There were no late-game heroics this time for the Seattle Sounders. It was a weird match for a lot of obvious reasons. You wouldn’t be wrong if you said the Sounders were the better team. You also wouldn’t be wrong if you said that Seattle wasn’t at their best. Anyways, here’s five things we saw when the Sounders hosted the Crew.

Raul got going, sort of

Raul Ruidiaz scored a goal. That is an objective fact. You can’t disagree with that. The surrounding context around the goal is where the nuance comes in. He missed a penalty, but actually he didn’t because Columbus’s keeper came off the line. He took the second penalty and put it in the right spot. Look, it’s good that Raul scored. Maybe that’s the only good thing that happened in this match.

It’s also good that he had 44 touches. More Raul is good for the Sounders.

Defense still needs buttoning up

For most of the match the Sounders’ backline did well. Until they didn’t! And when they took a nap on the field, Columbus walked the ball into the net. Things will get better, I hope. Yeimar Gomez Andrade and Xavier Arreaga look like a good pairing. More time for them to gel the better.

Nouhou Nouhou’d

It’s no exaggeration that the game got flipped on its head when Nouhou entered the match. His energy completely changed the way the Sounders played. He won the crucial penalty that tied the game. He created multiple chances.

Going to nail myself to the mast here and say I think Nouhou needs to start next week.

Caleb Porter gets to be happy

The notorious Caleb Porter loves us. He really does. He never stops thinking about us and every time he comes here its the biggest match of his life. Any time he prevents the Sounders from winning, he gets to have the cheesiest smile on his face.

Until next time, Caleb.

Get Roldan comfortable

A lot of the conversations in the comment section of this website during the preseason was about where Cristian Roldan was going to play on the field. Through two CCL games and two regular season MLS games, he’s played every where. The Sounders need to have Roldan settled in a position. Part of that will happen when Nicolas Lodeiro comes back. Hopefully we see that next week.