Another Seattle Stalemate

The Seattle Sounders started the day of July 15^th, 2023, third in the Western Conference behind St. Louis and LAFC, but by the time their game against Dallas FC started, they had also been leapfrogged by Utah. The Sounders were straight off a 2-0 loss in San Jose on the 12^th, but they had won their previous two matches.

Since the United States Men’s National Team had been defeated in the CONCACAF Gold League semifinals by Panama on July 12, the Sounders had access to forward Jordan Morris and midfielder Cristian Roldan for the first time in a little over a month. Roldan started the game on the field, Morris, on the bench.

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The sounders began the first half by applying the lion’s share of the game’s pressure. They created several chances for themselves early. The first was a breakaway in the 12^th minute that went into the Dallas box, the second came from a free kick early 20^th minute that led to the ball going in and out of the Dallas box, and the third was the result of a corner kick in the 27^th that traveled around the Dallas box before a JP pass into the box was caught by Dallas goalie Maarten Paes.

This pressure paid off in the 32^nd, when Leo Chú crossed the ball towards Cristian Roldán in the Dallas box and Dallas defender Sam Junqua knocked the ball into his own goal, bringing the Sounders up, 1-0. After the goal, however, the Sounders took their foot off the gas, and for the next ten minutes the ball mostly remained in the middle of the field.

Then, in the early 42^nd minute, as Dallas was pushing towards the Seattle goal, midfielder Sebastian Lletget crossed a ball directly into the Sounders box, and forward Bernard Kamungo headed it off Stefan Frei’s outstretched glove into the back of the net. In a flash, the game was tied, and it remained so going into halftime.

In the second half, both Dallas and the Sounders created opportunities, and Seattle was still the more aggressive team, although by less of a stark margin than in the first half. Seattle brought Nico Lodeiro for João Paulo in the 65^th and in Jordan Morris for Leo Chú in the 71^st, but both moves proved to be lateral swaps as the team couldn’t get the ball into the back of the net despite driving to the box many times. The game finished with the score unchanged at 1-1.

In a story that has been familiar for much of the season, Seattle had difficulty converting their attacks into results. The Sounders held possession for 59% of the game, had 17 shots to Dallas’ 3, and had 14 corner kicks while Dallas only managed one. Despite this massive disparity in offensive action, both teams had two shots on goal, and, in the end, both teams got one ball into the goal.

Despite the continued struggles in the box, head coach Brian Schmetzer maintained his message that the foundation for goal-scoring is there even if the results aren’t showing. He also pointed to a less than stellar goaltending performance as a reason for the tie.

“The message is to keep putting the ball in dangerous spots, getting guys in the right positions, and working through what we’ve worked on in training,” he said. “But I’d also add to that, you know, if you keep a clean sheet, we would have walked out of there with three points and the questions might be different here, you know, because the defending on the goal wasn’t great.”

Cristian Roldán, on the other hand, said that the team needs to change focus to goal-scoring, noting that the team didn’t play their attacks as well as they should have.

“I believe that we had opportunities today. We got a bit complicated with a line of 5. Dallas marked very well, but I feel like when we crossed the ball, we didn’t have players in the box*,” he said. “Hopefully we can change that for the next game, because it’s important to score goals. We know that we can defend, but right now, we are not scoring goals, and let’s focus on that*.”

With this tie, the Sounders ended the day fourth in the Western Conference with a 10-6-8 record. Their next MLS game is on August 20 at home against Atlanta United FC, but in the intervening month, the Sounders will be competing in the Leagues Cup, with their first game on the road on July 22 against Real Salt Lake.

* - Translated from Spanish – original quotes are these:

“Yo creo que tuvimos oportunidades hoy. Nos complicó un poco con una línea de 5. Dallas marcó muy bien, pero yo siento que cuando crusamos la pelota, no tuvimos jugadores en la caja.”

“Ojalá podemos cambiar eso para el proximo partido, porque es importante meter goles. Sabemos que podemos defender, pero ahorita, no estamos metiendo goles, y vamos en focar en eso.”

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