After being thoroughly outplayed to start the match at Avaya Stadium, the Sounders managed to push hard in the second half for another late goal by Nicolas Lodeiro to produce one more road point. Must-win is a term thrown around a lot, and of course Seattle can still make the playoffs, but clearly a win would have been a massive boost in the race to pass the red line.
Every week is now critically important, and if the Sounders can take advantage of their upcoming home games and an away match against a depleted LA Galaxy side, they could solidify their late-season comeback.
Nicolas Lodeiro, for one, is certainly not giving up hope:
"I came with one objective: to make it to the playoffs. In South America there is a lot of pressure and we’re always accustomed to these types of final games."
The Sounders are now 9-13-5 with a GD of -4, good for 32 points and 9th in the Western Conference. They have two games in hand on Portland, Vancouver, and Kansas City.
MATCH SUMMARY
Seattle Sounders FC 1 - San Jose Earthquakes 1
Saturday, September 10, 2016
Venue: Avaya Stadium
Referee: Baldomero Toledo
Assistants: Apolinar Mariscal, Andrew Bigelow
Fourth Official: Kevin Stott
Attendance: 18,000
Weather: Clear and 62 degrees
SCORING SUMMARY
SJ - Chris Wondolowski (Jordan Stewart) 20'
SEA - Nico Lodeiro 80'
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
SJ - Jordan Stewart (caution) 44'
SEA - Osvaldo Alonso (caution) 54'
SJ - Simon Dawkins (caution) 58'
SJ - Marvell Wynne (caution) 69'
SJ - Alberto Quintero (caution) 84'
LINEUPS & STATS
Seattle Sounders FC - Stefan Frei; Tyrone Mears, Román Torres, Chad Marshall, Joevin Jones (Oniel Fisher 55'); Erik Friberg (Alvaro Fernandez 65'), Osvaldo Alonso - captain, Cristian Roldan (Nelson Valdez 80'), Nico Lodeiro, Andreas Ivanschitz; Jordan Morris
Substitutes not used: Tyler Miller, Zach Scott, Herculez Gomez, Oalex Anderson
Total shots: 5 (5 players, 1)
Shots on goal: 1 (Lodeiro, 1)
Fouls: 16 (Mears, 4)
Offside: 1 (Ivanschitz, 1)
Corner-kicks: 0
Saves: 1 (Frei, 1)
San Jose Earthquakes - David Bingham; Marvell Wynne, Victor Bernardez, Andres Imperiale, Jordan Stewart; Cordell Cato, Darwin Ceren, Fatai Alashe, Alberto Quintero, Simon Dawkins (Chad Barrett 80'); Chris Wondolowski - captain
Substitutes not used: Shaun Francis, Shea Salinas, Tommy Thompson, Henok Goitom, Quincy Amarikwa
Total shots: 12 (Wondolowski, 4)
Shots on goal: 3 (Wondolowski, 2)
Fouls: 15 (Stewart/Alshe, 1)
Offside: 2 (Cato/Wondolowski, 1)
Corner-kicks: 6 (Dawkins, 5)
Saves: 1 (Frei, 1)
POST-MATCH QUOTES
SEATTLE SOUNDERS INTERIM HEAD COACH BRIAN SCHMETZER
On the result:
"It wasn’t a loss, but it wasn’t a win either. It’s like vanilla. Draws are like vanilla. It’s better than a loss but certainly not what we were looking for."
On the team’s play after the first 25 minutes:
"After we conceded the goal, the team woke up. From that point forward I was happy with the thinking part of the game and the actual play. I never, ever fault my team for giving 100 percent commitment from the opening whistle. They were all over us the first 25 minutes when they scored. That’s just testament to a good team. San Jose is playing for their lives as well, so you have to give them some credit. Dom is a good coach. They’re always there. They’re always in the game, it’s just can we play a little better soccer at times. Yes they can, and that’s what we’re going to work on.
On why San Jose was able to control the first 25 minutes:
"They kept possession in our end of the field. It came wave after wave. We defend, defend, defend, then we give the ball away. We were never able to break any of their pressure. You could sense something bad was going to happen. It was just unfortunate that the actual goal wasn’t a thing of beauty for them. It was a long ball that Tyrone (Mears) misplayed and the guy gets in behind. You can give them all the credit in the world, but at the same time I can say that Tyrone needs to make the play."
On substituting Nelson Valdez in before a set piece:
"Nelson Valdez has one of the best headers in the league. I wanted to get him on for the set piece. It worked."
On halftime adjustments:
"We tweaked things at halftime, but it was their execution. It’s normal sometimes when a team goes up that they begin to sit back and relax a bit. We were able to find the game a bit more. It was a combination of that woke up our team and San Jose saying ‘OK, now we scored.’ At halftime we definitely tried to tweak some things to get our spacing right, because our spacing wasn’t great in the first half."
On San Jose’s Chris Wondolowski:
"Chris is a great player. I said it before the game to the Seattle media, I said that we need to stop Wondo. He’s a tremendous player and I have a ton of respect for him."
SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC MIDFIELDER CRISTIAN ROLDAN
On how he’s feeling physically and how long he’s been nursing a bad ankle:
"A week or so. We limited myself in practice and we wanted to prepare for this game. We thought it was important. We wanted to try it out and things went well."
On how he’s feeling after the match:
"Good. Obviously I’m achy but it’s about that time where we need to win every game and I want to do everything possible for the team. I want to be an option and that was the case today."
On if the shot he took from Fatai Alashe at midfield didn’t help and how it impacted how he went about the rest of the game:
"Obviously nursing an injury when you get hit like that it’s tough, but for me I just try to play my game. I want to do what’s best for the team. I just gave it my all and obviously we came back and we fought as a team so that’s way more important."
On if the goal from Chris Wondolowski woke the team up:
"Yeah it was tough. I think we went down to 10-men because Chad Marshall and some rule that we didn’t know about. Something happened. A long ball gets switched, a little bit of miscommunication, a little error and it results in a goal. They took advantage of it. Credit to them, but I think we turned it on and we came about coming on the road and getting a result. Obviously we didn’t get the win, but we got a tie and we have to look forward to the next home game."
On the team pushing for not only the tying goal but possibly the winning goal in the final 15 minutes after he was subbed out:
"Obviously we pushed another forward onto the field and it helped us. I think we scored right after I got off so credit to (Brian) Schmetzer. I think Nelson (Valdez) definitely changed the game. He had a good week of training. We have to just continue on working and staying together as a group and having the right mentality that we’re going to make the playoffs."
On Nicolas Lodeiro’s game-tying goal:
"Nico is a good player. Great set piece, framed the goal and it’s hard for (David) Bingham to react in that situation."
On what it was like for him to transition out wide:
"It’s a little different. I had a little bit more sprinting I think and getting in behind. It’s tough to help Jordan (Morris) on the road, staying high. That’s a tough situation, but I want to fill any gaps that are open at this point and obviously we miss Clint (Dempsey). It shows in our last three games, but we have to move on and try to replace him at some point and we have to have that right mentality going into the road."
SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC MIDFIELDER NICOLAS LODEIRO
On his goal and the overall result of the match:
"The goal was important because we were able to rescue at least one point. The most important thing today was to win. We have to continue working. We’re not going to have any more chances. We cannot continue to lose points."
On if having to position a team for a playoff race is new to him:
"I came with one objective: to make it to the playoffs. In South America there is a lot of pressure and we’re always accustomed to these types of final games."
On how it is playing in the midfield without Clint Dempsey:
"It is different with Clint. We understand each other well. He’s a great player and an important player for the team. In reality we need him to return so we can continue doing what we were doing and go back to winning. We have great players, but Clint is very important for the team as well."
On his first impressions of Roman Torres:
"Very good. I think he played very good."
On Torres seeming like a very physical guy, especially in practice, and how he has changed the team:
"It’s important to have Roman there. He’s a good player. He’s a player with lots of experience playing at the highest levels. It’s important because he has a lot of presence. He helps organize the team."