Wednesday evening’s Sounders game was donned as the 2024 season’s Bruce Lee tribute match, with the Sounders playing first-place Real Salt Lake. Brian Schmetzer picked a similar lineup as to the away victory in Portland, with changes involving Yeimar for the injured Jon Bell and swapping Cristian Roldan with Obed Vargas on the right-hand side.
A 68th-minute Albert Rusnák freekick initially put the Sounders in the lead, and while Rusnák’s goal was haunting his old club, Real Salt Lake managed to pull a 99th-minute equalizer following a disallowed Sounders goal within the previous minute.
“There’s only one loss in the last nine games, or whether you look at it as we only won once at home, you guys can debate that.” Head Coach Brian Schmetzer told reporters after the draw.
Real Salt Lake leading goal scorer Christian Arango, who went into the day as the MLS top goal scorer, was substituted on the pitch in the second half after striker Anderson Julio went down with a head injury due to a deflected ball off his face from an attempted João Paulo cross.
Reed Baker-Whiting made another appearance for the Sounders as a substitute, working hard to recover from his hamstring injury that had kept him out for most of the season thus far. Baker-Whiting was talking about his return from injury, giving reporters insight on the mental battle of recovery: “The first time I got on the field I wasn’t super confident, and the second time I got on the field I felt a little better, and now I’m starting to feel more like myself and feel like I’m able to make a impact.”
Aimee Worthington / Area Sports Network
Five minutes into the game, a late Yeimar challenge on Diego Luna occured at the edge of the penalty area, leading to an initial penalty call for for Real Salt Lake. VAR stepped in for an on-field review, however, and it did not take long for the referee to see the clear point of the tackle being outside of the box. The call was revised to a direct freekick, and nothing would end up amounting from the oppurtunity.
Raúl Ruidíaz was feeling lucky and confident going into Wednesday evening’s game, where in the first half, he tried to snatch a midfield goal from a misjudged bounce by Justen Glad. Ambitious attempts are not out of Rudíaz’s character, and as he once again tried the improbable, the shot took an interesting turn as it approached Gavin Beaver’s goal. The shot caught a delayed swerve over Beaver, forcing him to make an awkward save for a corner.
Albert Rusnák put the Sounders in the lead in the 68th minute with a smart low freekick goal as he curved the driven shot around Real Salt Lake’s four-man wall to beat Beavers in the bottom-left corner. The initial foul, committed by Bryan Oviedo, occurred when Cristian Roldan was on the break and set Rusnák up at about 25 yards from goal.
“I see the wall and a right-footer, you can always have that bend of going towards that near post, but I was trying to act like I was going to cross it and with a bit of rain on the turf, it probably skidded a little more than it would have.” said the goal scorer Albert Rusnák.
Deep into stoppage time, it looked like Baker-Whiting had earned an assist, as he skillfully beat Brayan Vera one-on-one and squared it to substitute Danny Musovski, who found the finish. However, VAR summoned the referee to an on-field review for an incident involving Musovski during the build-up play, and ultimately the goal was taken away. Sounders supporters were left questioning the officiating crew’s consistency with calling fouls throughout the game.
Aimee Worthington / Area Sports Network
Within the minute after the score was temporarily doubled, Real Salt Lake pressured the Sounders through long balls, and managed to sneak in a 99th-minute equalizer via winger Andres Gomez. Stefan Frei was left taking out his anger on the post, as this goal forced the Sounders to concede a late home goal for the third time this MLS regular season. A profusely frustrating moment for the club.
Brian Schmetzer spoke about the tactics in the final ten minutes of the game, and the approach of containing an opponent desperate for an equalizer: “They were obviously throwing everything at us in the last ten minutes, but slipping away, that’s normal momentum shifts. But how do you break that? How do you break their momentum? It’s by extending one or two possessions in that last ten minutes instead of just clearing the ball.”
Aimee Worthington / Area Sports Network
“The ref’s decision doesn’t change what we did there, so I think being able to get the ball in the back of the net is a good sign for us, but obviously it doesn’t count, so the end-result didn’t do anything for us” said Reed Baker-Whiting, after the game.
On June 8, the next Sounders game will be on the road against Sporting Kansas City, who exited this matchday at the bottom of the Western Conference. The next match being on June 8 means the Sounders will have a rare opportunity to recharge, unlike the other MLS teams this weekend, since the original away game at Columbus Crew on June 1st was postponed to September due to the Crew’s schedule with the CONCACAF Champions’ Cup Final.
Cover Photo: Aimee Worthington / Area Sports Network
