FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — By all accounts, it was mission accomplished.
The Seattle Sounders played to a scoreless draw with the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium on Saturday night and, coupled with their win over the Colorado Rapids on Wednesday, take four points home to Seattle.
“It was a grind,” said defender Chad Marshall of Saturday night’s result. “It wasn’t the prettiest game, but a good result for us to keep a zero against a talented offensive team. It was our third game of the week and we traveled cross-country.”
Added Head Coach Brian Schmetzer: “It wasn’t at times our best soccer of the year, but it’s a point, a point on the road. There’s probably a lot of people who didn’t think we would get anything out of this game, so it’s another testament to the group that’s in that locker room that they don’t quit. Lots of things have gone against them this year, but we’ve actually done pretty well away from home. Gutty performance by the guys, all credit to them.”
The Sounders have 16 points through 17 matches, exactly halfway through the MLS season, and they sit seven points outside the sixth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Seattle still has eight matches remaining against the other five teams in the West currently outside the postseason picture and there will be plenty of points up for grabs.
Jordan McCrary battles for possession with New England’s Cristian Penilla | USA Today Sports
"It's important to be able to string results together,” said goalkeeper Stefan Frei. “We have had wins here and there, sparingly, we've scored goals here and there, but we were not able to follow up with a decent result.
"I am never going to complain if I don't touch the ball too much,” Frei continued. “[It was a] decent result for us. One of our goals for today was to keep a shutout — we've been struggling with that this year. We limited them to very, very few half chances, so that's a positive. It was a tough road spell for us, too. Two difficult places to go and play. For us to get four points out of this is positive.”
The Sounders will finish their only three-match road trip of the year next Sunday in Georgia at Mercedes-Benz Stadium against Atlanta United (11 a.m. PT; Fox, YouTube TV, 950 KJR AM, El Rey 1360 AM). Atlanta leads the Supporters’ Shield race with 40 points from 20 matches and also leads the league in scoring with 42 goals.
The match will also be a homecoming for Georgia native Jordan McCrary, who started all three of the Sounders’ matches this week while Kelvin Leerdam is out with a hamstring injury. McCrary was especially solid against New England winger Cristian Penilla, and the whole back line played tremendously well, something they know they’ll continue to need to do moving forward.
“We were disappointed with the rivalry game against Portland at home, but it was a good bounce back,” said Marshall. “To get four of the next six on the road was huge and hopefully something we can build on and carry through the second half of the season.”
