SEATTLE — Never before had the Seattle Sounders failed to win a game in which they led by three goals. You’d have to go all the way back to 2022 to find a game in which they scored three goals — whether they led or not — and failed to win.
That ability to avoid stepping on bananas peels is now over.
After storming to a 3-0 lead over the Colorado Rapids and looking reasonably dominant in the process, the Sounders gave up three unanswered goals — two of them on penalties that came on consecutive possessions — and were forced to settle for a 3-3 tie on Wednesday.
“It’s frustrating because I feel like if you go three goals up, especially at home, no matter if you end the game with six or seven players, you have to somehow manage to win,” said Sounders midfielder Albert Rusnák, who had two goals and an assist against the Rapids. “We didn’t do that today, so it actually feels like a loss.”
The dropped points would be frustrating regardless of the circumstances. What makes it even more befuddling is that it seems to be part of a pattern. This was the second time in two games the Sounders have led 3-0 and then gave up control, barely holding on for a 3-2 win against Sporting KC.
That game, too, featured the Sounders giving up two penalties, which means the Sounders have already tied the MLS record for most penalties in a three-game span. Going back to before the Club World Cup break, the Sounders have now allowed six penalty goals in six league games, a league record. Only one other team — Toronto FC in 2019 — had surrendered six penalties in six games, but one of those failed to convert.
I suppose we can count it as a bright spot that the Sounders managed to avoid getting a player ejected from the Rapids game. It was the first time in five games the Sounders had avoided a red card. They’ve also been shown at least four yellow cards in all four of the games they’ve played since returning from the Club World Cup. Among the players who was shown a yellow was Jackson Ragen, who picked up a somewhat curious card for dissent. It was his third yellow in four games, only one of which could be deemed “necessary.”
Add it all together, and it feels like there’s been a certain lack of control, composure, mental fortitude, whatever you want you want to call it. The Sounders are repeatedly losing control of matches that seem to be well in hand.
“I think we give the other team momentum by our mistakes,” Sounders captain Cristian Roldan said. “That was the case in Kansas City. That was the case here. Penalties change games. You know when you give a goal like that and then the second one comes so close as well, you give so much life to the other team, and I think that was that’s been the case the last two games.
“It’s something that we need to correct.”
The good news, I suppose, is that for all their struggles and shooting themselves in the foot, the Sounders are still 2-0-2 since returning to league play. They’ve scored nine goals in those four games. Rusnák looks like he is turning into a dark-horse MVP contender; the roster seems to be inching toward health. The Sounders might actually be a really good team if they could stop making unnecessary mistakes.
But these mistakes are not coming from nowhere, and certainly can’t just be wished away, either. All six penalties have been committed by different players and Nouhou is the only repeat offender on the reds. It suggests there’s something more than individual errors.
One possibility is that fatigue is starting to set in. Roldan, for instance, has now played more than 2,300 minutes across all competitions. Since his last game off on May 14, he’s logged 1,080 minutes over the course of about two months. Obed Vargas has played more than 2,200 minutes and hasn’t had a game off since March 22. Schmetzer has found ways to get him off the field a few times since then, but he still has played nearly 1,700 minutes in four months. They’ve been effective at controlling the midfield earlier in games, but that ability has waned as matches wear on and open up.
“We felt like we needed to build momentum,” Schmetzer said in explaining the minimal rotation in the starting lineup. “And, again 3-0, that was the right decision at that moment, and then the game got away from us.”
I understand why Schmetzer is leaning on Roldan and Vargas so heavily. They’ve both been pretty great and might be the best double-pivot in the league. Against the Rapids, Vargas had a goal and should have had an assist. Both of them were all over the field as connectors and disruptors. But they also had moments of sloppiness. It was Roldan’s overly casual attempt to control a poor clearance in the box that led directly to the first penalty and it was his missed tackle that allowed Darren Yapi to squeeze off the equalizing goal. Maybe Schmetzer gets one or even both of them off the field if those penalties don’t happen.
Whether they’re entirely comfortable with the prospect or not, at some point the coaches are going to have to trust Danny Leyva to spell one of them. Leyva isn’t the defender that either of them are, but he is good with the ball would seemingly do fine if he’s paired with a more defensive partner.
Even if Leyva doesn’t prove to be a perfect stand-in, the short-term costs pale in comparison to the blow it would exact if either Roldan or Vargas were to miss an extended period.
The Sounders have shown that, at their best, they can hang with just about anyone. Even when they’re making mistakes, they can still be very competitive. But they’ve also shown how quickly a game can go from under control to spiraling.
