The Seattle Sounders enter Saturday’s match against CF Montréal (7:30 p.m. PT; Watch on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, 950 KJR AM, SiriusXM FC, El Rey 1360AM | TICKETS) following last weekend’s disappointing loss to the LA Galaxy, which left the team 0-3-2 through the first five matches of the season.
It’s been an unorthodox start for the Rave Green, but overcoming hardships and facing adversity head-on is in this team’s DNA.
“There's still 29 games left and a lot of points to play for,” said midfielder Albert Rusnák. “I feel like we need that breakout, ideally at home, and we have a home game coming up this Saturday.”
The Sounders have dealt with lulls in the past. A difficult start to the 2016 season resulted in a midseason turnaround, culminating in the club’s first-ever MLS Cup title. The team once again struggled out of the gates the following year before returning to the championship match. And in 2018, an inconsistent first half of the campaign led to the best half-season in league history as the Sounders finished second in the West.
This year’s season-opening slump has been frustrating, but the team remains optimistic in their abilities to flip the script and come out with a victory in front of their home crowd at Lumen Field this weekend.
“We're not panicking,” said midfielder Josh Atencio. “We know our game plan, we're staying positive and we’re just doing what we can to give ourselves the best opportunity to get three points.”
The Seattle side takes “accountability” for the outcomes of the last five matches, according to midfielder Cristian Roldan, and is determined to “fix those mistakes” as they head into this weekend’s home match against the Canadian team.
“We're letting in goals that are very unprofessional of us and are very careless,” said Roldan. “Just following runners, moments where we just switch off…Those are things that we can just do better in and respond in.”
The team also recognizes their need to improve in the offensive half.
“Obviously, we want to be scoring, and we want to be an attacking team, and that will come,” said Roldan. “In front of goal, we can be a whole lot better. We've only scored one goal from the run of play.”
Whether it be studying CF Montréal’s playing style and tactics or correcting the errors from previous matches, the Sounders are confident this week’s preparation will push them toward a positive result over the weekend.
“I believe it's [Montréal’s] seventh road game in a row, so hopefully we take advantage of that,” said Roldan. “They are also five in the back. They play very condensed lines, so we need verticality.”
He continued, “And then it’s about crashing the box. That's where games are won and lost. Both offensively and defensively, you need to have numbers in the box.”
But it will be the fans’ support that will ultimately carry them over the finish line to gain three points.
“We have to play energized to get the fans going,” said Atencio. “So, it takes us playing fast and playing aggressive and getting the fans involved into the game and then once it starts getting loud, we're going to feed off of that.”
