The Seattle Sounders moved into a playoff spot for the first time this season, jumping into No. 9 spot in the West with a 2-1 win over St. Louis City on Saturday. The Sounders got an own-goal forced by a Cristian Roldan cross and then added an insurance goal through a Jordan Morris breakaway, before holding on for dear life over the final 20 minutes or so.
The Sounders will next play first-place Real Salt Lake on Wednesday with a chance to move up as high as seventh.
Highlights
Bonus Jingle Bells content
You know what time it is!!
— Seattle Sounders FC (@SoundersFC) May 26, 2024
Jingle Bells: STL Edition 🎶🛎️ pic.twitter.com/gWm93YtNcB
Stats
St. Louis City: 1 (1.33 xG)
— MLS Statistics and Analysis 📊⚽️ (@mlsstat) May 26, 2024
vs
Seattle Sounders FC: 2 (1.26 xG)#STLvSEA | #AllforCity | #Sounders | #MLS pic.twitter.com/WswVVCmFEK
MATCH SUMMARY
Seattle Sounders FC 2 – St. Louis CITY SC 1
Saturday, May 25, 2024
Venue: CITYPARK
Referee: Lukasz Szpala
Assistants: Matthew Nelson, Ricardo Ocampo
Fourth Official: JC Griggs
VAR: Carol Anne Chenard
Attendance: 22,500
Weather: 73 degrees and clear
SCORING SUMMARY
SEA – Own Goal (Kyle Hiebert) 66’
SEA – Jordan Morris (Albert Rusnák) 69’
STL – Tomas Totland (Eduard Löwen) 82’
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
STL – Indiana Vassilev (caution) 35’
STL – Njabulo Blom (caution) 39’
STL – Chris Durkin (caution) 49’
SEA – Kalani Kossa-Rienzi (caution) 80’
SEA – Yeimar Gómez Andrade (caution) 85’
LINEUPS & STATS
Seattle Sounders FC – Stefan Frei – captain; Alex Roldan (Paul Rothrock 87’), Yeimar Gómez Andrade, Jackson Ragen, Cody Baker (Reed Baker-Whiting 61’); Cristian Roldan, João Paulo (Kalani Kossa-Rienzi* 78’); Obed Vargas, Albert Rusnák, Jordan Morris; Raúl Ruidíaz (Danny Musovski 78’)
Substitutes not used: Andrew Thomas, Stuart Hawkins, Danny Leyva, Sota Kitahara, Dylan Teves
*Tacoma Defiance player on Short-Term Agreement
Total shots: 7
Shots on goal: 1
Fouls: 9
Offside: 0
Corner-Kicks: 1
Saves: 4
St. Louis CITY SC – Roman Bürki; Kyle Hiebert, Joakim Nilsson, Tim Parker, Tomas Totland; Chris Durkin, Njabulo Blom (Aziel Jackson 70’); Célio Pompeu, Indiana Vassilev (Nökkvi Thórisson 57’), Rasmus Alm (Eduard Löwen 70’); João Klauss
Substitutes not used: Anthony Markanich, Samuel Adeniran, Joshua Yaro, Akil Watts, Benjamin Lundt, Hosei Kijima
Total shots: 24
Shots on goal: 5
Fouls: 14
Offside: 0
Corner-kicks: 6
Saves: 0
Quotes
Brian Schmetzer
On moving into a playoff spot: “We mentioned it to the group. They knew about it. It’s more important the team starts to play better. Not as consistent as we’d like to be. Scoring two goals on the road gives you a good chance of winning.”
On Pedro de la Vega’s absence: “We’re just going to see what he’s like for Wednesday. We elected to go with home games. He’s game to game. We’re going to get him out there as quickly and safely as possible.”
On halftime changes: “We could have done a better job of finding Jordan in first half. I thought he had some good movements on the left side. His goal came from a more central position. We talked about that at halftime. We wanted Jordan to come inside. There were little tactical adjustments at halftime. He had a cool finish.”
On closing out the game: “The kids that came on, Kalani did a good job, Musovski, Reed. They were a little unlucky not to get a goal at the end. Our luck is changing.”
“We’re a team that always attacks. Musovksi could have made it 3-1.”
Looking ahead to RSL: “There’s momentum building but RSL is a good team. We have to back up a good performance with another good performance against RSL.”
On the play of the young players: “Reed is going to be a starter in this league. Kalani should be signed to a contract. Rothrock has battled through a bunch of circumstances. Cody Baker started tonight and did an admirable job. The kids are performing.”
Jordan Morris
On moving into a playoff spot: “It gives us a lot of confidence. The first goal is to make the playoffs and go on a run from there. It feels good to be there. We jumped St. Louis. That’s a good first step. We’ll enjoy this, but we’re not where we want to be. It’s a good start but a long way to go.”
On his goal: “That’s a big strength of mine. I try to get behind teams. I don’t create enough of those. As a winger you need to be wide in moments but you have to be goal-dangerous. You need runners in behind. The ball Albert put in was perfect. Burki is a big presence so I was happy. But it was the buildup play before the goal. Great ball from Albert. We’ve been talking about trying to link up. It was good to see that happen.”
On how the team closed it out: “This is a difficult league every game is going to be a battle, especially in a place like this. We need to be better at closing out games. We sometimes drop too deep. If we can close out games by keeping the ball or scoring a goal. You take lessons from each game. To get three points is difficult so we’re happy.”
Cristian Roldan
On the feelings after the win: “This league is about momentum and capitalizing on momentum. We know how difficult it is to win on the road. We talked about one chance to score a goal. One bounce goes your way then some great combination play to score a goal. And the momentum shifts. That’s the story of our season, the story of our league. It’s hard to dominate for 90 minutes. Credit to St. Louis for fighting back. We need to do better at closing out games. We closed out not in the best way, but these are three points that we’ll look back and no one will talk about how we closed out the game.”
On the nervy end: “It’s the story of our season. We don’t like to make things easy. We make things difficult by conceding possession, conceding crosses, letting them win second balls. They did a good job of putting the ball in box. From a player’s perspective, we need to do a better job of closing out games. It’s going to be important when we’re fighting for points and playoff spots.”
On the mood heading into the next game: “I’m very happy with the results and using many players to get results. The players are feeling confident and feeling part of the team. It’s good to have confidence and hopefully we can use the success of this week against RSL because we’ll need that.”
On the halftime tactics: “At halftime we talked about getting more runs in behind. Being aggressive in our press, 4-1-4-1 at times. Getting the ball in front of the box. Those things are really important for manufacturing goals. Also it was our second wind. It’s tough to come on the road on short rest and halftime can refresh you. The last 10 minutes of the first half was our best 10 minutes and we rode that momentum into second half.”
