The scoreline might suggest this was a blowout, but Brian Schmetzer insisted that this was a much tougher match that it looked. Either way, the 3-0 win over LAFC on Friday leaves the Sounders atop the Western Conference.
MATCH SUMMARY
Seattle Sounders FC 3 - Los Angeles FC 0
Friday, September 18, 2020
Venue: CenturyLink Field
Referee: Joseph Dickerson
Assistants: Cameron Blanchard, Mike Rottersman
Fourth Official: Brad Jensen
VAR: Timothy Ford
Attendance: Closed Door
Weather: 64 degrees and light rain
SCORING SUMMARY
SEA - Nicolás Lodeiro (penalty) 29’
SEA - Nicolás Lodeiro (penalty) 33’
SEA - Raúl Ruidíaz (João Paulo) 82’
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
LAFC - Jose Cifuentes (caution) 54’
SEA - Xavier Arreaga (caution) 63’
SEA - Nicolás Lodeiro (caution) 71’
SEA - Yeimar Gómez Andrade (caution) 84’
LAFC - Andy Najar (caution) 90’+4’
LINEUPS & STATS
Seattle Sounders FC - Stefan Frei; Kelvin Leerdam (Miguel Ibarra 88’), Yeimar Gómez Andrade, Xavier Arreaga, Nouhou; Cristian Roldan, João Paulo, Joevin Jones (Alex Roldan 71’), Nicolás Lodeiro, Jordan Morris (Shane O’Neill 87’); Raúl Ruidíaz (Will Bruin 90’)
Substitutes not used: Trey Muse, Stefan Cleveland, Handwalla Bwana, Josh Atencio
Total shots: 11 (Lodeiro/Ruidíaz, 3)
Shots on goal: 7 (Lodeiro, 3)
Fouls: 14 (Gómez Andrade, 3)
Offside: 0
Corner-kicks: 5 (Lodeiro, 5)
Saves: 2 (Frei, 2)
Los Angeles FC - Pablo Sisniega; Latif Blessing, Dejan Jakovic, Eddie Segura, Diego Palacios; Francisco Ginella (Eduard Atuesta HT), Jose Cifuentes (Danny Mosovski 69’), Mark-Anthony Kaye; Brian Rodriguez (Adrien Perez 69’), Bradley Wright-Phillips (Andy Najar HT), Diego Rossi (Christian Torres 87’)
Substitutes not used: Kenneth Vermeer, Jordan Harvey, Mohamed El-Munir, Bryce Duke
Total shots: 11 (Rossi, 3)
Shots on goal: 2 (Rodriguez/Rossi, 1)
Fouls: 16 (Blessing, 5)
Offside: 3 (Three players, 1)
Corner-kicks: 6 (Rodriguez, 3)
Saves: 4 (Sisniega, 4)
SOUNDERS FC HEAD COACH BRIAN SCHMETZER – LINK TO SOUNDBYTES
On the overall thoughts of the “comfortable” game:
“You would call that comfortable? Why would you say it’s comfortable? Did you watch the game? So the first 30 minutes of the second half, I don’t know if we ever got out of our half until like 26 or 27 minutes into the second half when we got a corner kick up the field. Two-nothing is the most dangerous lead in soccer…you know that. That was a challenging game against a good opponent. I am blessed, we are blessed with a killer in Raúl [Ruidíaz] I mean that third goal sunk them, you know. It was not an easy game, it was not a comfortable game, at least I didn’t feel comfortable.”
SOUNDERS FC FORWARD RAÚL RUIDÍAZ (THROUGH A TRANSLATOR) – LINK TO SOUNDBYTES
On his perspective of the game:
“For the game of today we focused on the group, we played great, it was a team that was running in all the lines. We had a great game and I think we deserved this win.”
SOUNDERS FC GOALKEEPER STEFAN FREI – LINK TO SOUNDBYTES
On giving up one goal in the last three games:
“I think what I saw today that I really liked sometimes a clean sheet is something that you put on the goalkeeper, it’s a goalkeeper stat but I think it’s really important that the whole team take pride in it. That last San Jose game we were a bit ticked off that we weren’t able to get the clean sheet and I really like to see that because it means everyone takes pride in that. I think today it was the same thing. When we scored that third goal which now obviously gave us a pretty big chance of winning the game. I think the first response I saw was a bunch of guys looking back saying ‘we are going to get this we are going to get this’. It’s a really good sign that the people as a whole take pride in keeping clean sheets. And not just a dumb goalkeeper stat, if you will. It means that you do it on both ends and that you can bend but not break. It was great today and I love how that’s a team goal, if you will.”