A familiar storyline repeated itself again Wednesday for the Seattle Sounders. The team played one very good half and one very poor half against Sporting KC. Despite frustrating KC’s attack for the first two-thirds of the match, the Sounders seemed to lose their nerve after going down a goal. Children’s Mercy Park is a tough place to take points from, but the Sounders need all the points they can get at this point to right the ship after their worst start in franchise history. Instead, they can only look ahead to Saturday and Real Salt Lake.
Seattle are now 2-5-4, -4 GD through 11 games. That’s good for .91 points per match and second-to-last in the Western Conference (and overall).
MATCH SUMMARY
Seattle Sounders FC 0 - 3 Sporting KC
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Venue: Children's Mercy Park
Referee: Ted Unkel
Assistants: Joe Fletcher, Adam Wienckowski
Fourth Official: Sorin Stoica
Attendance: 20,139
Weather: Partly cloudy and 77 degrees
SCORING SUMMARY
SKC - Gerso 56'
SKC - Gerso 58'
SKC - Gerso (Graham Zusi, Benny Feilhaber) 69'
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
SEA - Jordy Delem (caution) 3'
SEA - Tony Alfaro (caution) 85'
LINEUPS & STATS
Seattle Sounders FC - Stefan Frei; Joedy Delem, Chad Marshall, Tony Alfaro, Oniel Fisher (Brad Evans 78'); Cristian Roldan, Gustav Svensson (Harry Shipp 72'); Alvaro Fernandez, Nicolás Lodeiro, Jordan Morris (Seyi Adekoya 77'); Will Bruin
Substitutes not used: Tyler Miller, Nouhou, Zach Mathers, Clint Dempsey
Total shots: 10 (3 players, 2)
Shots on goal: 5 (Fernandez, 2)
Fouls: 6 (Delem/Alfaro, 2)
Offside: 3 (Lodeiro, 2)
Corner-kicks: 3 (Lodeiro, 3)
Saves: 3 (Frei, 3)
Sporting Kansas City - Tim Melia; Graham Zusi, Ike Opara, Matt Besler, Seth Sinovic; Roger Espinoza, Illie Sánchez, Benny Feilhaber (Daniel Salloi 89'); Gerso (Latif Blessing 83'), Dom Dwyer, Jimmy Medranda (Soni Mustivar 79')
Substitutes not used: Adrián Zendejas, Kevin Ellis, Saad Abdul-Salaam, Cameron Porter
Total shots: 12 (Gerso, 6)
Shots on goal: 6 (Gerso, 5)
Fouls: 8 (3 players, 2)
Offside: 1 (Opara, 1)
Corner-kicks: 5 (Feilhaber, 5)
Saves: 5 (Melia, 5)
POST-MATCH QUOTES:
Seattle Sounders FC head coach Brian Schmetzer
Thoughts on the match…
"The first half was as planned, except for the fact that we didn’t score. If you don’t put teams away when you are playing well, if you don’t have the belief that you can score, if you don’t have a belief that you can win, if you don’t have a belief that you can defend for 90 minutes then you are going to run into problems against a team like Sporting KC or any team in this League. You’ve got to figure out a way to make sure you can believe you can score. That will start a chain reaction and hopefully get us some results."
On not capitalizing on chances in the first half…
"Goals change games. I’m not saying if we would have scored one or two in the first half that the game would have had a different outcome, but it certainly would have put things in our favor and that would have been ideal."
On getting back on the field at home on Saturday against Real Salt Lake…
"The guys in there are pretty frustrated again. They understand that they played well in the first half and they want to get back out there."
Seattle Sounders midfielder Cristian Roldan
On rebounding for next weekend's match…
"We have to play better. It will be a different game because home games are a little bit easier. We’ll have more of the ball, but we need to score our chances. Early in the game, we had a couple. If we scored our chances it’s a different game. Obviously they scored three. They weren’t the greatest goals, it was silly mistakes from us and we have to be sharper in that way. We have to be lethal in front of goal.
On playing better than record indicates…
"I think we are playing a little bit better than how many points we do have. But still it’s not about playing well, it’s about winning games. That will get you up the standings and that’s what we have to do. At this point, we can play well every game and lose and still be upset. We have to win games in any way, any fashion. Honestly that’s how we got to MLS Cup last year. We fought out games, we played through the 90 minutes and we defended really well and scored our chances."
On what’s missing…
"I think it’s quite a few things. It’s the assist, the pass before the goal. The final product. It’s not being offside when we’re in a good position. It’s defending well. It’s blocking crosses. It’s the whole picture, it’s the whole game. We just have to be better. We have to find those moments. We have to be concentrated and smart with our actions."
Seattle Sounders FC forward Seyi Adekoya
On his debut...
"Super cool moment. I've been dreaming about it for so long. When I played youth in Seattle and now I'm wearing a Sounders jersey and get on the field with the first team. Awesome to have gotten on the field, but wish the result turned out better and I wish I could have affected the game in a better way."
On the moment when his coaches called him over to sub into the match...
"Gonzalo Pineda actually came over and he was pointing and I kept looking around. I thought he was pointing to Brad or Clint and then he was like 'you, no, you, now!' So it was kind of a funny moment. That's how I responded to that, I didn't think I would be called on in that moment, but I am so happy that I was called on in that moment."
On building on today's minutes...
"I think I got a couple of opportunities and I definitely wanted to have put them away. So I think just going back to training and working harder, working with the coaches and talking to my teammates and making sure I'm in the right place and again trying to affect the game in a good way by scoring or getting an assist."
Seattle Sounders FC defender Brad Evans
On the team’s state of mind...
Obviously not in a good place. Again it’s difficult for me to talk about the game when I’m watching from the sideline. The most important thing for me is to come in and try to make a difference. Tonight wasn’t the night. But we have a must-win at home this Saturday. We have to win this game at home on Saturday, we have got to start climbing.
On his fitness...
I feel pretty good. Still getting there, so It’s fitness. Everyone is at 110 percent right now, and I’m catching up. It’s an uphill battle, so I have to stay focused on the body and work my way back in the best I can.
On a quick turnaround being good after a loss...
Yeah, the first half today I thought was great, we played it to a ‘T’, 0-0, we had a couple chances even, and the second half it unraveled. So we have got to come out flying on Saturday, no excuses at that point.