SEATTLE — It had to be Will Bruin.
For the fourth time in four starts against his former team, the Seattle Sounders striker scored against the Houston Dynamo, the club with which he spent the first six years of his professional career. Bruin sent home a beautiful left-footed shot, spinning after receiving a Cristian Roldan pass and making no mistake in the upper corner to open the scoring in an eventual 4-1 rout.
“I’ve been working with [Assistant Coach] Preki a lot on getting my feet right in the box,” said Bruin. “For me personally, it was good to get back on the scoresheet. My minutes are limited now, so I need to make the most of them, and I think I did that tonight.”
Bruin earned his second start in the last eight matches, filling a new role off the bench since the arrival of Raúl Ruidíaz in the summer transfer window, but he’s continued to be productive offensively. He has 20 goals and nine assists in 47 regular-season and postseason matches since joining the Sounders prior to the 2017 season and has proved why he’s such a valuable asset at Head Coach Brian Schmetzer’s disposal.
Bruin celebrates his goal on Monday in a win over the Dynamo | USA Today Sports
With Ruidíaz already gone on international duty with Peru ahead of two friendlies against Chile and the United States, Bruin took his opportunity and ran with it.
“The narrative is Raúl has come in and helped spark the club, but when you have a guy like Will Bruin sitting there who can do that, I love it,” said Schmetzer. “He’s seen a lot of minutes in MLS. He’s been around for a while. He has some of those experiences in games where some of that stuff comes intuitively…That’s all part of who Will is.”
The Sounders inched closer to their 10th consecutive MLS postseason berth on Monday, moving to within three points of second place and five points clear of the seventh-place LA Galaxy. When the Sounders head to Orlando City SC on Wednesday, Oct. 17 (4:30 p.m. PT; JOEtv, YouTube TV, 950 KJR AM, El Rey 1360 AM), Bruin may very well be called upon again, and he’s ready for the challenge.
“I’ve scored goals every year in this league,” said Bruin. “As the league brings in higher quality players, a lot of them are attackers. I have to evolve my game as well. I think I’ve done that throughout the years. Whenever I get my opportunities, I’m going to do my job and try and score goals.”
