Winners & Losers: Loons 1, Sounders 1

Kind of a weird game, wasn’t it? The Sounders never felt on their game and it took an absolute rocket blast from Cristian Roldan to get the point from this game. The Sounders definitely had the chances in the second half to win this one, but such is life.

Winners

Quiet game from Ozzie

Going to be honest, I was a bit nervous earlier today about the prospects of playing against Ozzie Alonso. I definitely thought that he was going to be a massive influence on this match, but it turns out that he just wasn’t really involved at all. The narratives were there for him to score the winner for Minnesota or for him to get sent off with a red card, but he was quiet all match. He completed 27 out of 27 passes, but those were mostly in his own half and they were pretty much all sideways passes.

Roster health

After a couple of weeks of spotty injuries and having to rely on depth, the Sounders returned five injured players to their 18 after only being able to name 17 players in their roster last week against LAFC. Chad Marshall and Victor Rodriguez returned to the starting lineup and Will Bruin and Raul Ruidiaz made appearances off the bench. While it’s been a frustrating last few matches for the Sounders, things are definitely looking up.

Saad Abdul-Salaam

Another aspect of the Sounders’ depth was tested against Minnesota because Kelvin Leerdam picked up a red card last week against LAFC. Saad Abdul-Salaam started at right back and had a solid 90 minutes deputizing for Leerdam. I don’t think SAS pulled up any trees or anything, but I wouldn’t necessarily be worried if he had to play extended minutes at RB in the future.

Losers

Fans of Oasis

As you may know, United fans have adopted the tradition of serenading the players with Oasis’ hit ‘Wonderwall.’ They only do it after home victories, though. And who doesn’t love an off-key rendition of 1990s hits? Well, visiting fans probably.

Left side shutdown

The Sounders’ bread and butter in attack is going down the left side of the field through Nico Lodeiro, Victor Rodriguez, and Brad Smith. You know this, but unfortunately, so do opposing MLS teams. There’s enough data out there for other teams to use and game plan for the Sounders attack. The Loons also happen to have Romain Metanire, who is turning into a very, very good right-back in MLS.

It’s pretty hard to attack when a team is overloading the right side of their defense.

Perfect record against Minnesota and Adrian Heath

Before this match, the Sounders had won every match they played against Minnesota and Adrian Heath, dating back to Heath’s time with Orlando. Well, that’s not the case anymore. Oh, and that means the Sounders have officially drawn or lost with every team in MLS besides FC Cincinnati.

Now it’s your turn. What are your Winners & Losers?