MINNEAPOLIS — The Seattle Sounders are in their best form since the end of the 2015 season, and they are showing no signs of slowing down.
Seattle extended its unbeaten streak to seven games on Saturday night with a commanding 4-0 win over Minnesota United in their first MLS meeting. It is the longest unbeaten run it’s had since it went eight games unbeaten to end the 2015 season.
Although the Sounders were holistically pleased with the result, they know there’s still work to be done and are capable of playing even better.
“I think [it’s clicking],” said forward Will Bruin, who scored his eight goal of the season on Saturday, “We could have scored seven or eight tonight. We’re finally healthy. At the beginning of the year, we had a lot of injuries. Lineups were shuffling a lot. Now we’re getting that consistency and that really does go a long way.”
Consistency on the back line has been especially key to a surging Sounders squad that now sits just two points outside of first place in the Western Conference. Seattle has not allowed a goal since D.C. United scored their third on July 19, a shutout streak that spans 310 minutes.
The Sounders have also not conceded since new outside fullback Kelvin Leerdam debuted in the second half against D.C. The Sounders have outscored their opponents 11-0 in the last three and a half matches, with Leerdam sporting an impressive plus-10 goal differential.
“We’ve had some consistency along the back line,” said Sounders Head Coach Brian Schmetzer. “Gustav [Svensson] and Cristian [Roldan] have done a good job marshaling in front of the back four. The guys on the outside, even [Jordan Morris] and [Nicolas Lodeiro] today, had to defend at times. We charged Clint [Dempsey] with doubling down on either [Sam] Cronin or Ibson. He did his part. You couple all of that with [Stefan Frei’s] goalkeeping, it makes it a pretty good team effort defensively.”
Frei made two world-class saves in the second half to keep the Loons off the scoresheet. He got down low for a beautiful kick save to deny Abu Danladi before pushing a Sam Nicholson shot over the bar in full extension.
“It takes the pressure off you,” Dempsey said of Frei’s stops. “If he’s making big saves like that, they’re not able to get momentum going or get the crowd behind them. Once they score, then they start believing they can come back into the game. That was huge for us for him to make those types of saves.”
Added Frei: “It’s never going to be tactically shifting and simple defending. Sometimes things break down, and then it’s about not giving up. It becomes desperate defending, but every single guy on this team has done whatever they can to the very last second to not allow the opponent to score. That’s what defending is about.”
