Sounders take care of business
Seattle beats Kansas City 2-0
September 15, 2024 – a sunny September Sunday afternoon in Seattle. 31,898 fans streamed into Lumen Field to watch the Seattle Sounders take on Sporting Kansas City.
Seattle entered the match looking for three points against a Kansas City squad that has spent much of the year near the bottom of the table. Seattle sat in 7th in the Western Conference, a point behind Houston and two points behind Vancouver.
Surprisingly aggressive KC nearly stuns Seattle early
The game started off in Kansas City’s favor. They kept a high press, which flummoxed Seattle enough to obtain several early turnovers. A few were dangerous: the first of these was a 3rd minute Sporting KC takeaway that got the ball to KC left winger Dániel Sallói, who sent a short pass to KC’s number 10, Erik Thommy. Thommy had an open field ahead of him, but his Stef Frei dove and saved his shot.
Another almost-goal for Sporting KC came in the 16th minute after Seattle contained a threatening KC breakaway by conceding a corner. KC right winger Johnny Russell sent in the ball, which Frei tried to catch on the fly, but accidentally deflected to KC right center back Dany Rosero, who took a point-blank shot in front of the Seattle goal. Luckily for the Sounders, Cristian Roldan was well positioned in goal, and he booted the attempt away to keep the match scoreless.
Seattle seizes momentum, exits half with solid lead
The Sounders caught a brief turnaround in momentum soon after, and unlike many times in the past two years, they took their opportunity. In the 19th minute, the Sounders finally got the ball deep into Sporting KC territory and obtained a corner kick, their first of the afternoon.
Albert sends the ball into the crowd. Morris sees his opportunity; he whips off a header. Tim Melia dives for the save, but the ball deflects off his hands, right to the waiting feet of Jackson Ragen. The Sounders’ center back easily finds the upper half of the net. 1-0 Seattle.
For the next ten minutes or so, Seattle had the momentum. In the 22nd, Rothrock raced KC right back Khiry Shelton up the side of the pitch and sent off a shot, but it fell just wide of the right post. Two minutes later, Cristian and Jordan teamed up for what seemed to be Seattle’s second goal, but the officials called it back for offsides after VAR.
After that, the momentum swung back around to Kansas City, who spent a few minutes with possession in the Sounders half of the pitch. Seattle kept their opponent in check once more, with Stef Frei remaining rock solid.
In the 40th minute, Rothrock brought the ball up the left side of the pitch. The Sounders passed the ball around a few times, looking for an opportunity, before they found one and pounced, as Rusnák drove forward into the left side of the keeper’s box.
Albert sends a ball to his right. The ball grazes Morris’ foot and continues to bounce right. Paul Rothrock slides, connecting his foot to the ball and driving it forward. Melia is hapless to prevent the ball from becoming Seattle’s second goal. Sounders ahead, 2-0.
A 42nd minute Sporting KC foul in the box gave Albert Rusnák a chance to kick a penalty and put the game away with a 3-0 lead. However, Melia correctly guessed Albert’s direction and dove for the save, keeping the Sounders lead at 2-0 going into halftime.
Sounders more in control of pace, less clinical up front for second half
As the second half started, it seemed there was some regression to the mean for Seattle. On the one hand, they grew stronger against Kansas City’s press. On the other hand, their play in the box lost some form. So, in essence, the second half looked like it was taken out of a 2024 Seattle Sounders 0-0 draw.
Georgi Minoungou fought past KC left back Tim Leibold in the 48th minute and got a shot off, but it was saved by Melia. Later in the minute, Rothrock drove the ball up the other side of KC’s half and sent a textbook cross to Jordan Morris, but he kicked it over the crossbar. In the 56th, Rothrock drove into the box from the right and again tried to find Morris, but this time, the striker was adequately covered, and the ball went back a few yards to Albert, who sent a high shot of his own.
As the half wore on, Coach Schmetzer made a few substitutions: in the 66th, putting in Pedro de la Vega and Jon Bell for Georgi Minoungou and Reed Baker-Whiting. Nine minutes later, Josh Atencio was penciled in for Obed Vargas. In the 84th, Danny Leyva came in for Albert.
The Sounders’ last real chance at a goal was a Jordan Morris breakaway 78th minute, but nothing came of it as Melia dove to deflect his shot.
The pace of the game cooled down for the rest of the match. The Sounders grew more conservative in their play, simply content to keep a hold of the ball in their territory and around midfield. Meanwhile, Kansas City was unable to create anything dangerous. The final whistle blew after three minutes of inconsequential stoppage time.
Sounders 2, Sporting KC 0
Minoungou and Rothrock are becoming mainstays
Georgi Minoungou and Paul Rothrock are becoming key components of Seattle’s offense as the 2024 season moves on. Both are wicked fast, though at this point Minoungou is the better dribbler and Rothrock the better passer.
But for a team that has had its offensive struggles the past two years, a pair of explosive wingers is a welcome addition.
However, there is room to grow for both players before they can become premier players in the league. Rothrock had the far better game on Sunday, with quick, accurate crosses and swift footwork against his defenders – and, of course, his goal. Minoungou had an impressive skill at blowing past defenders to bring the ball in from the side (something we have seen in basically every game he plays), but his crosses weren’t as accurate as hoped.
As much as the new wingers have brought new life to the offense, the Sounders offense still lacks the two keys that brought them cups in years past – the number 9 and number 10. While Albert Rusnák has been extremely solid as an attacking mid this year, he hasn’t been a true replacement for Nico Lodeiro. Jordan Morris at number 9 has been good but inconsistent, which works well enough in the regular season (especially against subpar opponents like Kansas City) but will almost certainly not cut it in the playoffs.
Stef Frei has strong return
A good sign for the Sounders on Sunday was the quality of Stef Frei’s play in net. Early in the August 31st match in Portland, Frei had suffered a blow to the head which put him out of commission for the rest of that game as well as last week’s match.
Bearing a scar above his left eye, Stef played with the same skill and the same vigor that we are used to seeing from him. Though Kansas City’s most dangerous shot was saved by Cristian, Frei more that pulled his weight, netting six recoveries and a save.
According to Stef, coming back from a concussion (especially as the oldest player on the team) is an important measure of a player’s ability to continue playing.
“I’ve unfortunately accumulated a few concussions now throughout my years, but I’ve always found it very important to make sure that, when you do come back, I try to visualize myself in the exact same position, could you stand a blow like that again?” Stef noted. “Because if you can’t, I think that’s when a lot of trouble really happens in the long term.”
Sunday’s game was Stef Frei’s 113th, passing Kevin Hartman for second all-time in MLS play. Only Nick Rimando, with 154, has more career MLS clean sheets than Frei.
Moving forward
Seattle’s win propels them to 13-9-7 on the 2024 season, enough for 46 points and 5th place in the Western Conference. The Sounders are just a point back from both Colorado and Salt Lake.
The team is on pace for 67 points on the year, which would be more than enough to make the playoffs. However, it would take something of a miracle for this team to go toe to toe in postseason play with LAFC (a constant thorn in Seattle’s side) or some of the Eastern Conference powerhouses, so an MLS cup is almost certainly out of reach.
The Sounders’ next match is on Wednesday, September 18 at home against the San Jose Earthquakes, who sit at the very bottom of the Western Conference standings. The homestand will be rounded out on Saturday, September 28 against Houston.
