A Sounders Winning Streak?

SEATTLE - Paul Arriola mentioned after his team's streak-breaking 2-0 win against Real Salt Lake late last month that wins were more important than beauty.

Arriola's particular example was that they didn't need to prettily build out of the back. That was rather ironic given what happened on Thursday as the Sounders finished out their last "easy" fixture for a little bit. The Rave Green really, really liked building out of the back for much of the game against Sporting KC.

The problem was that the Sounders weren't good at it. If the first ball up didn't get picked, then it would be the second; if they got to a third before SKC recovered, they had some real luck on their side. By halftime, this had caught up to them, with the visitors nursing a 1-0 lead off the back of a truly horrendous giveaway.

Head coach Brian Schmetzer made a swap at halftime, something he rarely does. He himself noted that he likes seeing adjustments at half from his players, but the issues were severe enough that he pulled Danny Musovski for Seba Gomez.

By the end of the game, the Sounders had pulled away a 2-1 win, taking their third game in a row and getting back into the playoff picture.

The Sounders again didn't have their best XI due to international play.

The starting selection for Thursday's fixture had a fair few midfield constraints. Snyder Brunell was captaining the USMNT U20 team in their friendly against Brazil on the same day, while Hassani Dotson had shown a bit too much "Pacific Northwest grit" and was suspended due to accumulation of yellow cards. Cristian Roldan's pairing at six was thus Peter Kingston. Dejan Joveljić was still playing with the Serbian national team, so Musovski had the nine at the beginning of the game.

Other than that, the team had some semblance of the top (non-injured, of course) starting XI that they have gone with in recent games. Jackson Ragen and Stu Hawkins were the two center backs, Alex Roldan was at right back and Nouhou at left, and the wingers were Arriola on the left and Jordan Morris on the right. Albert Rusnák, of course, was the 10, while Andrew Thomas was in net.

Mark Bronnik, who made his very first appearance at the end of the game, found himself rostered for the first time as one of the available subs.

Seattle's ball control led to an ugly first half as SKC lurched ahead.

Pretty much as soon as action started on Thursday, the Rave Green's issues were apparent. Seattle seemed to have only one mode early on, trying to build out of the back, through the middle, and out to the sides in succession, but most of these failure points went awry as the Sounders. Paul Arriola had accuracy issues near the front of the train, but much of it was other guys losing the ball under pressure or being forced back as their vision seemed limited in those moments.

Thomas made a diving save in the fifth minute as Calvin Harris cut in and took a shot on net after a breakaway by André Luiz. Seattle had a similar chance of their own in the eighth, but Arriola's pass to Musovski on the left was intercepted.

Still, this began a series of opportunities in front of net. Albert got a corner after cutting in and taking a strong shot, then two more followed as Cristian's attempt was deflected and Stefan Cleveland leapt up to keep a left-footed Peter Kingston screamer out of the net; Kingston's strike in particular was a redeeming moment after having been frightened out of good position during the previous corner. But the visitors pressed Seattle out of attacking territory after the third corner and the Sounders' vise loosened.

Another corner in the 15th minute again gave Seattle a set piece opportunity, and although the Sounders lost the aerial on the first service, Cristian recovered on the right side and sent it into the crowd - but he was offside as he sent it in to Morris, who made a half-bicycle kick into the net.

The Sounders' issues in building out of the back got worse around the midpoint of the half, with SKC getting a litany of long shots on net and chances up top. The most dangerous was a long ball to Harris that completely escaped the notice of both center backs and Alex Roldan had to make a desperate clearance in the 19th minute, but it was a rather constant cycle of Sounders giving the ball away, Harris or Luiz getting the ball up to the box or sending a cross in deep, and the Sounders barely managing to keep the ball out of net.

Seattle finally managed to get it out of their own half in the 26th, but even though they had numbers up, they got out-bodied up top and SKC easily restarted their attack.

With the hosts not getting the fouls they were looking for on contact, the physically imposing visitors could slice through and encircle the attempted Seattle defenders, forcing Seattle into a desperate defense of filling the box with bodies to keep Luiz from surging through the line and getting point-blank shots on net. Seattle also had a few stroked of luck in the form of Taylor Calheira constantly airmailing the ball whenever he tried a shot.

The Sounders finally turned the tide in the 34th minute and earned another series of corners, but as they had issues winning the aerials in the crowd, the closest they came to scoring was a 38th minute service from the right side and a high shot from Musovski, but like everything else to that point, it didn't find any netting and the game remained scoreless.

By the end of the half, the game really resembled a kettle of waste at points. There was a moment along the left touchline where it seemed neither side wanted the ball, and Seattle's more than porous defense twice allowed dangerous shots on net in the late minutes that Thomas managed to save.

But in the 44th minute, a terrible clearance attempt by Alex Roldan - it flew off Stephen Afrifa's foot and landed in open space for Luiz - was all she wrote for the opening draw. Luiz easily launched it past Thomas into the net and Seattle went into the break with a one-goal deficit.

The Sounders quickly tied the game after their halftime change and one of the most bizarre goals of the season sealed the deal at the end.

The aforementioned change worked beautifully within six minutes of the half starting. Cristian Roldan sent a long ball up to an open Morris in the box, and even though Morris got dragged across the box like a villain gets dragged by a horse in a Looney Tunes clip, the ball went out of Morris' boot and to a wide-open Gomez, who sent it soaring into the net.

Morris praised Seba's vision on the pitch after the game, the kind of thing that led to his equalizer.

"He makes really smart decisions for such a young kid," Morris said. "I think you saw Paul Ariola's goal last game. He's (Gomez) driving at the guy, and instead of trying to take him on, he sees Albert open because he knows there's space on the other side of the field, right?"

His vision hasn't been perfect - he has a habit of rushing himself too close to the far post during rapid movements and being out of position for fairly well-placed crosses - but his speed allows him to recover from such mistakes and go the extra mile when he doesn't make one.

"Seba has been pushing for playing time, not by his words - he doesn't come into my office and say, 'hey, coach, I want to play,' or whatever - he's actually done that by the work he does in training and what you see on the field," Schmetzer said. "So it's kudos to the kid."

The bulk of the chance, however, was the creation of Morris' run and heads-up boot to Seba as well as Cristian's vision to see the opening from just outside Seattle's own box.

A bit unusually for J-Mo (and ruinous for the prized narratives), he improved when he moved over to the striker position at halftime. Part of it was a greater willingness on the part of the Sounders as a whole when it came to mixing up strategies and sending balls behind, but much of it rested on Morris' own greater precision and energy out of the sheds.

Seattle had the edge for plenty of minutes afterward, as they were able to more effectively interrupt SKC's motion in the midfield while Seba's speed was evident in how many places he was able to be seemingly at once.

More changes followed as the half wore on, coming during Schmetzer's usual substitution windows. Kalani Kossa-Rienzi came on for Stu Hawkins (with Alex concurrently moving to center back) and Caden Clark filled in for Arriola, both in the 63rd minute.

Clark had a left-footed shot from medium distance in the 72nd that went a foot outside the left post. SKC had some possession into attacking space, but some good pressure from Kalani turned it into some more possession for Seattle. Still, a giveaway from Clark (you were the chosen one!) reversed that momentum and brought a corner the other way. The set piece itself didn't become dangerous, but a ball up to Calheira in front of the box could have been another go-ahead strike for KC - had he not sent it right to Andrew Thomas.

Cristian kept composed enough to draw a foul in the 85th and Seattle had a free kick from near the right corner, taken by Rusnák, but it went like all the other set pieces as SKC shoved the Sounders around and repelled the service.

Momentum swung the other way and the visitors had a final flurry of threats towards the end of regulation, their last chance at going ahead in the form of another Calheira shot that flew into outer space when a simple tap would have done just fine. Calheira had another touch in the box in the late 90th minute, but Cristian took it away from him and Seattle began their game-winning breakaway.

Cristian sent it to Albert and the both of them immediately bolted up the pitch. Morris was centrally placed as Albert sent it up - getting the ball due to a slip on the pitch from SKC's Kwaku Adyabeng - and turned on the jets until flipping a through ball for a surging Cristian with two visitors chasing him. SKC center back Wyatt Myers managed to get a boot on the ball by the skin of his teeth, but his deflection somehow went backwards right to Cristian's boot and Roldan chipped it over an out-of-position Stefan Cleveland.

So, so many things went wrong for SKC in that sequence; there's a reason they're in the lowest corners of the Western Conference basement this year. Calheira needed to control it better, Adyabeng should have been able to intercept Albert's pass from the back, Myers should have been able to send the ball out over the touchline, and Cleveland sealed the deal when he left the goal in ran forward. The goal was, in certain parlance, a little silly.

The Sounders will absolutely take it. The final score of 2-1 was secured with the goal and Seattle moved to seventh place in the West and 38 points in the table.

Seattle struggled against SKC's physical edge.

Even though the visitors were and are one of the worst teams in MLS, they still managed to best the Sounders in one area of the game.

Perhaps surprisingly, the Sounders held SKC to a rough draw in the air, winning 12 aerials and losing 11. But things were a lot less rosy on the ground, where the visitors shoved their way to 29 ground duel wins to Seattle's 20 and 11 successful dribbles to the Sounders' three.

This was the ultimate source of their issues building out of the back, as the visitors could simply bully Seattle off the ball and put the defense in a vise.

Had they been playing against a better opponent - or against an SKC that kept Luiz and Harris on the pitch for 90 minutes - they would have likely been in a far worse hole, with Thursday certainly being a draw at best in such a case.

Morris was key in making such in-from-behind play an option, even better as a striker than he was as a winger on Thursday.

Of all the people in the lineup not named Dejan Joveljić or Andrew Thomas, perhaps Morris is most secure in his spot on the starting XI.

Or perhaps not. Schmetzer didn't single out anyone as immune from retooling as the Sounders enter the final weeks of the regular season.

"I mean, nobody's job's safe," Schmetzer said. "You guys might think I'm crazy by saying that, but look, we're gonna go down the stretch, and there's certain guys that I'm gonna give opportunity to because they've been here and they've proven they can do the business ... there's there's going to be a lot of competition."

With Deki back in the lineup (Serbia's final UEFA Nations League match this month is on Oct. 4) and Morris connecting with him from the wing, such pace and precision become more of a bonus than a necessity, something that can take the Sounders back to the top rather than being an uneasy mark for a hopeful yet middling side.

Beating New England will demand much more quality than Seattle showed against the dregs of the league.

The Sounders' three-game win streak came against three rather unremarkable teams, currently sitting in the last, second-to-last, and fifth-to-last in the West.

New England Revolution are far different. The other side of I-90 possesses the second-best record in the East and fifth-best in the whole of MLS, and though some solace may be taken in the fact that the Revs' +9 goal difference is indicative of a less formidable underlying skill - and they are 12th in goals added (g+) differential with 0.54 - but their 9-2-2 record and +10 goal difference at home are downstream of a team that gets it done in their own yard.

While Schmetzer kept himself from thinking about the following fixture after the game on Thursday, Cristian Roldan didn't hold back words as he described what needs to happen in Foxborough.

There will be far less room for error and much less time to figure out how to attack on Oct. 10 when the Sounders take on the Revs.

Other Notes: Mark Bronnik debut, Moose recession, Caden Clark is human.

Bronnik's Sounders debut wasn't very long, as he only played six minutes before the whistle blew. Still, Schmetzer liked what he saw from the youngster.

"What I saw tonight was a kid who did exactly what was needed in that moment," Schmetzer said of Bronnik. "He came on the field, and he tried to use his youthful energy. He was chasing the ball all over, won some headers, connected a pass."

Bronnik likely won't feature much during the final playoff push, but Caden Clark - whose first moments as a Sounders saw him improbably knot a 3-3 tie in Denver - is one of the pieces Schmetzer hopes to use here and there to get some different looks on net. He overdid a couple touches on Thursday and wasn't the most present feature of the game, however, perhaps offering a good reason to temper expectations for Seattle's summer reclamation piece.

Musovski, however, is certainly an odd man out as things stand. With less consistent service in the box, gone are the "Moosiah" days of 18 goals all comps; instead, his lack of versatility was on painful display in the first half as he wasn't able to effectively drop back to the midfield and provide connection there when necessary.

How good do the Sounders have to be to keep a playoff spot?

New England and Dallas on the road will be difficult, but there are five more games after that to finish up the 2026 season.

Getting a home playoff series is a tall order. The current fourth-place team, the Earthquakes, are pacing 57 points, a figure that would force Seattle to go at least 6-0-1 to have a shot at breaking into the top four. Moving up a spot, however, is a bit more feasible, as they would have to go 4-2-1 or better to beat LAFC's 50 point pace for sixth place.

If they make it to 47 points (which would only require three wins in seven games), they beat eighth place Colorado's pace and would secure a first-round entry, avoiding the play-in.

Of course, these teams will probably go worse or better than their paces, and in any event, the only thing the Sounders can focus on is the game at hand.