There are draws that feel like losses. Those are all-too-familiar to Sounders fans. On Wednesday night in Houston, however, Seattle was on the other end of the result. The Sounders picked up a point in a 2-2 draw with the Dynamo after falling behind by two goals in the first half. Academy products Paul Rothrock and Jackson Ragen scored five minutes apart to snag a result against the 7th-place team in the Western Conference, and Seattle rolls into a third fixture of the week with four points from two games.
As always seems to happen in Texas, Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer sent out a rotated group for the midweek fixture. Reed Baker-Whiting featured on the left wing, Paul Rothrock got a start opposite him after a goal on the weekend and Obed Vargas paired with Josh Atencio in midfield.
The veteran experience was what was missing. Without João Paulo alongside one of the kids, Seattle looked overwhelmed. After Baker-Whiting made two strong tackles on Houston right back Griffin Dorsey inside the penalty area, the Dynamo’s first goal came from a Vargas giveaway. The ensuing breakdown in the box saw former LAFC midfielder Latif Blessing get on the end of a chipped effort dribbled along the goal line.
On the other end, there was next to no action on Steve Clark’s goal. Two first-half shots came from four Jordan Morris touches. Morris, who has four goals in the last six matches, started his second consecutive match at striker over DP forward Raúl Ruidíaz.
Seattle generated just 0.11 xG through 45 minutes, and defender Jackson Ragen said postgame, “We definitely weren't the best [in the first half] but it ultimately came from unforced errors. And if those don't happen, then we probably go into half 0-0 — still probably not playing the best but I don't think we gave up.”
Houston doubled its advantage ten minutes after going ahead, this time on the counter-attack. The Dynamo opened up a hole on the Sounders’ right-hand side, and left winger Ibrahim Aliyu stormed past the Seattle defense and found Blessing with a cut-back header.
“You had a team that had super positive body language against Minnesota,” Schmetzer said. “And tonight when things started to go sideways, when they couldn't get a hold of the game, when we finally won possession of the ball and then we gave the ball right back again. Everybody was pointing fingers. That's not how good teams operate.”
After rotating the defensive line at the half — Schmetzer inserted Nouhou for Yeimar and pushed Jonathan Bell into the middle — the Sounders got one goal back. Set through on goal by a strong flick over center back Micael, Rothrock got his second score of the season off a second-chance effort. Clark coughed it up after the original save, and the 25-year-old tucked it away.
“I think credit to Schmetz,” Rothrock said, “It's like his halftime speech did help motivate us to get us going again. But the players came together in the locker room and then you know, in our huddle before we came out for the second half [about] just being more aggressive. We changed our shape, which I think really helped things … and we knew that we just needed one, and that's what happened.”
Rothrock (two goals this season) is now one of just three Sounders (Morris, five, and Ruidíaz, seven) with more than one on the year.
With the goal came all of the momentum, and just five minutes later Jackson Ragen evened the score with his first MLS goal. Albert Rusnák, who struggled to influence the game through the run of play, delivered a set-piece from the deep right wing directly to Ragen’s foot. After enduring one of their statistically worst halves of the season, they had pulled it back.
“Albert put in a perfect ball,” Ragen said. “I was just trying to put anything on the end of it and put it on target. I didn't actually see where it ended up until people came over and started celebrating.”
The final task was to do what Seattle has struggled to do all season: Close it out. A half-hour of play wasn’t as strong as it was last weekend to shut down Minnesota, but an infusion of veteran legs in the form of Nathan and João Paulo held Houston to just one shot on target in the second half and 0.02 xGOT (expected goals on target, which measures the probability of a shot on target scoring).
It’s just one point in a match where the Sounders could’ve jumped ahead of the Dynamo in the Western Conference standings, but there’s positive takeaways. It’s a difficult place to go play — not because of the atmosphere but because of the weather, which the players foreshadowed last weekend and the humid city delivered on Wednesday.
It’s the fifth time that Seattle has faced a two-goal deficit this season. Before Wednesday night, they hadn’t yet returned from that hole. Against LAFC and San José, they clawed just one goal back. Against Vancouver and Real Salt Lake, they couldn’t even manage that.
In Houston, the group evened the score for the first time this season. That’s not something to sniff at.
Yes, they could’ve had a third. Yes, there were more points to be had.
“Look, it's just a draw,” Schmetzer said. “Maybe a win would have been better, because I believe we could have actually won this game tonight. I think with a little bit more sharpness in that second half that game was open. I was hoping that Raúl was going to bang one in or Musovski would get his head on another ball … but for them to come back and play in the second half as well as they did — it’s going to help us.”
For a team that has struggled to pick up results at all, this is the way back.
Feature photo by Brian Evans / Sounders FC Communications
