Sounders Still Can’t Find Scoring Touch in Draw vs. Dynamo
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Seattle Sounders forward Jesus Ferreira slides while kicking the ball during a regular season game at Lumen Field. Credit: Jesus Ferriera/Instagram [/caption]
SEATTLE, Wash. - It was a ceremonial night at Lumen Field as Sounders legend Nicolas Lodeiro returned for the first time as a member of an opposing team and was honored in the pre match lead up. Cristian Roldan was also honored as he broke the record for most appearances playing for the franchise last week against St. Louis at 354.
But, when it came to the play on the field, Seattle came into the match looking to get some results that fairly reflected how they have performed recently in the past few games, and they would have to do it with a depleted side as Jordan Morris and Pedro de la Vega are still a few weeks away from being available once again, and Paul Arriola is most likely done for the season.
In the first half, Seattle would look like a team that was missing many of its top attacking options, and with a struggling Houston team coming to Lumen Field, the Rave Green would be expecting to leave the match with all three points. After a slow start for both teams, the Sounders would grow into the game in the last 15 minutes of the first half and start to create chances with both Joao Paolo getting the best opportunity to try to find the back of the net. But he was unable to convert, and the home side would head into the break even at 0-0.
Coming out for the second half, head coach Brian Schmetzer most certainly gave his squad a message of urgency, as Seattle would probe the Houston penalty area for the go-ahead goal, with a few half chances but nothing threatening the goal. Just 15 minutes into the second half, Georgi Minoungu came on for Danny Leyva looking to make a difference.
Georgi would come on and add a different pace to the game, taking on Houston left back Franco Escobar multiple times, drawing multiple fouls as the Sounders sub would find ways to get involved throughout the half. The biggest question would be if Seattle could find the breakthrough in what surely felt like a truly dominated game by the home team, but Houston clearly came in to the match looking for a point and would just need to defend well to leave Seattle achieving that goal.
As the seconds ticked away, Seattle would find less and less of the ball as the energy deflated in the last couple of minutes of the game and it would end 0-0 at Lumen Field and the Sounders would disappointingly take a draw out of a game they felt they deserved to win.
The big questions coming out of the match for Seattle still remain: can they get some offense with the absence of Jordan Morris and Pedro de la Vega for the time being, and more specifically, can offseason transfer Jesus Ferreira start to connect more with his teammates and start to get some offensive production as he will be heavily leaned on in the coming games? So far, since the injuries of those two players, Seattle is 0-1-2 scoring only one goal in those three games.
A frustrated Schmetzer mentioned post game that while he was happy with the second half performance after a slow start, “playing fine is fine, but we have to score.”
It was a disappointing result and broadcaster Steve Zakuani summed up perfectly, calling it a “frustrating night, in what I described as a must win match,” not as much in terms of points and standings at this point in the season, but in terms of getting results from performances that deserve them. Very often good teams find ways to win even when they aren’t playing well, and at this point, Seattle isn’t even doing that.
The Rave Green will take a much needed full week of practice heading into next week’s clash with San Jose at PayPal Park on Saturday with hopes of starting to turn things around.
