In a match that ultimately finished a little close for comfort, the Seattle Sounders went down to Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday and came back with three points after a 3-2 win over Sporting Kansas City. The Sounders took a 3-0 lead into the locker room at halftime before holding on in what became a nervy ending.
A 67th-minute penalty from Dejan Joveljić made things interesting before another penalty in the sixth minute of stoppage time and a subsequent ejection of Nouhou turned up the intensity.
“We fully deserved three points,” said Sounders midfielder Albert Rusnák, who scored his team-leading eighth goal. “We’re happy that we still won the game and won 3-2 because it was a big grind at the end in the last five to 10 minutes to see it out, but the second half is something we need to improve on…We’ll watch the film and learn from the things that we did wrong…and for the next match try and put in a good performance over the course of 90 minutes.”
Sounders Head Coach Brian Schmetzer expected SKC to respond after the interval, especially at home and playing under an Interim Manager in Kerry Zavagnin.
“The message was that we knew this was a proud team, they’ve got a new coach, they’re trying to play for their jobs, their livelihoods,” said Schmetzer. “We knew they were going to come out in the second half, and we didn’t adapt. We didn’t deal with it very well.
“They put us under pressure,” Schmetzer continued. “That stuff happens. There are momentum swings in our sport, and that’s kudos to Kerry and his team. They didn’t give up.”
The Sounders, meanwhile, will focus on the positives and a first 45 minutes in which there were plenty.
“There was some really good soccer played in that first half,” said Schmetzer. “I loved some of the things we did…We just need to figure out how to get a complete performance.”
Much of that first-half success in attack was because of the return of forward Jordan Morris to the starting lineup. After a difficult season battling injuries, Morris connected with Paul Rothrock to open the scoring and put Seattle on the front foot immediately.
“It felt good to get back on the score sheet,” said Morris. “It had been a bit. I’m feeling good. I need to slowly work back into things.
“Coming back from injury, it’s been a weird time with the congestion of games, so I haven’t been able to get a ton of good training sessions in with the whole group,” he added. “That’s potentially why coming back into play has gone a little bit slower. The team around me is great, we’re just making sure everything goes well.”
Morris did not have as many opportunities as he would have liked to run into space, but Rusnák noted just how important Morris’ presence is in making the Sounders’ attack click.
“[Morris’] strengths, his runs in behind, the hold-up play and linking up with the guys around and being an option always [is crucial],” said Rusnák. “Although we didn’t play him a lot of balls in behind, their back line was very aware and worried of that. Because of that, especially in the first half, we found a lot of good spaces in between their defense and midfielders and we were able to create some chances and score some goals.”
Added Schmetzer: “If you watch the first goal, we have possession over the on the righthand side, the ball comes to Jordan, Jordan plays the ball out to Paul and he sprints. Jordan makes that play and he gets that goal and it’s all him.”
The fixtures and opportunities continue to come fast. The Sounders will welcome the Colorado Rapids to Lumen Field on Wednesday (7 p.m. PT; Watch on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV | TICKETS) as part of a three-match week before they kick off the Leagues Cup tournament at the end of the month.
And despite a somewhat shaky ending in Kansas City, Schmetzer & Co. are solely focused on the result and moving into fourth in the Western Conference table with 33 points from 21 matches.
“It’s three points,” said Schmetzer. “It’s hard to win in MLS away from home. Three great goals. The goals we scored were very good. Everything positive.”
