Losing Cascadia, Ferreira, and Seven Straight in MLS

SEATTLE - Seven is supposedly the number of completion. It's also the name George Costanza wanted to give his child, at least until the whole toxic glue thing happened.

The Sounders better hope that seven is where their losing streak ends. But each loss has its toll, each disaster sinks them deeper into the muck. The team is now 0-3-0 in MLS Cascadia matches this year, with Vancouver clinching the trophy on Sunday with their 2-0 win against the Sounders.

Seattle hasn't won Cascadia Cup since 2021, with two of the following five going to the Timbers and three going to the whitecaps. Brian Schmetzer, who is typically at his rawest after rivalry losses (especially against Portland), openly noted the pressure their most recent defeat puts on the front office to get a meaningful summer signing done.

The XI

Given how godawful the injury situation is for the Sounders, the starting XI Schmetzer was able to put together on Sunday night wasn't terrible. Danny Musovski had the nine with Jesús Ferreira, Albert Rusnák, and Paul Rothrock behind him. Peter Kingston and Snyder Brunell were the two sixes, while Alex Roldan was notably playing center back.

Sunday Recap:

Seattle had some early possession in the first half, with Nouhou getting a couple runs up through the left middle, he sent it to one of his sides each time rather than taking it through the middle for Musovski. Vancouver promptly turned the pressure up and forced Seattle to play a bunch in their own half, but although the Sounders' clearances were shaky at best a lot of the time,

Vancouver had some good looks on a couple of corners conceded by Jackson Ragen in the 27th and 28th, both of which were scarily close to being own goals but both of which ended in a Sounder deflecting it backwards. The third time was the charm for Seattle's ability to clear, but despite having a couple chances to break out in the ensuing transition, Seattle would have to wait a couple minutes before getting it deep in the opposing half. Despite going out wide once more (a tendency that was less than fruitful all game), Rothrock was able to bring it up inside the box and rattle off a shot on net. Yohei Takaoka batted it away, however, and when Albert Rusnák's follow-up shot went across the mouth and out a foot wide of the far post, the Sounders' best chance of the half came to a close.

Seattle's game plan went from subpar to nonexistent as the first half wore on. Whereas in the first 30 minutes, they struggled with leaving middle-pitch opportunities on the board, the following 15 minutes saw strategy go out the window as they panicked under pressure and for the most part went for the nearest player available.

Andrew Thomas made a phenomenal diving save in the 40th minute after Thomas Müller sent a backwards shot towards the corner of the net, keeping the 'Caps off the board for the first half, but Seattle needed a jolt out of the sheds.

Instead, the Sounders were doing a familiar thing for most of the second half: playing with fire. The Caps got free kicks, corners, and close runs to the six aplenty dotted the second half, though a combination of Nouhou bailouts, close offsides calls, Thomas saves, and missed shots on Vancouver's part kept the score knotted going into the final 15 minutes of the match. To Seattle's credit, they managed to keep a close press on the Whitecaps whenever they did cross into the 18, but it got far too dicey far too many times.

As for Seattle's chances, there was one good one: a play where Seba Gomez found Rothrock on the left, who crossed into the box for both Rusnák and Musovski - but it flew a foot in the air and a foot too far out in front, and both of them whiffed on the tailor-made assist. Other than that, Seattle's imprecision on the ball was matched by a dearth in energy from Rusnák and Rothrock, as neither would charge forward for contested long balls that could have become, if not breakaways, at least testing moments for Vancouver that could have opened up holes elsewhere in their formation. Seba Gomez showed than energy, but the chances for such displays were far more common for the former two than the latter.

They had a dual "Alex Wennberg Moment" in the 76th when Rusnák got a stellar ball and had a chance to either shoot long with a mountain of space or charge through for a somewhat contested one-on-one with Takaoka. Even as he sent it wide to Rothrock, the winger had a chance to charge in and try for a quick right-footer - but he hesitated and then tried to cut back, only to lose the ball to Vancouver's recovering defense.

It was at that moment that the universe shut the door right on the Sounders' toes. Emmanuel Sabbi took the ball up and flicked it over Seattle defenders to Rayan Elloumi, who precisely punched one into the net for the opening goal.

Another breakaway in the 81st saw Ryan Gauld take the ball away from a brief Kim Kee-hee deflection and barrel towards Nouhou, the last defender remaining. Nouhou got the ball back but was still under pressure, and instead of clearing it downfield or over the touchline, he passed it back to Thomas and violated the back-pass rule. It was an indirect free kick within the box for the Whitecaps - which became the second goal when Müller scorched it off the inside of the right post and into the back left corner of the net.

Seattle had one chance for dignity in the fifth minute of stoppage with a corner kick, but it went nowhere and the game wrapped up shortly thereafter.

Pivotal(?) Pivots

We got the glorious Kirkland pivots, with Snyder Brunell and Peter Kingston filling in as the sixes. This isn't super surprising, as Cristian and Hassani are injured while Alex Roldan is on unclear minutes. The two of them ended up playing solidly well, but there might have been the missing experience factor that usually happens when a younger pivot is paired with a more veteran player. That's how Cristian and Obed operated, that's how Cristian and Brunell operated, and to a lesser degree, that's even how some Hassani-Brunell pairings worked or how an Alex-Brunell or Alex-Kingston pairing would work.

But with Brunell and Kingston both filling in at the six, there did seem to be that veteran presence missing among them, the one who could direct and lead his counterpart.

This was most evident in the sixes' use of space, as they stayed too far back and severed much of the connection they could have had with the line ahead of them. While the duo was handling the ball well when they had it, their grasp on the formation slipped enough to allow the Whitecaps to take more charge in the flow of the game.

Tino Lopez subbed in for Brunell in the 58th (Brunell apparently has a tight quad according to Schmetzer, which really isn't good for the injury situation) while Kingston played a full 90.

For what it's worth, Schmetzer saw it as the following line losing the connection (and making mistakes further ahead, which was certainly true) more so than the pivots bearing the brunt of the blame.

"The two pivots ain't the problem" was, despite their space handling and experience issues, an apt description of what went wrong in many other areas of the pitch. It was a degree of struggling that a team can work around, rather than the lack of fight ahead or the puzzling decision-making behind.

Still, it highlighted a need for some veteran leadership in that role.

Really, it just highlighted that this team desperately needs Cristian Roldan back.

Rothrock and Rusnák left a lot to be desired in the attack.

There wasn't enough play in the front and in the final third, but what chances the Sounders did have found an attacking duo that didn't go the extra mile.

The through balls that Paul and Albert's teammates gave them tended to be a little strong, true, but there were multiple times when they had a chance to contest these balls but wound up letting them go out the back for goal kicks or end up in the feet of waiting, unpressured defenders.

Their dual miscue late in the first half (and the one that directly preempted the goal-scoring Caps turnaround) was the worst of the two, but as Schmetzer noted above, there would have been a goal in the 54th minute had Rothrock's cross to Albert and Musovski been on the ground instead of in the air.

As Rusnák says, it all comes down to creating chances.

"If we create 10 chances a game, I'm sure we'll score goals. But if we create one chance a half, yeah. The situation we're in right now, I don't think creating one chance a half is gonna get us out of it."

Of course, he and many other Sounders are all in need of improvement in chance creation. The what, of course, is clear, even if the how is something the Sounders are desperately searching for. Rusnák, at least, believes it is about risk-taking: more specifically, the lack of such with the way the Sounders are playing right now.

"Ultimately, it's the guy on the ball who decides," Rusnák would go on to say, "and you can see we're kinda lacking that right now. You know, instead of maybe being more conservative about giving up goals, we're gonna have to work harder on the other end, to push more numbers forward, to be more dangerous and try and score multiple goals."

But knowing this intellectually and applying it instinctively come game time are two different matters. Until the spark comes, they may be left grasping as they currently are.

Live by the Nouhou, die by the Nouhou

No one player represents the duality of mankind better than the Sounders' left back. For 80 minutes on Sunday, he bailed the team out again and again with his clearances while going on a few forward runs in the early first half.

His decision-making was less praiseworthy. Those early runs often ended as he went the wrong way (laterally) rather than look ahead to guys like Albert and Moose who made themselves available in those early minutes.

Even through 75 minutes, Nouhou was having a solid game - but accruing a yellow card in the 76th turned out to be the least of his mistakes.

This, of course, brings us to the in-box set piece. Vancouver had that opportunity solely because Nouhou sent it back to Thomas at point-blank range rather than simply clearing it, a decision that cost Seattle a chance to at least equalize.

"No defender should call for the goalkeeper to come in and get the ball. Nouhou should just clear the ball," Schmetzer said, not mincing words. "End of story."

Should the entire Sounders team go in the Chihuly Museum?

Are you tired of Seattle Sounders soccer players suffering injuries during games? Are you waiting for this team to be healthy again?

Well that's too damn bad! Jesus Ferreira joined the bloated ranks of the injured in the 35th minute, seeming to pull something as he went to kick the ball. He came off crying as Sebastian Gomez went on for him, certainly not what anyone on the team wanted.

"Obviously we don't wanna see another player go down, we're stretched a little thin right now," said Alex Roldan. "It's tough, I think every individual needs to really do everything they can to stay as healthy as they can, but it's sometimes kind of the cards you draw, and unfortunately it's one of those tough times with the injury bug. We're trying to stay with it and turn this thing around."

Schmetzer revealed on Tuesday that Ferreira will be out eight to 10 weeks with a pulled hamstring and tendon damage. "It's not a good one", he said twice in Tuesday's media availability.

It seems the Sounders really can't catch a break when it comes to injuries, and Schmetzer has - multiple times - brought up that he and the training staff will be going over their methods to see if there is more than bad luck at play here; he reiterated such on Tuesday.

"We're talking about things from, 'what are they doing in the weight room?', 'what are they doing on the field?', 'what do the numbers show?,' 'did they sprint too much?', 'did they not sprint enough?'." Schmetzer said. "I mean, we're combing through all of it."

"There's been some hard conversations already," he continued.

Hard conversations are everywhere for the Sounders right now.

"The most important thing is that we remain together": Is team cohesion being tested by these trying times?

Given both Rusnák and Alex Roldan's comments about "sticking together", the natural question emerges: why must they stress this now?

There can be many reasons for such. It's something they fall back on, it's what they thought of in the moment, or it's because the team isn't sticking together as much as they would wish - or maybe it's responding to those who think the team fracturing could jolt them into performance. Maybe it's all of it.

Both players made available on Sunday (Rusnák and Roldan) made it a point of emphasis.

Perhaps there is some mixed messaging - as he meandered towards closing out games - but that's also a need! Cohesion and morale (I'm starting to sound like Clausewitz, aren't I?) affect how a team plays when it's late in the second half and they're tired. Letting games go from manageable to disastrous has been a recurring issue in their losing streak, and maybe there's something in the cohesion that's causing this.

Or the technical ability. Or the tactical awareness. Or many other things. But for the players, a lot of that can be papered over with connection and chemistry - that is, the ability to anticipate your teammate's thoughts before they think them.

"That we remain together is the most important thing," Roldan said in Spanish. "I think that, right now with the game we just played, we have to adjust and look at the things we did badly, and hopefully improve them for the next game to have the best chance of winning."

Some of that is, admittedly, coach-speak-ish. They've been doing a lot of things badly, and there's a lot of potential blame to go around. Rusnák stressed the importance of holding each other accountable in a positive way in their training.

"There is no positive if we start fighting amongst each other or cussing each other out - in a bad way, you know?" Rusnák said. "We do it when the game is happening, and at halftime, and shortly after the game, but when it comes to tomorrow and we're gonna watch film, there is no advantage if we're gonna start pointing fingers at each other. In these times, we gotta stick together more than ever."

But as for Schmetzer, there are some very fundamental things he's willing to openly ponder.

"Everything's on the table": How can the Sounders put this losing streak behind them?

Fans began streaming out of Lumen Field after Vancouver's first goal and the trickle thickened once Müller knocked in the second.

"I don't blame them," said Rusnák.

And all this considering the fact that the final attendance number was 30,026. For a weekend Sounders rivalry match, that's pretty low. The team hadn't recovered its pre-COVID overall attendance figures - where they regularly averaged over 40,000 a game - and while their numbers are still miles better than most MLS teams, Lumen Field's massive confines (even in just the lower bowl) make any dip noticeable. Perhaps the attendance is symbolic of the perch Seattle has typically enjoyed in the MLS pecking order, a perch that has been eroding for years.

"We know that this club has high expectations; the city, the fans have high expectations, and we're not meeting them right now," Roldan said. "The fans in the city don't deserve this and we need to look at ourselves and do a better job."

Schmetzer discussed the topic at length, with his frustration clear as day after his team's seventh consecutive (the record keeps getting broken with every loss, by the way), defeat.

"Well, I'd be frustrated if I was a fan, too. But the real fans are gonna stick with us. We're gonna get better. We're gonna get guys back from injury. We're gonna win some more games this year. So, I'm asking for a little bit of patience - but, look, they paid the ticket. They paid the money. So they can say what they need to say, they can move, they can leave, that's fine. But the energy and the fight that the team will show, maybe that's something that they can latch onto. The players haven't given up on them; the players are still working."

Patience isn't infinite, and neither is the team's ability to drop points and still be in viable MLS Cup contention. From cradle to grave, they need to alleviate what they're doing wrong on the pitch and see if they can't dig themselves out from behind the eight ball.

But they can't address everything everywhere all at once, at least not all to the same degree. As such, there are a lot of ways to approach their current predicament. Schmetzer, for example, brought up the idea of just focusing on the basics.

"The other day when we highlighted a couple things we did well against Querétaro, and we scored some goals, it was youthful enthusiasm with Seba Gomez getting the goal and assist," Schmetzer said. "But there was one play, Maz, that I know you'd appreciate, that was a simple soccer play. And it's creative - it's called a give-and-go. 35 yards from goal, left hand side, giving it to Jesus, Seba just plays it and runs, he receives the ball back again. Like, he mis-controlled it and the defender got it, but, it's simple things like that that they do with a little bit of intensity and movement and their desire to get beyond their opponent and closer to goal. Those are the things that we're lacking."

The "lack" extends to personnel, as Schmetzer made clear in his words about pressure on the front office. He's only able to do so much with the players he has available to him. The Casper Tengstedt from Feyenoord connection might be fraying, but they have to keep opening lines and casting a broad net for potential fits. As for the way Schmetzer organizes his players, that might see some shakeups, too.

"Yeah, we ended the game with a different formation," Schmetzer said. "So, everything's on the table. I mean, I wish I could look down at the bench and, you know, Seba's the first attacking sub that we got. Seba Gomez. And then there's Xabi (Gnaulati)... then, Osaze." [emphasis mine]

The ending of that statement seemed to trail off, but it appears that between the injuries and the lack of incoming help, there's a certain frustration boiling inside the Sounders head coach as the walls of judgment close in, slowly but surely, on the 2026 season.

But the personnel calls are out of Schmetzer's domain. He can influence them in his talks with Craig Waibel and Adrian Hanauer, but those calls are for the front office to make. As for how Schmetzer himself can inject more life into the team, he views it as a matter of getting them to do - as already mentioned - the basics first. But there's another message in there, one of instilling a certain coldness in his team when they're on the pitch.

For now, though, they have a home game against Austin to win. As Rusnák said many losses ago, they just need a win. With a quick turnaround, it will be difficult, but some things aren't done because they're easy.

"Well, where we're gonna go is try and get those guys to believe a little bit more, get those guys to be a little bit sharper in training, get them to recover because we got a game on Wednesday," Schmetzer said. "We're gonna keep working, we're gonna watch film, we're gonna try and get 11 healthy players out on the field, and we're gonna continue to try and win games."