Jordan Morris scored twice but it wasn’t enough to overcome a trio of goals from Sporting Kansas City, as the Seattle Sounders fell 3-2 in the Western Conference matchup between the sides at CenturyLink Field on Sunday.
Felipe Gutierrez tallied a first-half brace for SKC, with Erik Hurtado adding the third in the second half. Morris pulled Seattle within one goal twice, first with a finish in the 46th minute to make it 2-1 and again in the 86th to make it 3-2, but Hurtado’s 58th-minute tally would ultimately stand as the game-winner.
Gutierrez opened the scoring just 12 minutes in after making a run from the left flank and managing to rifle a laser shot past diving Sounders goalkeeper Stefan Frei, staking the visitors to the 1-0 lead. He tallied the brace in the 33rd after Sounders left back Nouhou was whistled for a penalty kick following a video review by referee Ismail Elfath, allowing Gutierrez to add his second from the spot and give SKC a 2-0 advantage they would take into halftime.
Morris would cut that lead in half right after second-half kickoff, however, capping off a well-worked team goal with a left-footed finish past Tim Melia off a feed from Nicolás Lodeiro, pulling Seattle within a single goal.
Hurtado would add a third for the visitors, though, after he finished off a counterattack with another laser finish past Frei, giving SKC the 3-1 lead. Morris added another with a finish past Melia off a feed from Handwalla Bwana to make it 3-2, but the Sounders narrowly missed a pair of chances in second-half stoppage time, allowing the visitors to take the three points.
THREE TAKEAWAYS
NAIL-BITING ENDING
It was a disappointing result for Seattle, but it was certainly an entertaining match, as the clubs combined for five goals, with the Sounders very nearly finding a dramatic leveler two times just before the final whistle. The first came on a curling shot from Bwana that rung the crossbar, with Morris just missing a hat trick just before the final whistle after he had his shot blocked by Melia. The Sounders will have another home match coming up to get back on track, as Eastern Conference foe New England Revolution will be in town next Saturday.
J-MO HEATING UP
Morris hadn’t scored in league play since April 28 before his game-winning tally last weekend in Houston, as he was gone on international duty for much of the summer, but the 24-year-old attacker has now scored three times in his last two games coming off Sunday’s brace, giving him seven goals and two assists overall in the season. That leaves him five shy of his career-high of 12, which he set in his MLS Rookie of the Year-winning campaign of 2016.
DOUBLE-DIGIT LODEIRO
Lodeiro tallied the assist on Morris’ first goal, bringing him up to 10 dimes on the season. It’s the third straight MLS campaign with double-digit assists for the star Uruguayan, who has assisted on a whopping 46 goals in 92 games as he continues to act as one of the best facilitators in MLS.
