two sides have met this season. Although the boys in rave green were without all-stars Raúl Ruidíaz and Yéimar Gomez Andrade, Seattle was surely happy to see the return of the likes of Cristian Roldan, Jordan Morris, and Albert Rusnák from international duty back into the starting line-up.
Despite taking the first 10 minutes to get themselves into the game, the Sounders seemed to fall into the flow of the match throughout points in the first half, with several transition opportunities involving Jordan Morris, but none of these moments lead to the threatening goal-scoring chances that Seattle are capable of creating. “Maybe at the start, we were a little bit sloppy, and it took some time,” Albert Rusnák said after the game. “But I felt after 5-10 minutes, we got into the game.” Sounders head coach co-signed on the Slovakian international’s assessment of the opening 45 minutes. “It’s hard to score goals in our league and sport, but I thought we created some good moments in the first half,” Schmetzer stated after the match.
Seattle was finally able to break the scoreless deadlock in the 58th minute when the aforementioned Albert Rusnák pounced on a pass from LAFC goalkeeper and a familiar face to the Sounders from his Vancouver Whitecaps days, Maxime Crépeau. Rusnák proceeded to slam the ball past Crépeau to give the home side the lead and get his first MLS regular-season goal as a Sounder. “That’s one of the moments that was right to press and we did it well,” Rusnák shared with the media after the game. “I’m sure the goalkeeper knows it wasn’t the best pass.” Brian Schmetzer was very pleased with the high pressing that led to his squad’s first tally of the afternoon. “The goal that Albert scores is exactly who we are or who we would like to be at home,” Schmetzer stated in the post-match press conference. “They’re trying to find a solution to get out and then the ball comes back to the goalkeeper and he decides to make that pass, and Albert is smart enough to jump on it.”
The final half-hour of the contest was when the game really started to open up. Stefan Frei came up with a spectacular double-save in the 64th minute when LAFC’s Ryan Hollingshead and Cristian Arango were denied by the Sounders goalkeeper since 2014. “I think we were all expecting to take the ball out of the net and bring it back to the center circle, and he came up with some massive saves,” Rusnák stated after the match. Brian Schmetzer also showered plenty of praise over Frei after the game, who now has over 750 MLS regular season saves in his career in Seattle. “He continues to keep us in games and that to me is why he is in the conversation with the national team (and) why he is in the conversation for best goalkeeper of our time or MLS time,” Schmetzer said on Saturday afternoon. “Whoever wants to make that argument, I think you could put him in that discussion.”
Despite Stefan Frei’s heroics in the final stretch of the game, the visitors finally got themselves on the board in the 79th minute, when Cristian Arango put a lofted header over Frei to tie the game at 1-1, demonstrating why LAFC is the league’s leading scoring club. Brian Schmetzer provided his recount of the goal after the game. “They won possession of the ball and the ball goes back to Arango and he’s got instincts inside the penalty box,” Schmetzer explained to the media. “Stef is kind of frozen there because he doesn’t know exactly where the play is going to be, and they score.” Tempers did flare in the final 10 minutes of the match until the final whistle, which didn’t come as any surprise to Brian Schmetzer. “Game got a little chippy at the end, and I don’t want to be cliché or anything, but that’s playoff-type soccer,” Schmetzer expressed in the post-match press conference.
While a draw can certainly be viewed as a positive result for Seattle given the absence of Raúl Ruidíaz and Yeimar Gómez Andrade, the Sounders also view Saturday afternoon as a missed opportunity to collect a full three points rather than settling for one. “This one feels like a loss, especially taking a lead and them equalizing in the last 12-15 minutes,” Rusnák said in the post-game scrum in the locker room. “At the end of the day, it is a point, but it doesn’t feel like a point, it feels like a loss.” Brian Schmetzer agreed with what his goal-scorer for the afternoon had to say about the final result. “I think we’re disappointed with not being able to close it out,” Schmetzer explained in the post-match press conference. “Disappointed we dropped a couple of points, but it’s MLS, it’s a hard league, there’s plenty more games to go.”
The games certainly won’t stop coming for Schmetzer’s side, who have already played 23 competitive matches since mid-February. The Sounders’ next opportunity to continue their climb into the upper echelon of the western conference standings will come next Saturday afternoon in an encounter with another familiar foe, Sporting Kansas City. Although SKC has been notably struggling thus far in MLS play, with only 13 points to show for 16 matches, Brian Schmetzer is certainly not being fooled into looking past his opponent. “That’s a dangerous team because they haven’t done well so far this season, but Peter (Vermes) is a good coach,” Schmetzer stated after the game. “That’s not going to be an easy game at all.” The Sounders have fallen to SKC every time the Wizards have visited the Emerald City since September 2018, a trend that Seattle will surely want to change if they want their notably improved regular-season form since winning the CONCACAF Champions League to continue.
Comments