Seattle Sounders at Colorado Rapids - Highlight, Stats (Opta and WPA)

White & Montero were our fouls leaders. What does this mean?

Friday night we all saw a tragedy. Steve Zakuani was injured in a brutal play. Steve faces a long and grueling process of healing and returning to competitive form. I join all of the Sounders fans and MLS in wishing him a successful and speedy recovery. I will be at the stadium on Saturday lending my voice and heart to the team’s efforts on his behalf.

Now Mr. Mullan and the Seattle Sounders must live with the consequences of that singular moment. My intuition is that Mr. Mullan was simply trying to implement a physical tactical plan and it all went horribly wrong. I would guess that Colorado had made a decision to send a physical message early and often to Steve Zakuani in an effort to limit his involvement in the game. The intent was not to injure anyone. Simply use physical play to counteract the vertical threat that Steve creates. No excuse, merely an observation to put the act in context. Regardless of the intent, Mr. Mullan went too far and deserves to face the consequences.

But now the Sounders must face those consequences as well. And Friday’s immediate reaction was not encouraging. Injuries and illegal plays happen in competitive sports. When the action of an opposing team injures one of your players, there is an immediate opportunity to respond. You don’t retaliate, but you insure that they never forget the game. You play within the rules and you ram the ball down their throats. After the initial shock, you dig deep and you let slip the dogs of war. Fury, passion, indignation and sorrow erupt into a performance that leaves the other team gasping for air and their goalie feeling like a duck in a shooting gallery. Colorado should have left that game heaving on the sidelines, not walking out of the stadium with their heads held high. The only Sounder player who seemed to instinctively understand this was Ozzie. I was particularly disappointed with how both of the Sounders DP’s responded. Yes, Freddie finally scored a goal. But for most of the game he ineffectively wandered around the midfield. There wasn’t any passion or aggression to his game.

The simple truth is that a formation of 4 midfielders and one forward who all want to play as a withdrawn tactician isn’t going to scare anyone but the Sounder’s fans. Someone needs to step forward and create a vertical threat. On Friday night Ozzie seemed to be the only player who got that. I would not be surprised to see Fucito on the field Saturday. He plays vertically and right now the Sounders need that pressure.