SEATTLE — The Seattle Sounders have made resiliency and perseverance a hallmark of the club, it’s right there in Brian Schmetzer’s trademark description of his players as “tough kids.” So it’s maybe too on brand that while wearing the new Orca Kit, a nod to the club’s mid-90s era, the Sounders have so thoroughly embraced the ethos espoused in Chumbawamba’s 1997 classic Tubthumping: they get knocked down, but they get up again, you’re never gonna keep them down.
Coming off of an incredibly frustrating 3-3 draw against the Colorado Rapids in which the Sounders gave up a 3-0 lead at home to settle for a single point, Seattle found themselves trailing the San Jose Earthquakes 1-0 in the 26th minute at Lumen Field on Saturday evening.
The opening goal came seemingly out of nowhere after the Sounders had taken control of the game, with Kalani Kossa-Rienzi and Yeimar both getting beat out wide before Preston Judd got a slight advantage over Jon Bell to poke the ball home at the near post. Suddenly it looked like the Sounders were embracing a different part of Tubthumping for the second time in a week, “pissin' the night away."
Fortunately Danny Musovski didn’t waste much time getting the Sounders level. Musovski worked to press Earthquakes goalkeeper Daniel into a somewhat loose clearance that Pedro de la Vega was able to win and immediately play forward into the path of Obed Vargas who laid it off for Albert Rusnák to then cross in to Musovski who headed it home in the 28th minute. It was an immediate answer, and exactly what the Sounders needed. It wasn’t the only time Seattle would get a quick and necessary response, either.
Musovski scored his second goal of the game in the 54th, and San Jose got an equalizer 10 minutes later after Vargas was called for a handball around 30 yards out. Andrew Thomas saved the initial attempt by Judd off of Cristian Espinoza’s free kick, but Chicho Arango put away the rebound in the 64th minute to equalize. That score only stood for 5 minutes, though, as Pedro de la Vega notched the winner on a solo effort that ended with a nice finish in the 69th minute.
The result salves some of the wounds, but it’s impossible to ignore that for all that the Sounders have scored nine goals in the last three games, they’ve also allowed seven in that span.
Andrew Thomas pointed to the fact that 4 of those 7 goals allowed in that span have come from penalties, arguing that the Sounders aren’t giving up much from open play, but that stat is a bit of a double-edged sword as it also highlights the fact that so many of Seattle’s wounds are self-inflicted. The penalties have largely come from guys trying to make plays, but for the most part they haven’t been plays that really needed to be made.
The same goes for the stretch of four consecutive MLS games in which the Sounders had a player sent off – a stretch that has fortunately come to an end, as Seattle have now made it through two whole games with a full allotment of players on the field – where the red cards, even if they were second yellows, tended to be a product of poor judgement or decision making. Too often of late the Sounders have been the ones knocking themselves down. They’ve repeatedly been able to get back up again, and that’s commendable, but it would be better not to need to have been knocked down in the first place.
Seattle obviously aren’t at fault for every fall or scrape, though. Amidst a season already plagued by a variety of absences, particularly through injury, the Sounders just haven’t been able to catch a break. Ahead of the Columbus Crew game João Paulo picked up a season-ending knee injury, then at the end of that game against the Crew Stefan Frei suffered a concussion in a collision that has kept him off of the field during the three subsequent games. Against the Earthquakes Jordan Morris suffered a shoulder injury that will likely keep him out at least until the end of September.
The Sounders have picked themselves up after each of those setbacks, and for all the frustrations and struggles they’re undefeated in five games since returning to league play from the Club World Cup, having won three and drawn two while scoring 12 goals and allowing eight.
I get knocked down,
But I get up again,
You’re never gonna keep me down.
It’s in the club’s DNA, they’re tough kids, but hopefully the Sounders can learn from their mistakes and keep their footing a bit better down the stretch. There’s a path available for them to climb higher than their current 4th place position in the West, but they can hardly afford to make that path any more challenging than it already is.
