Realio’s Ratings: Shameful

Some Vancouver fans called it “shameful” that the match would be played, since apparently much of their team got food poisoning in Mexico or something. I didn’t pay much attention to that, but did assume that Vancouver would still have plenty of quality on the field and would play in their very structured system. I was privately hoping for a draw, regardless of personnel. Boy, was that a forlorn hope as the Sounders came out flat, played flatter, and eventually completely capitulated in a 3-0 loss that was close until it really, really wasn’t. The end came after Seattle totally imploded in quick succession for the second match in a row. This time it was two red cards in a three-minute span, forcing the team to play down multiple players and showcasing more fight in their warm up t-shirts than on the field. Seattle limps out of MLS play and into the Club World Cup after getting beaten badly again, this time most shamefully. 

Shameful: Mental toughness is something that comes and goes. Currently, it is light-years away. This Sounders team cannot seem to deal with adversity and completely turns off in disappointing ways when pressed by quality opponents. They lack a true north star tactic, player, or coach and look unfocused and directionless. 

Shameless: Having injuries decimate the back line is hard. It’s distracting to have all this CWC drama, when the players simply want to do their jobs and be fairly compensated for it. Not merely excuses, those things matter, especially when facing quality opposition, where there is little margin for error. 

Goalkeeper

Stefan Frei – 5 | Community – 5.0

It’s hard to blame Frei for any of the goals against, but he’s been picking the ball out of the net a lot lately. Once again, he seems rooted to his line and watching the shambolic defense collapse into his area. He had two saves.

Shameful: If his 43rd minute distribution on one of his few touches was laughable, his penalty kick save “attempt” was a full blown comedy show. I’ve seen LAFC players who are trying to draw a penalty get more distance on their dives. 

Shameless: A 73rd minute save kept the match from getting out of hand even more so than it already was, and it prevented another match where Seattle bled goals in quick succession. 

Defense

Nouhou – 4 | Community – 2.8 (off 52’ via red card)

Nouhou and Jon Bell on the same side aren’t working, and it’s hard to know who to blame. Probably both of them. Nouhou had 87 percent passing, made a lot of smart defensive plays with crucial positioning, and even got forward for some of Seattle’s more dangerous offensive work. But eventually it failed. 

Shameful: What the hell are you doing, dude? Getting beat and taking a yellow is something the team has historically struggled with, but this wasn’t that. This was grabbing a guy who got past you around the neck, giving a clear opportunity to red card you and destroy the match. What insanity. 

Shameless: It’s wild to say, but until the red card foul, Nouhou was playing pretty well, one of the few players showing energy and initiative on offense, albeit without the precision we hoped for. 

Jon Bell – 3 | Community – 3.3 (off 55‘ via red card)

Bell seems to do a lot right. He completes a high percentage of passes. He wins aerials. He even picks out some good vertical distribution attempts. But then there’s the rest of his play, and it’s a complete mess of positioning errors, bad decisions, poor touches, and consistent pressure put on his own defense that boils over. 

Shameful: Even before his red card, Bell was awful. Vancouver smartly forced the ball to him, and for some strange reason, Seattle let that happen. The result was Bell, with his terrible distribution choices, getting the most touches on the entire field before he subbed himself off. Add in his subpar defending and terrible positioning that led to much of the defensive issues, and this was a night to forget. You gotta hope this was a learning moment for the coaches: never play that left side combination again. 

Shameless: Jon’s 93 percent passing meant the majority of the time he aimed at Sounders players. Those passes weren’t into great positions or areas where teammates could do things with them, and they often created turnovers, but they were in the general area of guys in blue. Seattle apparently made a handshake agreement with Vancouver to make Bell the key distributor in the match. 

Jackson Ragen – 5 | Community – 5.0 (off 81’ for Baker)

Ragen has the tools to be a quality distributor on the right, but just because you can do something, does not mean you should. Gone was Nouhou’s coverage behind him, and it’s obvious his partnership with Bell is tenuous. Jackson’s very solid 93 percent passing did include vertical and attacking looks which Seattle desperately needed. 

Shameful: Ragen is so slow on any potential transition defense, and it’s not only his foot speed, but also his reaction time. A better understanding of how to position himself would have helped on plays when he’s not adding value up field, instead of leaving the opposite side out to dry. 

Shameless: Looking forward to Jesús Ferreira in the 3rd minute, Jackson tried to show his teammates that is a viable play to make, but alas, they didn’t learn. He also had a great pass to Pedro de la Vega as Ragen was forced to become a playmaker due to the lack of, oh I dunno, Obed or PDLV or Alex or Albert or anyone getting on the ball and doing those things. 

Alex Roldan – 5 | Community – 4.5

Alex Roldan continues to play on the right and continues to have a lousy connection with Pedro in front of him. He led the team in shots, was clean with 96 percent passing, and controlled the ball, but it was all just … underwhelming. 

Shameful: You almost forgot Alex played in this match, because he did very little after missing an open 2nd minute back-post volley. That isn’t a compliment, especially when he seems entirely incapable of passing the ball to the high-priced DP in front of him with any creativity. 

Shameless: In the 12th minute, Vancouver showed exactly how to create transition moments that Seattle can only dream of. It took fantastic effort by Alex in a 1-v-3 defensive position to stop an early goal. 

Defensive midfield

Cristian Roldan – 5 (MOTM) | Community – 5.4

Cristian tried to do a lot, but also struggled in defensive moments directly leading to goals. He ended with 86 touches and 96 percent passing, added a shot and a key pass, and was essential to what little success was found on either end. 

Shameful: The first goal saw Roldan playing defense on the back line as he is consistently asked to do, except he lost his man, who then scored. Similarly, the second red looked to be his man (albeit after being moved to left defender). C’mon, dude, just do everything and Seattle wins this. 

Shameless: He’s trying to do too much. And when he does that, he runs himself out of position trying to help the stagnant offense. The first red card doesn’t happen if ANY of at least five players understood where Cristian had made his run. Obed of course stands up field, leaving a massive gap. Pedro halfheartedly watches the long ball without pressuring at all. Ryan Kent’s man is behind him pressing Nouhou. Bell is too far up and doesn’t get help with two players he has to deal with. Ragen is slow to recover centrally. It’s a disaster before Nouhou makes a stupid play, and it all happens because the team needs Cristian to be perfect for 90 minutes, every game. 

Obed Vargas – 4 | Community – 4.9

Obed hasn’t looked great for months now, he sort of holds the ball centrally and racks up stats that don’t threaten the opponent’s goal. He ended with 68 touches and 88 percent passing, but somehow fewer passes into the attacking third and less defensive presence than Roldan next to him. Another match with Vargas as a passenger. 

Shameful: I’m not sure what Obed brings to the team right now. Defensively, he leaves gaps that force Cristian into herculean efforts in the middle. Offensively, he refuses to turn to goal and only passes the way he’s facing, which is almost always looking at Stefan Frei. When he recovers defensively, he jogs behind the play to the penalty spot and stands there. 

Shameless: A rare 48th minute pass forward to Nouhou was a tremendous ball. If Vargas made that kind of play more than once a match, it would completely change the Sounders’ transition offense. He followed that pass up with a nice dribble into the box a minute later, as if he just remembered he could do that. 

Attacking midfield

Ryan Kent – 5 | Community – 5.1 (off 60’ for Musovski)

Kent earned another start on the left and looked okay, pushing forward and cutting inside often. He was linked with most of the solid attacks Seattle had, and earned a rare Sounders key pass. He added seven recoveries as there was effort on both sides of the field, without much success. 

Shameful: The promise shown in Ryan’s first few outings seems foolish now. Instead of a dynamic player running downhill at defenses, attacking the goal and laying off easy assists, we have dribbly McTryHard who attempts to take on four guys and loses the ball, chips aimlessly to the far post, or refuses to shoot, instead finding a safe drop to key distributor Jon Bell. 

Shameless: At least he is trying hard in spurts, which is more than can be said for some of his teammates. Especially in the first half, his quick movement and combination created the Sounders’ best chances. Kent tends to choose the best soccer play, regardless of personnel, like playing in Nouhou instead of dialing his own number. 

Albert Rusnák – 5 | Community – 4.8 (off 61’ for João Paulo)

Rusnák had a chance to show he is a legitimate all-star contender, but instead he faded into the background. He earned a few nice shots and was an important release point for a defense under pressure, but Albert didn’t have or use dynamic movement around him. 

Shameful: Rusnák was never a high energy player, but boy, where was the guy ripping off his shirt and throwing it into the stands a few matches ago? Too much ball-watching and being slow to move around the field, at times Albert looked like this was a 95 degree day in Houston. At some point, we need our best players to demand the ball and create success. 

Shameless: Albert had two shots but no key passes, which was a combination of having too few options and the team not playing quick enough to take advantage of the option windows they did have. 

Pedro de la Vega – 5 | Community – 4.6 (off 60’ for Rothrock)

Pedro has to do more. He was not involved in the match, couldn’t get either shot on goal, and brought less energy than the guys who replaced him. He didn’t have an outstanding outing, but still showed a few glimpses that are frustrating. 

Shameful: Once again, the note “watching” showed up for PDLV. He is getting paid way too much to be an observer in the match. It would be great if he did something. Not even demanding the ball anymore, his 39 touches were depressing. 

Shameless: A cool little cut inside and shot, and a nice 1-v-1 dribble showed that Pedro can do these things, but dude, could you do them more than once a match? We obtained these dynamic dribbling wingers, but instead of dynamically dribbling, they stop and pass back to key distributor Jon Bell. Infuriating. 

Forward

Jesús Ferreira – 5 | Community – 4.1 (off 60’ for Kossa-Rienzi)

Ferreira was asked to run up front and be isolated from the team, and so it was. His impact was nonexistent, either from not seeing the ball or being on a different page from his teammates. He looked solid in the few moments he was able to get on the ball. 

Shameful: Sounders forwards are rarely ball dominant, but Ferreira’s 19 touches were quiet. It may be a thankless job to press teams, but you have to do more than make runs and take good defensive angles. Whether it’s dropping back to force touches or find the ball, the great Seattle forwards create more. 

Shameless: Ferreira made excellent runs, but instead of finding him, teammates inexplicably ignored him, or made late (offside) passes, or recycled the ball to get KDJB involved instead of putting Jesús through. He created a key pass from his control, but using him as a direct playmaker was an option Seattle wasn’t interested in. 

Substitutes

(Note: subbing in after two red cards, there’s not much to take from these players.)

Danny Musovski – 5 | Community – 4.4 (on 60’ for Kent)

Danny was thrown to the wolves down two players and responded with 100 percent passing, doing his best in a lost cause. 

Shameful: On came an actual striker after Seattle was down two players, a masterful gambit by the Seattle coaching staff. He responded with 10 touches. Whatever the plan was for Danny, it apparently didn’t include shooting the ball. 

Shameless: Being an attacker down goals and players is a thankless job, and Musovski attempted to run around and be an outlet. He completed his passes and did nothing to show he should have lost his starting job. 

Kalani Kossa-Rienzi – 5 | Community – 5.6 (MOTM) (on 60’ for Ferreira)

KKR came in and again brought the energy lacking from others. He combined this with some intriguing skills. His 63 percent passing showed that his effort was not very refined. 

Shameful: Getting nutmegged in the 79th minute was embarrassing, I’m sure. Probably the most embarrassing thing that happened to the Sounders all night, right?

Shameless: Of all the players who entered, Kalani was the best at both bringing energy and making that energy constructive for the team. He continues to push for actual first-11 consideration after another solid outing. 

Paul Rothrock – 5 | Community – 5.5 (on 60’ for PDLV)

Paul’s time on the field involved running around. He managed 11 touches, but his passing accuracy was a lackluster 60 percent, ultimately falling short of making a significant impact.

Shameful: Effort is great, and it’s needed. Misguided charging around, banging into people and trying hard without any success, then walking behind the play is silly. In that way, this wasn’t so different from most Rothrock appearances. 

Shameless: Paul came in and showed more fight than most of his teammates. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the skill to do more than run a lot and pressure Vancouver. In a game like this, it was a refreshing change.

João Paulo – 4 | Community – 4.5 (on 61’ for Rusnák)

JP came in after the debacle of two red cards and was set up for failure. He took that chance and did what was expected. 

Shameful: With midfield struggles in front of him on the depth chart, João Paulo had a small opportunity to come in and show he could still boss the defensive midfield. He did very little bossing, instead giving up a penalty after being beaten and sliding in recklessly. 

Shameless: Subbing in, down multiple players, and playing central by yourself is a tough task. JP did fairly well at keeping the center position needed to limit the match from getting completely out of hand. Kind of like Cristian usually has to do on his own. 

Cody Baker – 5 | Community – 4.6 (on 81’ for Ragen)

Cody Baker had a touch and completed his single pass attempt. 

Shameless: I forgot Cody Baker was on the team, and seeing him come in to play as the shortest center back in history was kinda fun. 

Referee

Ricardo Fierro – 5 | Community – 3.3

Ricardo “don’t call me Pontiac” Fierro vroomed into Canada and only brought red cards. He got his moment in the sun not once but twice, and got to call a PK to boot. What a highlight reel for this important player last weekend!

Shameful: It’s so hard to know what “good” is from refs anymore. The lack of advantage play and a number of questionable calls going against the Sounders isn’t anything new. It seems like all the big game-altering decisions lately go against this team, and it’s hard to know why. After an extreme lack of justifiable red cards in our favor lately, this guy was ready to give red cards, but not a single yellow? Really?

Shameless: I’d want both those red cards called if they were going the other way. At least he didn’t pull a yellow and then change it to red when he realized that was the worst possible option for Seattle, like other refs have done. 

Vancouver Whitecaps MOTM

The Sounders made it easy for Tristan Blackmon in this one. The Vancouver defender led his side in touches (93), passes (73 of 83), and progressive passes (seven). Those are the numbers of a man unbothered. On top of all that, dude played both passes that precipitated Seattle's red cards (first the switching ball, then the clipped direct ball to meet a well-timed run).

Upcoming: What a depressing way to go into the Club World Cup “break.”