Sounders vs. Nashville SC: Highlights, stats, quotes

Coming off a resounding win over Motagua in the Concacaf Champions League, the Seattle Sounders came out looking very flat against likely Western Conference title contenders Nashville SC on Sunday. The Sounders looked fine defensively — aside from an obvious error late — but were totally punchless going forward. The good news is that it can only get better.

MATCH SUMMARY

Seattle Sounders FC 0 – Nashville SC 1

Sunday, February 27, 2022

Venue: Lumen Field

Referee: Alex Chilowicz

Assistants: Ian Anderson, Chris Wattam

Fourth Official: Malik Badawi

VAR: Geoff Gamble

Attendance: 30,013

Weather: 49 degrees and rain

SCORING SUMMARY

NSH – Aníbal Godoy (Randall Leal) 80’

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY

SEA – Xavier Arreaga (caution) 18’

SEA – Nouhou (caution) 90+4’

LINEUPS & STATS

Seattle Sounders FC – Stefan Frei; Alex Roldan, Yeimar, Xavier Arreaga (Danny Leyva 89’), Nouhou; João Paulo (Léo Chú 65’), Obed Vargas (Kelyn Rowe 75’), Cristian Roldan, Albert Rusnák, Jordan Morris (Fredy Montero 75’); Sam Adeniran (Nico Lodeiro HT)

Substitutes not used: Stefan Cleveland, Jackson Ragen, Abdoulaye Cissoko, Dylan Teves

Total shots: 10

Shots on goal: 2

Fouls: 13

Offside: 1

Corner-kicks: 8

Saves: 3

Nashville SC – Joe Willis; Walker Zimmerman, Daniel Lovitz, Eric Miller, Dave Romney; Aníbal Godoy, Sean Davis (Jack Maher 89’), Dax McCarty, Randall Leal (Alex Muyl 81’), Hany Mukhtar (Ake Armoud Loba 81’); C.J. Sapong (Teal Bunbury 71’)

Substitutes not used: Alex Muyl, Bryan Meredith, Tah Anunga, Ethan Zubak, Luke Haakenson, Taylor Washington

Total shots: 10

Shots on goal: 4

Fouls: 11

Offside: 2

Corner-kicks: 1

Saves: 3

POST-MATCH QUOTES: SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC 0 – NASHVILLE SC 1

SOUNDERS FC HEAD COACH BRIAN SCHMETZER

On what the impact of not having Raúl Ruidíaz:

“Look, Raúl [Ruidíaz] is an important player for us. Very important player for us. But what I will also say to you is that last year we didn’t have Jordan Morris, we didn’t have Nicolás Lodeiro for many parts of the year, and the team was still ok. So, your question is a good one, but it is a team sport, Will Bruin is coming back, he will be available for Real Salt Lake and that will help us. And Fredy Montero can still score goals. And we can still create more dangerous attacks. I thought Léo [Chú] came on and did a good job today. So, we will find ways to compensate for Raúl.”

SOUNDERS FC GOALKEEPER STEFAN FREI

On what he saw on the goal:

“We were just talking about it. Sometimes when opponents have a chance and we dodge a bullet and make a save it’s almost like the same thing you have when you face corners you know? I think guys are a little bit ‘what just happened?’ and mentally you space out a little bit. And maybe it was a moment where we needed to boot that ball up the field as far as we could so we would have just a split second to regroup because it seemed like that, we tried to clear the ball and we were a little bit disorganized. And I think a guy was able to essentially run through us on the left side and we left the back post open as well so it’s one of those situations when you’re feeling that pressure mounting and you just dodge one that’s when I think you’re mentally most vulnerable just to switch off and I think that’s kind of what happened a little bit. It’s something to learn for sure.”

SOUNDERS FC MIDFIELDER CRISTIAN ROLDAN

On what Nashville did defensively that hindered Seattle:

“Yeah, that’s an organized team, they are very cohesive in the way they play. They have three work horses in the middle that shift from side to side and the back four cover a lot of distance to be fair. They are a cohesive group, a group that plays well on the low block. And we saw that today. We didn’t get too many opportunities to run in behind the back line because of the way they play. It’s always frustrating to play a game like that, but at the same time I didn’t think that we played very well. I felt that we were lacking a little bit today.”