TORONTO — No Clint Dempsey. No Nicolás Lodeiro. No Víctor Rodríguez, no Román Torres, no Osvaldo Alonso. No problem.
The Seattle Sounders, sporting a bevy of injuries and squad rotation and a makeshift 5-4-1 formation, waltzed into BMO Field on Wednesday night and took three well-earned points from Toronto FC in a rematch of the last two MLS Cups. It wasn’t just that the Sounders won 2-1 and exacted revenge on the team that had dethroned them five months to the date prior, but that Seattle put in its most complete and impressive performance of the season.
“I think everybody kind of wrote us off before we even got here,” said forward Will Bruin, who tallied his team-leading third goal of the season. “We know what we’re capable of as a group. I think we showed it tonight that the guys here put in a great effort and everybody was playing for each other.”
Added midfielder Cristian Roldan, who wore the captain’s armband on Wednesday: “We’re playing probably one of the best teams in the history of MLS with the lineup that we came out with. We’re a dedicated group who wanted the result from the first minute."
The Sounders had a gameplan and executed it to perfection. They were willing to concede possession to TFC — Seattle finished the match at just under 33 percent — but knew they had the potential to break down Toronto on the counterattack. Seattle employed a five-man back line of Gustav Svensson and Tony Alfaro flanking Chad Marshall in the center and stifled a TFC attack that lacked its usual bite without injured forward Jozy Alitdore and midfielder Víctor Vázquez, who exited injured at halftime.
Kelvin Leerdam battles for possession with Sebastian Giovinco | USA Today Sports
Seattle absorbed the pressure Toronto threw at it and hit hard the other way against a Toronto back line that featured Michael Bradley and Gregory van der Wiel as center backs, each of whom was playing out of position.
“Toronto has been a good rival,” said Head Coach Brian Schmetzer. “It is a great club and we have a good rivalry here. I enjoy my chess matches with [Toronto FC Head Coach] Greg [Vanney].”
The Sounders now quickly turn their attention to archrival the Portland Timbers on Sunday at Providence Park in what will be the 100th all-time match in the most storied American soccer rivalry. Seattle will likely see the return of Dempsey and Alonso to the lineup, as well as Kelvin Leerdam, Nouhou and Kim Kee-hee (the latter three of whom all began as substitutes against TFC), but the Sounders didn’t feel like they were at any more of a disadvantageous entering Wednesday’s match just because of who was unavailable.
“We definitely don’t rely on any one person, we know that we’ve got guys who can step in, and guys proved that tonight,” said Bruin. “You want to say people were missing, people weren’t there…we look at it as the guys we put on the field are going to perform. We’re very happy with the way some of the young guys played, and that makes Brian’s choices difficult.”
Added Schmetzer: “We always fight, we never give up, and results like this come from that mentality, that type of mindset. So you are going to get performances like this and sometimes you are going to be on the right end of the scoreline…Now it is on to the next rival and that is a big one for us, a little closer to home, a little less travel time. So we’ll get them back up and prepare for that.”
