Match Data
SUMMARY
Seattle Sounders FC 4 - New York Red Bulls 2
Sunday, September 15, 2019
Venue: CenturyLink Field
Referee: Allen Chapman
Assistants: Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho, Nick Uranga
Fourth Official: Thomas D. Snyder
VAR: Tim Ford
Attendance: 37,722
Weather: 63 degrees, cloudy and chance of rain
SCORING SUMMARY
SEA - Jordan Morris 2’
SEA - Nicolás Lodeiro (Jordan Morris, Cristian Roldan) 23’
NY - Aaron Long (Michael Murillo, Bradley Wright-Phillips) 27’
NY - Kaku (Daniel Royer, Marc Rzatkowski) 67’
SEA - Sean Davis (OG) 83’
SEA - Nicolás Lodeiro (Cristian Roldan, Saad Abdul-Salaam) 90’+4’
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
NY - Aaron Long (caution) 12’
NY - Michael Murillo (caution) 26’
SEA - Jordy Delem (caution) 38’
NY - Bradley Wright-Phillips (caution) 76’
SEA - Cristian Roldan (caution) 89’
LINEUPS & STATS
Seattle Sounders FC - Stefan Frei; Kelvin Leerdam, Kim Kee-hee, Xavier Arreaga, Brad Smith; Gustav Svensson, Jordy Delem (Víctor Rodríguez 66’), Cristian Roldan, Nicolás Lodeiro - captain, Jordan Morris (Joevin Jones 85’); Raúl Ruidíaz (Saad Abdul-Salaam 90’+2’)
Substitutes not used: Bryan Meredith, Emanuel Cecchini, Harry Shipp, Luis Silva
Total shots: 15 (Svensson, 4)
Shots on goal: 6 (Lodeiro, 2)
Fouls: 8 (Three players, 2)
Offside: 1 (Ruidíaz, 1)
Corner-kicks: 9 (Lodeiro, 8)
Saves: 4 (Frei, 4)
New York Red Bulls - Luis Robles - captain; Rece Buckmaster, Amro Tarek (Tim Parker HT), Aaron Long, Michael Amir Murillo; Marc Rzatkowski, Sean Davis, Cristian Casseres Jr. (Josh Sims 39’), Daniel Royer, Kaku (Alex Muyl 81’); Bradley Wright-Phillips
Substitutes not used: Ryan Meara, Kyle Duncan, Omir Fernandez, Tom Barlow
Total shots: 10 (Long, 3)
Shots on goal: 6 (Long/Royer, 2)
Fouls: 6 (Wright-Phillips, 2)
Offside: 2 (Royer/Rzatkowski, 1)
Corner-kicks: 5 (Rzatkowski, 3)
Saves: 3 (Robles, 3)
SOUNDERS FC HEAD COACH BRIAN SCHMETZER
On the game overall:
“What I want to say is - number one, I want to just enjoy this moment because I think the team performed very, very well. I think the guys understood, you know we’ve kind of been looking at the standings and watching teams you know that are fighting for playoff position, lose games, and the challenge for this group today was to take that challenge in their own hands and come out with a good performance and three points and I believe that was the case. They did everything that we asked them to do and I’m very happy about that and I’m going to enjoy this moment. But it’s a little bit of a sad day for me, because I understand that there were some people leaving, I understand the conflict, you know, and I don’t want that to affect the performance of the team and so the last thing I’ll say on this topic is, look I’m an ECS member, I’m a guy that fights for the team, there’s a lot of guys here that, this is an issue that I hope that both sides can find a solution, because I don’t like to see that end of the stadium empty. I think we have the greatest fans, the best fan support, maybe not numerically because of Atlanta, but this club is the relationship between the fans and the players, and I don’t want that to stop. So that’s what I want to say on that.”
On New York’s goals and defensive performance:
“Well, what we talk about, what we message is to be a hard team to beat, not giving up soft goals, not sure that I would call the goals soft but there are certain objectives there are certain defending skills, tactics, however you want to call it, blocking crosses, you know, when a second ball, goals are scored on a second ball. So you end up giving up a corner kick or a free kick wide and then the ball comes back out and then we reset, do you step high enough, as you step do you where the guy you’re supposed to mark is, so there is a little bit of both of those things in there, a little bit of individual, a little bit of tactical stuff that we will obviously continue to address because, look, Zlatan scored a couple of goals on us, we’ve given up a couple of other goals like that so you know overall defensively, I thought we were ok, but you know certainly we don’t want to make it a habit of giving up 2 or 3 goals, especially at home.”
On Jordan playing the left side:
“We’ll look at it, we have to reintegrate Victor Rodriguez into the team so Jordan was pretty effective first game of the year I think he got a couple goals or a goal and an assist, so he can play both sides of the field, we’ll take a look at that and we’ll make a good decision.”
On his concern over losing the lead in past few matches:
“It is concerning, very concerning actually and you know, ok so Mark asked a question about how the goals manifested themselves and all that sort of stuff and it’s not just, you’re not just looking at the defending side of the game, it’s like in that first 15 minutes of the second half, we needed to control tempo of the game, some of our possessions that we lost or we were afraid to play and you know it was you know I think it was half and half, you can’t always blame the defenders for giving up goals, you gotta spread the responsibility to both sides of the ball, and I think that what we’re going to try and do and look at is to figure out a way that we message the group and figure out a way to give them the tools to when they go up 2-nothing, how do we change tactics, what are we doing next, what’s the next phase of our game and that’s what us coaches were talking about on the sideline as that second half was unfolding.”
On Morris’ performance and recent form:
“Well it certainly, we talk about it internally, you know, and maybe I might have mentioned it to him, you know, he’s scaring people. I mean he’s scaring defenders. I mean, when he collects the ball, whether it’s out wide on a touch line or in the little pockets in midfield, and he turns and he starts running, guys are afraid of him. So, it helps, because then the defense starts backing off and Raul gets more space, and Nico when he has the ball at his foot and can play the ball into Jordan into space, I mean it’s been really effective for the entire group.”
On Víctor Rodríguez’s performance:
“Good, I mean the expectations were there just to you know get him a feel for the game, a speeded game, the tempo of the game, but then you know, I know it was a deflected goal but you know, he and Brad had a good partnership early on in the year and you know we’ll keep building minutes on him and make sure that he’s ready for the playoffs.”
SOUNDERS FC GOALKEEPER STEFAN FREI
On the game overall:
“Yeah, we got three points, so the end result was good; a bit frustrating that we made it difficult for ourselves. We have to be better in possession because you can’t defend, defend, defend, defend, defend and then we get the ball and then keep giving the ball away within two to three passes. It’s going to be difficult to defend. You can’t be doing it for 90 minutes straight. There needs to be a relief, and we struggled finding that today. We are a high pressing team, maybe we have to adapt a bit. Change our strategy a little bit. Maybe go in behind and have them chase as we are turning around and maybe get some throw ins or something, give us a break or something in the back. It’s a wide open game and that’s not really going to win us this trophy and we need to find more control and today we didn’t do that but in the end we got three points.”
On being able to change the way the team plays with four matches left:
“We need to. Every game is it’s own beast, you come in with a gameplan and you know what the other team is going to do and then you try to do your thing but then there needs to be changes made but you need to change the adapting, you can’t just say, ‘Oh, we will just keep on going and pray that we score more goals,’ - that’s how we got in this game that’s how we got with the LA Galaxy and that’s not going to work.”
On Jordan Morris:
“Great, I mean great. I know confidence important for players up top so hopefully he has some confidence and we need to keep finding him behind. That’s one of his strengths. At times we could have found him a little bit more, but happy he found the back of the net.”
SOUNDERS FC FORWARD JORDAN MORRIS
On his recent run of good form:
“I think for me it’s just that some things are just bouncing my way. I feel like there have been times in the past where I have been doing similar things and it just hasn’t quite bounced the same way. For me it’s just always using what I think are my abilities and whatever I can do to make the team better but just trying to be dangerous when I get the ball has been my mentality.”
On possibly seeing the game differently now:
“I don’t think so. I don’t think so, to be honest. Like I said, in the past [things bounced differently]. For me it’s just trying to build off what I’m doing, what the team’s doing and get better every day.”
On how he’s feeling in recent form:
“I just am trying to come in every day and work hard and keep that thinking. In the past maybe I’ve been bouncing around positions and now I’ve kind have been staying in one. Trying to master that one position is something that has been helpful. It’s a lot of similar responsibilities and every once in a while I’ve been on top but trying to master this position is what’s been helpful.”
SOUNDERS FC MIDFIELDER VÍCTOR RODRÍGUEZ
On being back with the team:
“I’m really happy to be back with our fans and am really happy to be back. I wanted to say thank you to the staff and the fans too for being super and I’m really happy today.”
On the fans reception to his return to the field:
“[Good]. It’s always a little bit hard when you come back from a long injury, but you know that the teammates help me a lot. We need to keep going and Wednedsay we have a key game, I think with the fans we try to win.”
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NEW YORK RED BULLS HEAD COACH CHRIS ARMAS
On the game:
“It’s disappointing for sure. We knew Seattle was a good team and it’s a tough place to play and we’d have to be at our best. It’s a strange one because we have three guys who have to go off for injuries and nothing that was planned – we can talk about that. To see the guys go down two- nothing, you’d say that’s not what we needed. A set piece goal on the first one that looks like a hand ball. Jordan Morris’ arm goes flying back, but is it what we needed? Probably not to go down a couple of goals, but to see our guys fight back, to stay in it, to stick with each other makes us proud and we’ll build from that, we’ll take from that. Every game is a playoff mentality. We came on the road trip for points and we’ll go after Portland.”
On the substitutions New York had to make:
“Like I said, it’s a strange one because Amro [Tarek] gets the start tonight and he’s asking to come off with about 10 minutes left in the first half with an ankle injury. Cristian Casseres, who’s been in such good form, goes down and takes a knock to his knee in a collision with Brad [Wright-Phillips]. We thought Brad got pushed into Cristian, but Cristian has to come off. And then in the second half, we’re ready to make another move and Kaku asks to come off with calf tightness and cramping. This is part of it where you have to adjust, but it was unexpected and the rest is history.”
On what the message was at halftime:
“We talked a little bit tactically because we went from the 3-6 to a 4-2-3-1. We had to talk a little bit about how we wanted to press out of that and press a little bit higher in the second half, but understand when we’re in a midblock how to defend out of that. Then that we had to stick together, one goal at a time. With the ball, there were some things we talked about. And to not get caught up and get distracted with the referees. We got a little bit distracted in the first half. In playoff-type games, you can’t waste any energy and time doing that. A little bit tactically, a little bit about the new formation and then about what it would take to make a push.”
On if he liked what he saw from the team in the second half despite the own goal:
“It was a good response out of the locker room, but I think what you got to see was belief. The guys have taken a lot. They’ve endured a lot and it’s not easy when you work as hard as these guys do and they stick together like a real team does. When you’re making a push and against the run of play there’s a deflection, that’s deflating. It’s not easy. It’s not easy for any of us. Again, I’m proud of the way the guys stick together and I’m proud of the way they go after games. We put them in a difficult game. And the last goal is almost irrelevant, but the guys made a good push.”
NEW YORK RED BULLS MIDFIELDER SEAN DAVIS
On today’s game:
“It was an exciting game, I think, after a poor start on our part, the players’ part. I thought we bounced back really well. I thought we had a lot of good moments in the game. I thought we were able to create a lot of chances. We clawed back into the game. It is an unfortunate poor play on my part that leads to an own goal. That is unfortunate, but we have to bounce back and turn the page quickly. We have a big game on Wednesday. You know the effort from the guys was fantastic to come back into the game and obviously I’m disappointed in that one play.”
On the second half play:
“I thought we were in full control. I thought we did a really good job of limiting their attack. We were really organized, hard to break down. A lot of great individual plays on both sides of the ball. It is unfortunate to come away without any points.”
On the team’s formation for the game:
“You know, I think our formation at first caused them a lot of issues. We were finding really good spots on the field. They were not sure how to quite deal with it, and then, you know, unfortunately Cristian [Casseres Jr.] gets inured. We revert back to our old 4-3-2-1 and Josh [Sims] comes into the game and does well. So it’s nice when you can have different looks like that, that can keep them unbalanced. Again, a lot of positives, but unfortunate not enough to walk away with three points.”
On playing Portland Wednesday:
“I think we just have to stick together. I think that is the most important thing. It is not an easy place to play; neither of these places is. You know now more than ever we have to rely on each guy, stay unified. Ithink the team spirit is great and I think that is going to show this week.”
NEW YORK RED BULLS DEFENDER AARON LONG
On today’s game:
“It was a good at times. I think we had a very slow start. Going two-nil down to a good team in their building is never easy. To claw back into it and to give up an unfortunate third goal, and then we had to push the game. There were good moments.”
On moving forward quickly and looking to Portland:
“Portland is coming up quick. We wanted to come on this trip to the West Coast and we wanted to come out with points, so it is a good opportunity for us. We know if we get three points there it would be a great trip for sure. So we will put this behind us and look forward to a win.”
On the team’s current position:
“We are not secured. Anytime your playoff spot is not secured, there is going to be that feeling. It is nothing that we have not dealt with before in the past so we are ready.”