Murphy’s Law: Sounders snatch mediocrity from jaws of victory

It would have stung regardless, but given the no-call nine minutes earlier – not the best.

For 89 minutes on Saturday, May 18, 2024, the Seattle Sounders looked to be on their way to a second Cascadia win in three matches, this time in front of a home crowd of 30,102. Jordan Morris put Seattle out to an early lead, while Vancouver’s open play offensive woes continued.

But Vancouver caught two breaks as the game winded down: The first in the 80^th minute, as Javain Brown deflected a Jordan Morris header off his elbow and evaded the deserved handball call; the second in the 89^th minute with a Nouhou handball leading to a stoppage-time penalty goal for Gauld. And so, the three points evaporated into one. An unsatisfying draw.

Saturday’s game was Pedro de la Vega’s first game back on the available roster since his initial injury during the home opener against Austin FC on March 2. This was Schmetzer’s lineup at the beginning of the match:

Raúl

Jordan – Rusnák – Obed

JP – Cristian

Nouhou – Ragen – Yéimar – Alex

Sounders burst out to early lead

Seattle began the game on the front foot, playing up high in Vancouver’s half, quickly notching two corners in the first six minutes. Three minutes later, the Sounders got another chance in front of the goal – and the third time was the charm.

At the end of the 8^th minute, Obed Vargas crossed the ball into the crowd in the box, which eventually made its way to JP, who took a left-footed shot that caromed off Ryan Raposo and right to Obed. Obed fired a shot at the goal, which Takaoka dove to deflect. But Jordan Morris was in perfect position to get the follow-up.

He punches it into the right side of the net. The lower bowl bursts with energy; far away, the Southsiders’ section is as still as Blackcomb glacier. 1-0 Seattle.

Everyone forgets what offense looks like

After that short burst of attacking from Seattle, the Sounders offense seemed to settle into old habits. They would buckle under any press from Vancouver, sending the ball back towards midfield, keeping possession … and not really doing much with it.

“I think we have good spells of possession, but what is the fruit of that possession? Can we mount enough pressure where a team cracks,” Stef said postgame.

The Whitecaps, who hadn’t scored a goal in either of their previous two matches, had started the game impotent on offense and remained impotent for most of the match. As the game wore on, it seemed both sides had a plan consisting of:

Step 1: hold the ball at midfield
Step 2: just … stay there
Step 3: ???
Step 4: score?

Of course, this wasn’t the actual game plan.

“It’s not a tactic. Why would anybody want to go negative all the time? It’s not a tactic,” said an exasperated Schmetzer postgame. “Things happen. Players make decisions. We encourage them to score goals and entertain our fans.”

Handball, handball, penalty, tie game

Of course, none of the middle-game mediocrity would have mattered if the score remained 1-0.

In the 80^th minute, Seattle finally had a good opportunity. Obed crossed the ball to Jordan Morris, who was positioned only a few feet from the box. Jordan sent in a header, but Javain Brown deflected it away using … his elbow. The ref on-field didn’t see it, and VAR was not called. What should have been a penalty was instead just a corner kick, which Vancouver easily repelled.

After that, Vancouver finally began to drive deeper into Seattle’s half of the pitch. In the 89^th, Ryan Gauld got a free kick a couple of yards right of the box. He went short to Berhalter, who drilled a shot towards the net, attempting to get through some traffic. Nouhou awkwardly slide-tackled him, getting himself a yellow – but more importantly, he deflected the shot with his hand. This time, VAR was called. The decision was made – penalty awarded, Nouhou given a second yellow.

In the fifth minute of stoppage, Gauld takes the penalty. Frei dives – and guesses wrong. The ball lands in the back of the net. Seattle’s fans stand still or begin to stream out, while a Canadian flag waves in the upper deck. Tie game, 1-1.

Pepo plays 15 minutes

Saturday night saw the long-awaited return of Pedro de la Vega. He didn’t start, rather, he subbed in for JP in the 76^th minute. He was given a free role, sometimes going up to the right wing, sometimes going back towards defensive mid, and sometimes filling in a spot in attacking mid.

Pepo very nearly saved the game for Seattle. In the 98^th minute, he got the ball on the right side of the box and almost sent a perfect strike between Takaoka and the near post – almost. The shot caromed off the post and back out into play, and it was Seattle’s last chance for much of anything. The match ended, knotted at 1-1.

Of course, coming back into league play was a big step for Pedro, who came into the season with high expectations of being a big piece in the Sounders’ game plan.

“A game is not the same as workouts, and with how I’ve gone so long without playing, I think that I needed this to feel really confident, because now I feel 100%,” Pedro said. “There two games this following week to prepare me well, but the truth is that it personally makes me very happy to add minutes again.”

Moving forward

Seattle’s next match is a US Open Cup match on Wednesday, February 22 against Phoenix Rising, which will be played at 7:30 pm at Starfire. The next MLS match is on Saturday, February 25 on the road against St. Louis City SC, who currently sits at 9^th place in the table (one spot above the Sounders) with 16 points and a 3-3-7 record. After that, the Sounders return home for a Wednesday, May 29 game against Real Salt Lake, who is currently at the top of the Western Conference with 28 points and an 8-2-4 record.

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