Match Data
SUMMARY
Seattle Sounders FC 3 - Toronto FC 2
Saturday, April 13, 2019
Venue: CenturyLink Field
Referee: Allen Chapman
Assistants: Jeremy Hanson, Apolinar Mariscal
Fourth Official: Michael Radchuk
VAR: Kevin Stott
Attendance: 37,722
Weather: 47 degrees mostly cloudy
SCORING SUMMARY
TOR - Jozy Altidore (Alejandro Pozuelo) 11’
SEA - Will Bruin 24’
SEA - Will Bruin (Brad Smith, Nicolás Lodeiro) 66’
SEA - Cristian Roldan (Kelvin Leerdam, Gustav Svensson) 68’
TOR - Jozy Altidore (Alejandro Pozuelo, Laurent Ciman) 70’
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
SEA - Kim Kee-hee (caution) 61’
SEA - Nicolas Lodeiro (caution) 81’
SEA - Víctor Rodríguez (caution) 88’
LINEUPS & STATS
Seattle Sounders FC - Stefan Frei; Kelvin Leerdam, Kim Kee-hee, Chad Marshall, Brad Smith; Gustav Svensson, Cristian Roldan, Jordan Morris (Harry Shipp 86’), Nicolás Lodeiro - captain, Víctor Rodríguez (Nouhou 90’+1’); Will Bruin (Román Torres 79’)
Substitutes not used: Bryan Meredith, Alex Roldan, Jordy Delem, Handwalla Bwana
Total shots: 12 (Bruin, 4)
Shots on goal: 5 (Bruin, 3)
Fouls: 10 (Lodeiro, 3)
Offside: 6 (Bruin, 2)
Corner-kicks: 7 (Lodeiro, 7)
Saves: 2 (Frei, 2)
Toronto FC - Quentin Westberg; Laurent Ciman, Chris Mavinga, Eriq Zavaleta (Jay Chapman HT), Justin Morrow; Nick DeLeon, Michael Bradley - captain, Marky Delgado (Ayo Akinola 85’), Jonathan Osorio (Ashtone Morgan 75’); Alejandro Pozuelo, Jozy Altidore
Substitutes not used: Alex Bono, Richie Laryea, Liam Fraser, Terrence Boyd
Total shots: 9 (Altidore/Morrow, 2)
Shots on goal: 4 (Altidore, 2)
Fouls: 9 (Zavaleta, 3)
Offside: 1 (Altidore, 1)
Corner-kicks: 9 (Pozuelo, 9)
Saves: 2 (Westberg, 2)
Post-Match Quotes
SOUNDERS FC HEAD COACH BRIAN SCHMETZER
On the game:
“It was exciting. The fans got their money’s worth today. We came up against a very, very good team. Seems like they’re back on track. The first goal that Jozy [Altidore] scores is…I would say that’s who they are. If teams don’t put pressure on [Alejandro] Pozuelo then he’s going to make you pay. Jozy’s movement against a three-time Defensive Player of the Year was great and the ball was hit perfectly so we were under it. What I loved about the game and what I loved about our team was…we went down 0-1 to a really, really good side that was feeling like they had some good possession. Then we came back to get three really good goals so that was what was impressive about our team.”
On how satisfying this win is after an unexpected week of weather-related changes:
“The travel to Denver, the lack of a game – that certainly hit all of the players because it wasn’t a normal week. They were frustrated because they didn’t get to play a game. Charters getting cancelled…all of that stuff. What I’d said to them in Denver – adversity, in many ways, is what makes you better. So when we won in ’16 and in ’17 and ’18 with the slow starts and at the end of each of those years we were playing pretty well because what did we learn in those moments of adversity earlier in the year to get us to be a champion or an MLS Cup finalist or the hottest team in the league at the end of year. So I reminded them that our start had been a good start this year and maybe was too easy. Maybe this little bit of adversity would prepare us for this match. And I think you saw a pretty good effort mentally from that group. Because they could’ve said it was a terrible week…they could’ve mailed it in, but they didn’t.”
On Will Bruin:
“I’m not going to ever take Will Bruin for granted. I have had many challenging conversations with him about how he fits within the squad. The underlying thing in every single conversation that I have with Will Bruin and what’s made him now the fifth-leading goal scorer as far as active players are concerned is because he’s all about being an honest guy. He always works and does what we ask him to do so his rewards might not be as many as they were earlier in his career with Houston, but when he does see the field, I know what I’m going to get with Will. I’m always going to get that effort. I’m always going to get that determination to score.”
On the battle between Kim Kee-hee and Jozy Altidore:
“You mean the dancing or the wrestling? Jozy Altidore is a tremendous soccer player and the battle that he has with Kim Kee-hee or Chad [Marshall] or that last battle that he had with Román [Torres] – we have three great centerbacks. He’s a great center forward. Those are some of these small nuances that the fans get to see today. People talk about the build up to the third goal and all of that beautiful stuff, but some of those little nuances in our sport are those individual battles that make the game entertaining.”
On the differences between previous slower starts to this year’s fast start:
“I think it’s a combination of things. The little bit longer prep time because of our playoff exit. I think the team being familiar with each other. I think Jordan Morris’ enthusiasm to get back out on the pitch. I’ve said this – it was the same with Clint [Dempsey] the year before. In 2017 we had a big year from him because he was excited to be back out on the field. You watch that kid play and you can tell that he’s into the game. So familiarity, a little bit longer layoff, Damien Roden being here the entire preseason, Jordan’s spark to the group – I think there are plenty of good reasons, along with the tried and true reasons of Stefan Frei, Gustav Svensson, Cristian [Roldan] and some of the guys who do their jobs and might not get all of the accolades. Cristian scoring the goal today, plus doing all of the defending is paramount to the team’s success.”
On the team being goal dangerous:
“When I say goal dangerous, we have Raul [Ruidiaz], Bruin, Jordan. And Jordan said it himself in preseason that he still wanted to be goal dangerous from the wings. A lot of times you get stuck with your center forwards or your attacking players are playing in the middle of the field and are goal dangerous. Being goal dangerous from the wide positions means Jordan is scoring from here and it also means Victor Rodriguez is creating all sorts of stuff from over here. And Brad (Smith) creating from over here. Being goal dangerous can take many different forms. Scoring goals, yes, we have a good balance because if Will gets going, if Raul and Jordan get goals and then if you sprinkle in a couple from Cristian, Nico [Lodeiro]…the goal count gets higher and that’s good for us.”
On Cristian Roldan’s goal:
“It was important for us for sure because at 2-1 it makes it a little bit more emphatic. Cristian has done a lot of good things for us for many years. It seems like every year he finds different ways to contribute to the squad. He is goal dangerous. He’s scored some pretty big goals for us in the course of his time here.”
SOUNDERS FC MIDFIELDER CRISTIAN ROLDAN
On his performance this game:
“I felt defensively I could have been a little bit tighter on [Alejandro] Pozuelo. It’s a really good team, really good players, guys that can hurt you in one moment. Trying to play my part offensively, you know. We are pretty happy with scoring three goals at home, that’s pretty good odds to win the game.”
On Pozuelo vs. Portland’s Diego Valeri:
“He’s a little different player, Pozuelo can find a pass with both feet. He’s very clever in the way he turns. Valeri is smart with his movements. On the ball Pozuelo is very smart to turn, you know shift his weight and find the final pass. A little bit different. Both are extremely good players.”
On a possible statement win:
“I don’t think so. You know next week will define us. We have three games coming up. We have LAFC away, San Jose home, LAFC home. So three difficult, difficult games. Hopefully we can rotate the squad. For me, if you want to have a statement it’s gotta be that three game week.”
SOUNDERS FC FORWARD WILL BRUIN
On the feeling after scoring two goals:
“For me this game is good. Getting the first goal of the season out of the way and I was able to double it up tonight but I think that’s the hardest part, just staying mentally ready when you have as good of a team as we do it’s gonna be easy to do that.”
On the beginning of the game:
“I think in the beginning we were just kind of feeling it out. You know, for me, I just wanted to stay between the three, so they always have to know where I am.”
On the play of Brad Smith:
“When he gets it out there I’m going to the box because I know he’s putting it in because we got that good relationship. We didn’t connect in the Salt Lake game but I knew we would connect eventually and we got two today.”
SOUNDERS FC DEFENDER KIM KEE-HEE (THROUGH TRANSLATOR)
On battling Jozy Altidore:
“He was a very strong player, this is my first time facing him. I can feel that he was very strong and came out very strong compared to other center forwards. I really enjoyed it and had to come out strong too.”
On what was difficult playing against Altidore:
“Other than screen play, I don’t feel threatened by him. He is a good player. The screen play was good but other than that I didn’t feel threatened or anything like that. I know he scored two goals against us but [Marshall] and I communicated and feel like we played pretty well.”
—
TORONTO FC HEAD COACH GREG VANNEY
On the game:
“It was kind of what we expected. They’re an aggressive team in terms of their running and it’s a difficult place to play. In the first half, defensively, we managed things, but weren’t necessarily doing a great job of controlling things like we wanted to. We were managing just because we had a lot of numbers behind the ball and in front of our goal. We made an adjustment coming into the second half and tried to make things a little more clear. With the five in the back, if you will, there was some lack of clarity in terms of dealing with certain things so we tried to make it a little bit clearer. The goals come off of us not tracking runs coming out of the midfield. When you lose a centerback then the midfield has to track runs. The centerbacks have to be able to read things coming through the midfield and step to them. Everything just has to be a little sharper when you lose that extra player in the back and we didn’t do a good job of that then ended up getting ourselves behind it…Obviously we picked up a goal to get to 3-2 and then a couple chances at the end, but by that time it was a little bit more of a melee in some ways versus a real structured soccer game. It was us throwing some numbers in the equation and trying to get two forwards in front of their goal and they were trying to play on the counter and survive. By that point it wasn’t as pure cut as it started off.”
On the chemistry between Jozy Altidore and Alejandro Pozuelo:
“That’s not our issue for the day and hasn’t been our issue for the last few games. Our issue is we have to not allow goals and make sure we can deal with things and stay in our shape and not chase things all over the field to win it. Those guys are good soccer players. They’re smart soccer players and there’s good chemistry there quickly obviously with Jonathan [Osorio] and those guys around. There are a lot of guys with like-minded ideas philosophically in terms of how they’re trying to play, but it’s how we connect all of the dots, both defensively and offensively that ultimately leads to success. It’s one loss. It’s a tough place to play. We went for it in the end to try and get it back so we’ll learn from it. It’s not the end of the world. It’s a challenging place to play. You just have to take it for what it is and move on.”
On how he’d label this loss:
“I think it’s frustrating. We’re up 1-0 and have decent control of things. They’re a good attacking team so sometimes we’re going to have to withstand some things in the attack and defensively be solid. I thought we were able to find some moments in possession as well, but that faded as the game progressed and then ended up with us defending a little more. Again, it’s frustrating because you get out on top and it’s a game that you want to not give up goals the way we did and you want to try to find the balance of the ball a little bit more and we didn’t in the parts of the field that we wanted. It’s a learn from it moment, take it away and try to be a little more consistent on both sides.”
On the decision to play Westberg in goal:
“Yeah, he’s a new player to our squad and has a lot of experience. He’s a good goalkeeper so we came West Coast and wanted to see what he’d add to our team. Obviously he’s a different kind of keeper than Alex [Bono]. He’s very comfortable with his feet and he’s looking for passes out of the back. He’s picking out spots. He’s a dynamic, athletic goalkeeper so he’s coming off his line quick. He’s just a different kind of goalkeeper so you want to give him a shot to see what he’s going to add to our team to have him ready. And to create competition as well. I think that should be important everywhere.”
TORONTO FC FORWARD JOZY ALTIDORE
On scoring his two goals:
“It was a really good first touch, you just go in the moment when he’s ready to play the ball. I try to go in those moments and make the good movement and yeah, he’s very good at picking out a pass.”
On his early season form:
“It’s good, you try to do what you can to help the team and it’s just disappointing when you don’t win the game in the end. For me I’m past that individual stuff, it’s about the team. That’s the bread and butter for what I’m about.”
On whether it was a frustrating match:
“No, I think we were playing an aggressive team. I thought we were fine and dealt with it fine. Like I said there were points where we just lost our concentration a bit and they have some good players. That’s what happened to us tonight. I’m still encouraged by our performance I thought we had some good stuff out there for some good portions. It just lines us up for a big game next Friday and I think we will be up for it.”
TORONTO FC MIDFIELDER JONATHAN OSORIO
On the overall thoughts of the match:
“[Seattle] connected on their chances and we lost a little bit of concentration and I thought we had a little bit of control of the game. First half we started off great, and then they started to play themselves into the game and we were handling the situations the most part, except for that one bounce. They got a little bit of a lucky bounce on the first goal. And I think the second half we have to do a better job at starting off well. We put ourselves in a hole, there was a span of about ten minutes where we lost concentration and in the end that’s where we lost the game.”