Sounders vs. FC Dallas: Highlights, stats and quotes

What should have been a chance to pad their point total instead turned into one of the most disappointing homestands in franchise history after the Seattle Sounders gave up a late goal to settle for a 1-1 tie with FC Dallas on Wednesday. The tie left the Sounders with just one point in three consecutive games at home, two of which were against two of the league’s worst teams.

Fredy Montero scored a 72nd minute goal to seemingly put the Sounders on track to break out of their doldrums but a 91st goal by Franco Jara sealed their fate.

MATCH SUMMARY

Seattle Sounders FC 1 – FC Dallas 1

Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Venue: Lumen Field

Referee: Fotis Bazakos

Assistants: Nick Uranga, Kevin Lock

Fourth Official: Joshua Encarnacion

VAR: Daniel Radford

Attendance: 31,628

Weather: 84 degrees and clear

SCORING SUMMARY

SEA – Fredy Montero (João Paulo) 72’

FCD – Franco Jara (Nkosi Tafari) 90’+1’

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY

SEA – Brad Smith (caution) 87’

LINEUPS & STATS

Seattle Sounders FC – Stefan Cleveland; Alex Roldan, Xavier Arreaga, Shane O’Neill, Yeimar, Jimmy Medranda (Brad Smith 60’); João Paulo, Cristian Roldan, Kelyn Rowe (Nicolás Lodeiro 87’); Raúl Ruidíaz, Fredy Montero (Will Bruin 73’)

Substitutes not used: Spencer Richey, Ethan Dobbelaere, Reed Baker-Whiting, Danny Leyva, Josh Atencio, Abdoulaye Cissoko

Total shots: 16

Shots on goal: 6

Fouls: 11

Offside: 1

Corner-kicks: 3

Saves: 2

FC Dallas – Jimmy Maurer; Bressan, Ryan Hollingshead, Nkosi Tafari; Facundo Quignon, Edwin Cerrillo (Andres Ricaurte 76’), Paxton Pomykal (Freddy Vargas 78’), Ema Twumasi; Jesús Ferreira (Bryan Acosta 66’), Szabolcs (Jader Obrian 66’), Ricardo Pepi (Franco Jara 76’)

Substitutes not used: Brandon Servania, Matt Hedges, John Nelson, Phelipe

Total shots: 10

Shots on goal: 3

Fouls: 13

Offside: 2

Corner-kicks: 5

Saves: 5

SOUNDERS FC HEAD COACH BRIAN SCHMETZER

On the sloppy play at the end of the game leading to the goal:

“I would open that up to not just what Fredy [Montero] said, but controlling tempo. You’re up one-nothing at home, more possession, not possession playing the ball backwards to your goalkeeper because you can play forward. Guys in those forward positions need to want the ball. I would say that finishing goes along with that. Finishing another chance at the end to make it two, when’s the last time we scored two goals? I like to think it’s a team sport, what I saw at the end was a team that just needed to do a little bit better in all phases, and I need to do a better job of giving them the confidence to play and possess the ball at one-nothing and get them to understand that it’s not all about defending. You’ve got to be able to possess the ball. Like Fredy said, go up in the corners, waste time, all that. Sometimes I think our team is too honest.”

On what the positives of the match are:

“The positives are we created a lot of chances. The positives were they put energy into the game as always. The positive was getting [Nicolás Loderio] back into the field. The positives were [Stefan] Frei warming up with the goalkeepers before the game. The positives were Cristian [Roldan] coming back. The positives were [João Paulo’s] play, I thought Kelyn Rowe had a good game. I thought there were plenty of positives for the games. But it feels like a loss.”

SOUNDERS FC FORWARD FREDY MONTERO

On if he feels the team is getting tired:

“I don’t think so, we need to have more possession when we have those key moments in the game. We scored a goal, tried to waste time. Move the ball from side-to-side in order to make the other team [even more] tired. But I don’t think physically we look more tired than them. Even though they made a few substitutions in the as well.”

On what they key is to finishing chances:

“I believe that if we score a goal in the first ten minutes in the game when we’re creating those chances that’s going to open the confidence as Cristian [Roldan] was telling us earlier. We are senior players here and I believe that you have these moments in every season it’s about less talking and more action. I know the boys are hurt, the boys are not happy with this result, but we will move forward with more energy than this game because Seattle deserves to bounce back, and I know that this group of players are going to fight until the end to win more games here at home.”

SOUNDERS FC MIDFIELDER CRISTIAN ROLDAN

On what is causing one point in home three matches:

“Well, it is about regaining our confidence towards the goal. It is always very important to be confident when you are close to moments where you can score goals, and we have to go back into a situation like that. But it is part of soccer, soccer is a tough sport and we always have to keep trying and keep trying, coming back and try regain that confidence in front of goal and being able to start getting wins.

On having Nicolás Lodeiro back on the pitch:

“In terms of [Nicolás Lodeiro] he brings leadership to the locker room. Quality on the field, something that we have been lacking is that final pass, that final shot. So hopefully Nico can bring that for us. But it’s been a long time for Nico to be away and he’s normally on the field, probably one of the most sustainable players that we see so it’s great to see him back on the field, we are happy for him because I know he misses it so much.”