On the verge of a hard-fought win over first-place Real Salt Lake, the Seattle Sounders thought they had a late insurance goal to seal the result. Unfortunately, VAR spotted a foul in the buildup, the goal was overturned and RSL burst through the opening to grab a 90+9’ equalizer. It was the latest goal the Sounders had ever allowed at Lumen Field.
Earlier in the match, Albert Rusnák had scored his 50th career MLS goal on a well-taken free kick.
Highlights
Stats
Seattle Sounders FC: 1 (0.76 xG)
— MLS Statistics and Analysis 📊⚽️ (@mlsstat) May 30, 2024
vs
Real Salt Lake: 1 (1.48 xG)#SEAvRSL | #Sounders | #RSL | #MLS pic.twitter.com/K5OlJioMON
MATCH SUMMARY
Seattle Sounders FC 1 – Real Salt Lake 1
Wednesday, May 29, 2024
Venue: Emerald Queen Casino Pitch at Lumen Field
Referee: Sergii Boiko
Assistants: Kathryn Nesbitt, Chantal Boudreau
Fourth Official: Ricardo Fierro
VAR: Guido Gonzales Jr.
Attendance: 29,244
Weather: 52 degrees and rain
SCORING SUMMARY
SEA – Albert Rusnák 68’
RSL – Andres Gomez 90’+9’
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
RSL – Bryan Oviedo (caution) 67’
RSL – Matt Crooks (caution) 75’
SEA – Obed Vargas (caution) 87’
SEA – Reed Baker-Whiting (caution) 90’+4’
LINEUPS & STATS
Seattle Sounders FC – Stefan Frei; Alex Roldan, Jackson Ragen, Yeimar, Nouhou; Obed Vargas, João Paulo (Paul Rothrock 90’+3’), Cristian Roldan (Reed Baker-Whiting 74’), Albert Rusnák, Jordan Morris (Josh Atencio 83’); Raúl Ruidíaz (Danny Musovski 83’)
Substitutes not used: Andrew Thomas, Cody Baker, Danny Leyva, Dylan Teves, Sota Kitahara
Total shots: 17
Shots on goal: 5
Fouls: 11
Offside: 2
Corner-Kicks: 11
Saves: 3
Real Salt Lake – Gavin Beavers; Bryan Oviedo (Alexandros Katranis 83’), Brayan Vera, Justen Glad, Philip Quinton (Andrew Brody 83’); Diego Luna (Fidel Barajas 64’), Andres Gomez, Nelson Palacio (Braian Ojeda 64’), Emeka Eneli, Maikel Chang (Matt Crooks 34’); Anderson Julio (Cristian Arango 58’)
Substitutes not used: Zac MacMath, Bertin Jacquesson
Total shots: 18
Shots on goal: 4
Fouls: 13
Offside: 0
Corner-kicks: 4
Saves: 4
Quotes
SOUNDERS FC HEAD COACH BRIAN SCHMETZER
On the if it felt like the game was slipping away:
“Well [Real Salt Lake] obviously [was] throwing everything at us in the last 10 minutes but slipping away, that’s normal, momentum shifts. But how do you break that? How do you break their momentum? It’s by extending one or two possessions in that last 10 minutes. Instead of just clearing the ball, maybe find that pass. I know your legs are tired but open up so your teammate can pass you the ball. There were certain little things that certainly didn’t manifest itself. But I thought we had the game locked down. They were pumping balls in the box, creating some crosses but it wasn’t until that last cross that finally did us in.”
SOUNDERS FC MIDFIELDER ALBERT RUSNÁK
On if he feels good reaching the 50-goal, 50-assist mark tonight despite the loss:
“Probably not right now. I’m sure next week when we’ll be preparing for another game I’ll have different thoughts, but right now is just too soon. It’s frustrating, another game that we take the lead at home where we don’t close it out and it’s kind of a habit that we go up and we stop playing, we start launching balls forward and then we are under it for the last 20 or 30 minutes of the game. You can go as far back as the Philadelphia game, up 3-0, second half, not much and then 3-2 and all of a sudden [it’s] a nerve wracking game. It happened at home against Vancouver, conceded very late. St. Louis, again, we go up 2-0 and it’s just… it’s just frustrating I would say. I’m sure next week when I’ll look at it or in the next couple of days when we have some time off when I look at it, they’ll be some positive I’ll take out of that.”
SOUNDERS FC MIDFIELDER REED BAKER-WHITING
On taking any positive from the goal that was eventually called back:
“I mean, yeah that play as a whole is still a positive. The ref’s decision doesn’t change what we did there so I think being able to get the ball in the back of the net is a good sign for us. But obviously it doesn’t count, the end result didn’t do anything for us. But if we keep putting ourselves in those positions hopefully it will go our way and we can get some more goals.”
