Sometimes things just don’t go your way. I think it’s important to say that right off the bat. It’s important to say that the Sounders played pretty well and probably didn’t deserve to lose 3-1. But sometimes things just don’t go your way, in life and in soccer. Especially this year. It doesn’t make it any easier or anything, but it’s helpful to realize flukey things happens. And it feels wild to say that a 3-1 loss to LAFC can even be considered flukey, but here we are.

Bad bounces

I think you probably have to give LAFC credit on the first goal. It was a really great free kick and a good run at the back post, even if Kelvin Leerdam should’ve marked his man better. The other two goals were just absolutely silly. The second goal was a wonder strike from outside the box that went through a crowd of defenders. Maybe the final goal should’ve been flagged offside, but even for Danny Musovski to score that chance things took some weird bounces. Not to mention that Jordan Harvey was basically playing like a second goalkeeper, which leads me to my next point.

Poor finishing

The Sounders just couldn’t finish their chances. They had plenty of them but couldn’t find the back of the net, aside from Nico Lodeiro’s killer free kick. They could’ve probably scored 4 or 5 tonight with slightly better finishing. If things went a little different for Seattle in the first half, they would’ve entered halftime with a 3-1 lead and we’d all be talking about what a dominate performance that was. You can probably excuse just about any of the chances in isolation, but as a whole it’s a bit concerning, especially when it’s Jordan Morris not taking his chances.

Tired legs

I was a bit surprised seeing so little rotation heading into the Sounders’ third match in eight days, with another midweek game coming up. The only change from the Real Salt Lake victory was Brad Smith at left back. I think you saw that sort of backfire against LAFC, especially with Morris and Cristian Roldan. By the 70th minute it looked like the whole team was running in sand (although the goal did seem to give them some temporary life).

LAFC weirdness

Already down four starters, LAFC had to make two subs inside the first 13 minutes. That’s obviously not ideal for them, but it also seemed to throw off the Sounders. It makes it hard to continue a game plan when a team has to make early subs, especially when they have to sub off the subs! That’s not an excuse anyone was using, but just another sign of how weird this was.

Nico is the best

I said at the top that I thought the Sounders actually played pretty well, so it feels weird not talking about that until the fifth talking point, but whatever. Lodeiro was everywhere on and off the ball tonight, combining well with Smith and Morris on the left side.

Oh. And he scored that incredible free kick. That’s up there with the best free kicks in Sounders history.