SEATTLE — Controversy.
It’s hard to gin up a more succinct way to encapsulate the defeat that dropped the Seattle Sounders to its third loss in its first three MLS matches of 2016. Before now, Seattle had never lost its first three matches of a season in its MLS history. All of those years, of course, have been under the watchful gaze of Sigi Schmid.
That streak is over, and Seattle was left to reckon with a pair of refereeing decisions that shaded this match’s afterglow in an extremely dark light.
Seattle’s 2-1 loss to Vancouver Whitecaps FC at CenturyLink Field on Saturday was, in the broadest of senses, a Cascadia Cup loss to a northern rival. Zoomed in, though, it was one of the hardest losses to swallow in recent memory thanks to both of the Whitecaps’ goals. Both were triggered by referee Mark Geiger’s whistle. And both ultimately ended with cashed-in penalties from the foot of Pedro Morales.
Here’s a glimpse at three things we learned from a wild night in Seattle.
Mark Geiger’s bumpy night
It’s gauche to blame a referee for your problems, and it’s certainly an unbecoming look to square the crosshairs entirely on one in the aftermath of a loss. Games turn on a thousand points of light, not one giant beam, and so to make one man the scapegoat is perhaps shortsighted.
That said, Mark Geiger walked off the field to a chorus of boos for a reason. His night was filled with controversy, and the former World Cup referee’s whistle ultimately played an enormous part in the match.
Geiger’s first foray into the match’s architecture came in the 10th minute, when he whistled Joevin Jones for allegedly bringing down Christian Bolaños from behind in the box. But the replay clearly showed Bolaños dragging his back foot into the turf while Jones trailed behind. There was no contact. Morales hit his penalty. The boos only increased in volume as the game wore on.
The second incident was a bit less cut and dry in the run of play, but the replay certainly seemed to push back on Geiger’s decision to go to his whistle on an incident in the box yet again.
In the 74th minute, Chad Marshall swept in on Blas Perez in the box from behind and poked the ball from Perez’s feet. In real time, the collision as Perez clattered over Marshall’s extended legs looked hectic. Geiger immediately signaled to the spot, and the boos continued. Again, Morales converted, this time breaking a 1-1 deadlock and giving Vancouver the goal that would ultimately decide the game.
But on replay, the decision becomes decidedly more controversial. Perez, never one to shy away from embroilment, began leaning into Marshall before he’d even hit the deck for the slide tackle. As Marshall made contact with the ball, Perez changed his course ever so slightly to bisect Marshall’s, and the rest was up to Geiger.
He called the penalty. Again.
The match was more than the sum of two decisions, but it’s hard to avoid their outsize impact. One was blown entirely, and the other was arguably a 50/50 ball that Marshall hit clean. In that light, Saturday was an especially hard pill for the Sounders to swallow.
Front three still goal-less
This has been a bone of contention for weeks now, but the furor won’t subside after Saturday. Another 90 minutes, another match without a run-of-play goal from one of the 4-3-3‘s forwards.
The song was much the same as it has been throughout March. The Sounders controlled the tenor of the match. They finished with a 60-40 edge in possession, a 507-344 edge in total passes (of which they hit 83 percent to Vancouver’s 73), out-shot Vancouver 19-9 and yet somehow found themselves relying yet again on an etherial free kick goal in the absence of anything else.
Andreas Ivanschitz’s tremendous bending set piece in the 52nd minute was a moment to remember, but the Sounders couldn’t convert their prodigious amount of possession around the area into anything substantive inside the flow of the match. Clint Dempsey’s best chance flailed inches wide with 10 minutes left. Jordan Morris’ best opportunity came meekly off his left foot and was snared easily by David Ousted. And Nelson Valdez spent much of his evening trying to body up Kendall Waston and create chances for the outside spokes of the front three.
The result was more possession and fewer shots on target. The Sounders only put five of their 19 shots on frame, routinely missing both high and wide as Vancouver desperately parried and dodged attack after attack.
They were successful in their endeavors. Seattle was not.
A game of mental fortitude
No coach expects his season to be perched on the head of a pin just three weeks in, but here we are.
It’s still far too early to hit the panic button, but there’s no question the pressure turned up a notch after Saturday’s loss. Nobody likes losing, but dropping your third straight for the first time in MLS franchise history? You’ll feel that one the morning after. And nobody knows that better than Sounders coach Sigi Schmid, who’s suddenly in uncharted waters.
“We’ve got to start getting some results,” Schmid said after Saturday’s match, “or quite a few of us could be looking for new jobs.”
Seattle has plenty of time to redirect the ship into more placid climes, but there’s no time like the present. Locker rooms are always more delicate when results aren’t falling, even battle-hardened ones like this one. Where Schmid and his coaching staff go from here with a veteran group is more important than ever, and the team is suddenly in a battle to retain its mental fortitude almost directly out of the blocks.
The most frustrating aspect from the front office’s standpoint will undoubtedly be the bounces (and penalties) that continually seem to go the other way. Seattle has an argument that it handily out-played each of its three MLS opponents thus far this season, owning possession, chances and defensive performance in every case. Against Sporting Kansas City, Seattle was undone by a red card and a goalkeeping miscue. Against Real Salt Lake, it was a soft goal against the run of play and a 50/50 ball in the box. Against Vancouver? Two penalties.
Whatever the reasons, Schmid knows as well as anyone that losses compound losses. MLS playoff pushes are not won and lost in March, or April, or May, or even June. But the team can’t afford to continue dropping points.
Some good news? Seattle escaped Saturday’s match without injury. With the way the season’s gone so far, that’s something to praise.
