Once again missing many of its key players, Sounders FC picked up a much-needed three points Friday night by virtue of a 1-0 victory over Supporters’ Shield-leading D.C. United.
When the final whistle sounded just a few minutes after Tyrone Mears scored the game’s lone goal, Seattle snapped its three-match losing streak and climbed back to the top of the Western Conference standings. Here’s what Head Coach Sigi Schmid and his players said after the win.
Sigi Schmid:
“To get out of a slump, or the funk we were in a little bit, sometimes just a couple of things need to break for you. It seems like it’s a struggle, and it was a little bit of that tonight. I thought we came out aggressively early on in the game…I thought we went after them. At that point, when they received the red card, I think we relaxed a little bit and took our foot off the gas pedal. We needed to keep pushing, which we tried to do when we came out in the second half.”
Tyrone Mears:
“We came into the dressing room before the game and we all said, ‘Tonight is where we get a result.’ We can’t think about going a goal down or not playing well. We had to get a result, whatever it took. … I thought it was really good defensively tonight. That’s what our seasons been built on: being good at the back and keeping clean sheets.”
Chad Barrett:
“We showed a lot of good promise. I thought we played better in the first 30 [minutes] before they got the red card, and then they kind of bunkered in. We weren’t patient enough at the end of the first half, and we actually gave them some chances. We did that again in the second half. So there are a lot of things that we can take away that we have to work on.”