SEATTLE -- With the match lurching forward in frustrating fashion, the Seattle Sounders needed a breakthrough. Clint Dempsey will get the credit for the goal. Harry Shipp and Will Bruin at least got assists. But the hardest, and probably the most important, work was supplied by Cristian Roldan.
It was his 1-2 with Nicolas Lodeiro that first puts the right-sided defenders on their heels and it was his run that put them into full scramble mode, as LevyFilms’ footage (above) so clearly shows.
The video also does a great job of capturing Bruin’s backheel and gives at least some credence to the idea that Shipp’s touch — while falling down — was not completely accidental.
Dempsey’s finish was, of course, sublime. But you can also see how the nature of Shipp’s penultimate touch forced the defense to slide over at a quicker pace, allowing for Dempsey’s misdirection to open a shooting lane.