What was looking like another 1-0 Sounders home win went downhill at the last minute, as Orlando City SC grabbed a goal on the last kick of the match to tie it up and snag a point at CenturyLink Field.
Despite good offensive play through most of the match, the Sounders again found themselves just short of capitalizing on their chances many times. Will Bruin’s excellent strike was the one exception, coming after a defensive mistake from Orlando City inside the box.
Seattle are now 5-7-5, -5 GD. They have 20 points through 17 matches, or 1.18 PPG. They are tied on points with the Vancouver Whitecaps and San Jose Earthquakes but behind both on tiebreakers and sit in 8th place in the Western Conference.
MATCH SUMMARY
Seattle Sounders FC 1 - Orlando City SC 1
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
Venue: Xbox Pitch at CenturyLink Field
Referee: Ismail Elfath
Assistants: Frank Anderson, Eduardo Mariscal
Fourth Official: Dave Gantar
Attendance: 42,333
Weather: 64 degrees and sunny
SCORING SUMMARY
SEA - Will Bruin 19'
ORL - Scott Sutter (Kaká) 90'+4'
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
SEA - Clint Dempsey (caution) 75'
ORL - Will Johnson (caution) 78'
ORL - Jonathan Spector (caution) 79'
SEA - Román Torres (caution) 90'+3'
LINEUPS & STATS
Seattle Sounders FC - Stefan Frei; Cristian Roldan, Chad Marshall, Román Torres, Nouhou Tolo; Osvaldo Alonso - captain, Gustav Svensson, Nicolás Lodeiro, Clint Dempsey (Tony Alfaro 90'+1'), Jordan Morris (Henry Wingo 87'), Will Bruin (Joevin Jones 76')
Substitutes not used: Tyler Miller, Brad Evans, Aaron Kovar, Harry Shipp
Total shots: 13 (Dempsey/Lodeiro, 4)
Shots on goal: 6 (Dempsey, 3)
Fouls: 15 (Seven players, 2)
Offside: 2 (Lodeiro/Bruin, 1)
Corner-kicks: 4 (Lodeiro, 4)
Saves: 5 (Frei, 5)
Orlando City SC - Joe Bendik; Jonathan Spector, Scott Sutter, Donny Toia (Victor "PC" Giro 84'), Tommy Redding; Matías Pérez García (Luis Gil 64'), Cristian Higuita, Antonio Nocerino, Kaká - captain; Giles Barnes (Will Johnson 74'), Carlos Rivas
Substitutes not used: Josh Saunders, José Aja, Servando Carrasco, Hadji Barry
Total shots: 10 (Higuita/Rivas, 2)
Shots on goal: 6 (Rivas, 2)
Fouls: 15 (Higuita, 4)
Offside: 2 (Sutter/Rivas, 1)
Corner-kicks: 4 (Kaká/García, 2)
Saves: 5 (Bendik, 5)
POST-MATCH QUOTES:
SOUNDERS FC HEAD COACH BRIAN SCHMETZER
On the emotions after the match:
“It feels like a loss. The guys put too much into the game to allow a couple silly lapses in concentration get us to that point. We should have been able to close the game out earlier, so it feels like a loss.”
On Nouhou’s first career start:
“Yeah, he played well. You saw what he brings – he’s got good speed, good size. He wants to play. He’s got determination. It was good. I was happy with it.”
On the moments prior to Orlando’s goal:
“As a team, when you’re getting to that stage in the game, you need to get the balls out to the corners and keep possession in their half of the field. Make sure you get everyone goal-side and keep everyone in front of you if you’re defending. We couldn’t do that. We had some free-kicks there and we had to get it out in the corner to kill the game. On the play, the ball somehow gets behind us, Román [Torres] makes the foul and that sets up the goal for them. You’ve got to keep the ball in front of you – you can’t let it get behind you.”
On the foul and the set play:
“They scored the goal so you can second guess and say, ‘Yeah the tactical foul was not correct.’ Who knows if the guy would have dribbled past Román, if someone would have stolen the ball from him or he would have scored himself. You can’t talk about that. But I can talk about you have to make sure it’s life-or-death in the penalty box, and certainly Kaka is a world-class player on the ball. But that’s no excuse to allow one or two guys open for a free header inside your penalty box.”
On Will Bruin:
“He played well again tonight. He played very well tonight. We’ll make decisions and we’ll try to get the right team out there.”
On Nico Lodeiro:
“I thought the setup of the team was okay. I thought we could have finished the game a little earlier. We didn’t have to leave it at 1-0. We had chance to make it two or three. Nico was a big part of making some of those plays and I thought he had a good game today.”
On what it will take to put teams away:
“We are going to have to continue to work on our attacking movements. We are going to have to work on our mentality – we talked about how it’s life-or-death defending, but it’s also life-or-death on the attacking side of the ball, as well. We did a lot of work with the forwards, and we will continue to do that. They are of that quality where something’s going to break for us. Hopefully how goalscorers… once they start scoring a few goals, a lot of that stuff takes care of itself.”
SOUNDERS FC FORWARD WILL BRUIN
On this feeling like a loss:
“Yeah, 100 percent. We had multiple opportunities to score two, three that we just didn’t do. That seems to be a recurring problem for us, but I think when we get that first game going where we score two or three, it’ll start clicking.”
On if there’s a lack of belief amongst the goal scorers:
“I’m opportunistic and always think I’m going to score. I don’t doubt that and don’t think that’s a problem. I think we have to have that killer mentality in the box and that conviction. When you’re around the box, be opportunistic and shoot. Put balls across the frame. We don’t need to pass it into the goal essentially. We just need to get that killer instinct out. I don’t necessarily think it’s a belief against scoring, I just think we kind of need to force it to happen.”
On what he saw on his goal:
“I knew Nico played in a great ball and I knew it was going to skip a little further so I tried to get my body on [Scott] Sutter before he could get to the ball. I bumped him enough to kind of throw him off. When you’re in the box, calm down and kind of see it a little slower… and I was going to go far post, but pulled it back across near at the last second.”
SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC GOALKEEPER STEFAN FREI
On if this feels like a loss:
“It is a loss. I feel like it is a lost two points at home – it’s as simple as that.”
On if his teammates were playing little too loose in the stoppage time:
“You know they’re going to throw the kitchen sink at you so maybe we have to be a bit smarter. We give up a silly free kick and wasted a couple precious seconds up top by going into the corner and holding off the ball more. Those are all those little things that are going to make a difference. However you do it, you have to do it. We can’t lose two points on the last kick of the game at home.”
On if the previous shutouts at home upper their confidence late:
“I felt good. I thought we had a good game defensively up until that point. Stepping up to guys at the right moment … they have some guys who can shoot from distance. And some very crafty players as well with Kaka and some others. They’re a dangerous team overall. That being said, I thought we did well defensively. Maybe we can put this to bed earlier and get a second goal. Maybe we need to somehow keep the ball out of the net for another 10 seconds. However it happens, we’re going to have to look at this and make sure it doesn’t happen again. First and foremost at home, we have to win those games and then somehow be able to take that form a little bit better on the road.”
On if having a quick turnaround helps:
“It’s obviously a big game and the emotions are going to be high in conference against another good opponent so it’s six points on the line there, if you will. Maybe we look at it as an opportunity that we can go out there and reclaim some points that you gave away at home and get them on the road. Like I said, we have to take care of business at home, but even if you do that, at some point you have to do something on the road. What better way to do it than try to go down there to Portland, who tend to be a good side at home and I’m sure will be up for it, but we’re going to make sure we’re up for it to try and get something out of it.”
On if he’s happy with where the team is at midway through the season:
“Overall I’m happy that we’re in the mix because I don’t think we’ve played anywhere near our capabilities. We’re not in desperation mode like we were last year with a massive hole and almost no light at the end of the tunnel. I think we’ve shown sparks and know what we need to do. Most importantly, we know what we’re capable of and it’s just a matter of really doing it. But am I happy with it? No. I want to be in the hunt for Supporter’s Shield and we’re far from that, so not happy. The goal still remains to make it into the playoffs and we’re still in the mix so that’s okay.”
SOUNDERS FC MIDFIELDER OSVALDO ALONSO
On the match:
“It’s very disappointing. We had the game and lost in the last second. We let it go. We have to be strong and prepare for Sunday.”
On if it’s hard to move on from a result like this:
“There’s nothing to do – it’s a tie. We’ll have to watch video and see what happened, but then focus on Portland.”
On if he felt Seattle was in control for most of the game:
“Yes, I think we had the game. We had our chance and didn’t finish that last bit. We have to focus on the defensive parts and not give away that type of goal.”
On what he thought of Nouhou’s performance on defense:
“I think he did good. He showed he can go forward and defend and attack. He’s a good performer. Nouhou is a young player and I hope we can keep him here.”
ORLANDO CITY SC HEAD COACH JASON KREIS
On the match:
“I’m really pleased for the guys – really, really pleased. I thought we played quite well and the players put a lot into this game. They had a lot of quality and I thought we created enough chances. I was set to be disappointed if we were going to walk out of here with nothing because I felt the guys deserved something. At the end, to get that goal, was really important for the group. I’m really happy for them.”
On if it pleases or concerns him that the team has had to come back so late in the past two games:
“I think it’s pleasing because we’re in and around things often enough in the game that I feel good about the way we play. It doesn’t concern me that it took awhile to score. Seattle is a good team and Seattle also created a fair number of chances against us. The guys on the defensive side were really commited as well.”
On if they made any halftime adjustments to create more dangerous chances:
“Not really. In the first half, I thought we were getting the ball in some dangerous areas, but maybe not making that final pass to get some quality on their goal. But I really thought we got in some nice spots with relative ease so I was pleased with that. I told the guys I thought we needed to continue doing what we were doing because I felt like it would work.”
On Seattle getting quick counters:
“That’s a big strength of theirs with the players that they have. In transition, they like to go forward very quickly and they’ve got guys that make really good decisions when they’re running at you. We knew that was a big strength of theirs and we talked about that before the game. And any time that a team has a lead the length of time that they had it you know that they’re going to be countering and looking for that goal in transition to break our backs.”
On if this result carries extra weight during their current road-heavy stretch:
“For me, it’s not just about the result, but the performance. I think our group now has played pretty well quite a few games in a row in the MLS regular season games. Now to continue to pick up points always helps because as a coach, you can get very tired of telling the team that you’re really happy with the way they’re playing when they don’t pick up points and don’t get results. Now there’s some weight behind that message.”
On his decision to sub in Luis Gil for Matias Perez Garcia:
“I thought Luis could help us in the game. Mati, at his age and what he put in the game on the weekend, is asking a lot for him to start these two matches in a row. And I thought Mati gave us a really solid effort, but was running out of gas a little bit so having some fresh legs in that position would help.”
ORLANDO CITY SC DEFENDER SCOTT SUTTER
On scoring his first goal and his reaction to it:
“It feels great of course, it was definitely a tough, tough game. I think we deserved the point. We had a couple of really good chances that didn’t bounce our way. You got to compliment to the whole group because we fought with all our hearts right until the very end, the last touch of the ball. And we knew it was our last one of the day so everyone went forward. Even I went forward, which doesn’t happen too much so he put in a good ball and I headed it, closed my eyes, and hoped the ball went in and so that’s what happened. We are very, very happy with that.”
On the most difficult part of playing Seattle:
“They are good on the ball. They are a good team, they haven’t been getting the results that they have wanted but they are a team that plays good futbol. They can definitely combine with each other. The goal we conceded was a bit unfortunate from our side I think our side didn’t make the best decision there. It wasn’t an easy game, it took a lot of hard work, but in the end it paid off with a point and we are looking forward to Saturday.”
One the noise level of the stadium:
“Yeah it was loud it’s tough to play, but that’s kind of what you want. It’s not different when we play at home, it’s loud as hell sometimes. It’s not always easy to communicate so you need to do the best you can, shout as loud as you can. Just kind of pays off when you know the guys that you are playing with and I think we are sort of gelling as a team and we will continue on this path that we are on.”
On the last-minute ties of recent games:
“I think I need to shave my hair a quarter bit shorter because I’m getting a bit of grey hairs. It’s not easy for the heart. But that’s just the way it is in futbol you know? You just need to be ready the whole game because it’s not just 90 minutes, it’s 93, 94 minutes. Like I said it’s a really good trait to have in a team, that you just go right till the end, we just need to make sure that we don’t concede in the last minute, but we are happy. We managed to get a last minute draw.”