SEATTLE — Whatever struggles the Seattle Sounders endured this year, they never seemed further removed from them than during Saturday’s 5-0 demolition of the LA Galaxy. The Sounders opened the scoring in the 3rd minute on a Chad Marshall header, added a second on an 18th minute goal from Harry Shipp and never really looked back.

By the end of it, they had won their franchise-record sixth straight game, pushed their unbeaten run to nine, tied a franchise-record for largest margin of victory and, probably most importantly, moved into playoff position (even if just temporarily).

It was, to put it succinctly, a very successful day at the office.

Key moments

There aren’t many better ways to start a match than a 3rd minute goal. Marshall’s header off a Nicolas Lodeiro cross was his second in as many games. It was also Lodeiro’s sixth straight match with a goal or an assist.

It only took about 15 minutes before the Sounders extended their lead, this time through Shipp, who continues to shine during this run. Gustav Svensson probably deserves the bulk of the credit on the goal, intercepting a ball and passing it to an unmarked Shipp on a volley for an absolutely wide open look.

The Sounders did seem to let off the gas a bit at that point and nearly gave up a goal right before halftime when Sebastian Lletget picked up a stray pass from Cristan Roldan, but he shot it high.

Perhaps driven by that chance, the Sounders wasted little time adding to their lead early in the second half. Lodeiro drove into the box, watched one defender fall, and then put in a centering pass that Servando Carrasco couldn’t help but deposit in his own net. In his defense, if Carrasco hadn’t gotten to it, Raúl Ruidíaz was waiting to pounce.

From there, the rout was on. Cristian Roldan made it 4-0, easily slotting home a pass from Shipp in the 59th minute.

Ruidíaz finally got his goal in the 67th minute, picking off a pass near midfield, touching it a bit wide to draw out the goalkeeper and then expertly finishing inside the far post.

Ruidíaz had the best chance to give the Sounders’ their sixth, but his open look in the 87th minute went just wide.

Talking points

Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’

• It’s hard to overstate just how different everything about this team feels compared to a couple months ago. Sure, the Galaxy were missing all three of their Designated Players, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and one of their best defenders, but they still had plenty of talent on the field. Certainly, they had enough to keep from getting utterly curb stomped, the way they did here.
• Before the FC Dallas match last week, the Sounders were facing a four-match stretch that seemed like it could define the season. So far, they’ve claimed six out of six possible points with a road match against the Portland Timbers and a home game against Sporting KC to round out the stretch. If they can get at least four points from those two games, grabbing a first-round bye suddenly seems very doable.

Nico’s World Cup

• Lodeiro was credited with two assists and should be credited with creating the own-goal as well. Officially, that’s now six goals and seven assists in the 13 matches since he was left off Uruguay’s World Cup roster. I’m not sure anyone is playing better than him right now. He also moved to third on the Sounders’ all-time assist leaderboard.

Ruidíaz gets his

• Ruidíaz didn’t need to score, but man did it feel like a weight was lifted when he did. He had had a header cleared off the line and had another close range shot go high, and clearly was determined to make the most of the chance he got.

Goals

3’ - Marshall (Lodeiro)
18’ - Shipp (Svensson)
50’ - Carrasco (own goal)
59’ - Roldan (Shipp, Lodeiro)
67’ - Ruidíaz

Lineups

Sounders (4-2-3-1): Frei; Nouhou, Kim, Marshall, Leerdam; Svensson, Alonso; Shipp, Lodeiro, Roldan; Ruidíaz.

Galaxy (3-4-1-2): Bingham; Cole, Skjelvik, Steres; Romney, Kitchen, Carrasco, Feltscher; Lletget; Komara, Boateng

Man of the Match