Realio’s Ratings: Sink or swim

Are we sailing or drowning? In one of the most frustrating ways possible, Seattle split the points in their midweek home match, earning a 3-3 tie against the visiting Colorado Rapids. This was another match where the Sounders cruised to a 3-0 lead, and it looked to be smooth sailing on a hot evening. Seattle was in the cockpit and controlling the play. Then, tired bodies and a fragile mental state meant this dominant team was suddenly struggling for long stretches, allowing two penalty kicks (that’s four in four days, are you kidding me?) and an eventual tying goal. After one soft penalty and then another, the Sounders appeared to tiredly look around for anyone else to carry them, with pathetic little help from the bench. There is no excuse for dropping points when you are up 3-0 in the second half of a home match. For as good as the first halves have been in the last two games, the second halves have been infuriatingly worse. This issue absolutely must be fixed.

High Tide: Again we saw what an activated and energetic midfield could do, with players buzzing around, making play after play. They could have had even more goals, as Seattle missed at least three big chances. 

Low Water Mark: And just like that, the Sounders’ hopes took on water and there was nobody to bail them out. The constant blunders and self-inflicted bad decisions might be somewhat attributed to fatigue, but that doesn’t fully explain the collapse. 

Goalkeeper

Andrew Thomas – 5 | Community – 5.9

Thomas is getting time with Stefan Frei out, and needs to limit mistakes and let the defense in front of him work. He had six saves, a number of which were acrobatic and game-changing. He also got a bit overzealous in this one and the team paid for it. 

High Tide: Big saves in the 37th and 56th minutes showed the reaction ability needed to play at this level. 

Low Water Mark: Impetuously charging out and missing a challenge in the 52nd minute was a terrible choice, conceding Seattle’s second penalty in mere minutes. There was no need to make this play, and it shows the drop off from Frei’s decision-making is still vast. 

Defense

Jonathan Bell – 5 | Community – 5.3 (off 79’ for Baker-Whiting)

Bell was solid in the first half, but as the team started to struggle, he did as well. Constantly chasing the play in the second half, even up goals, showed a lack of defensive game state understanding on the entire team. While he looked better than when he plays centrally, he was still not strong in positional defense, often being out of sorts with his teammates. 

High Tide: In the 37th minute Bell showed a strong defensive moment, and he sporadically offered vertical passing. 

Low Water Mark: Dribbling around and unnecessarily playing with the ball in the back in the 22nd minute was frustrating to see. Left back is a gaping hole for Seattle right now with no one playing the position well. 

Jackson Ragen – 7 | Community – 6.1

Ragen was again massive, adding 10 passes into the final third as examples of how excellent his forward progressive passing is. He added six defensive actions and was a consistent fulcrum for Seattle possession. 

High Tide: Ragen earned an assist by winning a fantastic aerial in the 43rd, then expertly finding Albert Rusnák wide open in the middle. When opposing keeper Zach Steffen went on a walkabout, Albert finished into the open net. 

Low Water Mark: With the midfield struggling to keep up, Ragen attempted to help progression but had a lousy choice for a central ball in the 69th minute, which was unnecessarily dangerous. Arguing with the ref in the 83rd earned him a yellow card, so he’ll miss this weekend’s game. 

Yeimar – 7 | Community – 6.9 (off 46’ for Kee-hee)

Yeimar returned and instantly showed what we’d been missing defensively. While his distribution is not the best, his physical and quick defense erased almost all of Colorado’s attempts in the first half. He had 10 defensive actions in 45 minutes and was awesome. 

High Tide: Any time Colorado tried anything in the first half on his side, they got YEIMAR’d. Welcome back, Yeimar. 

Low Water Mark: Subbing him out was the beginning of the downhill slide. 

Alex Roldan – 7 | Community – 6.2

Alex moved to the right and combined well, getting forward more and leading the Sounders with four key passes. Any one of them could have been an assist, as Roldan was dealing crosses and through balls in active winger play. 

High Tide: When Seattle was cooking in the first 50 minutes, a lot of the transition was through Alex, who continued his excellent season with a great 42nd minute cross to Rusnák (missed) and sending in Moose in the 46th (also missed). 

Low Water Mark: Alex faded as Seattle faded, later in the match. 

Defensive Midfield

Cristian Roldan – 5 | Community – 5.9

Many have worried about the workload of the two center mids, and it was readily apparent that Cristian was tired midway through the match. He still was a massive part of the Sounders success, leading the team in tackles and controlling play with 100 touches. Unfortunately, it was his mis-touch that gave Colorado some hope via the first PK conceded. As Cristian faded through the match, so did Seattle’s control. 

High Tide: When Seattle was flowing in the first half, as usual it was through Roldan. This was when the majority of his 11 passes into the final third came, as the Sounders had one-way traffic toward Colorado’s goal. 

Low Water Mark: Cristian has been an ironman for the team, but it’s clear he’s reached his limit with this insane schedule. It showed up both as a lack of midfield push in the second half as well as some crucial decisions not executed cleanly. 

Obed Vargas – 6 | Community – 6.4

Obed was part of an aggressive first half and fading second half, with the partnership in the middle showing wear and tear after the intermission. When cooking, Obed was all over the offense, with three shots, a key pass, and a pass that deflected in for the opening goal. When cooked, Obed jogged passively behind the play as Colorado attacked the exhausted Seattle middle over and over. 

High Tide: A signature of a high-functioning Sounders offense is advanced play from Vargas. In the first half we saw that, with Obed going diagonal to the right wing and popping up in the box in the 17th minute for a “shot” that deflected in. Most spectacular was an over-the-top pass to Jesús Ferreira in the 20th minute that got Seattle a 1-v-1 (missed). 

Low Water Mark: Obed was tired, and his impact was nearly non-existent in the second half. He still jogged around, but his touches weren’t clean, and he didn’t cover nearly as much space as before, providing gaps and stressing a shaky defense. 

Attacking Midfield

Paul Rothrock – 5 | Community – 6.3 (off 79’ for Kent)

Paul’s 74 percent passing and a single blocked shot showed a steep drop from his creative nexus in the last match. He seemed to be struggling to integrate back to the movement of Danny Musovski while managing the increased defense needed on the left.

High Tide: After being only tangentially involved with the one-way traffic from Seattle in the first half via some nice crosses, Paul was one of the few Sounders showing something after minute 50. His 67th minute turn in the box created a massive moment and nearly rescued the match for Seattle. 

Low Water Mark: Forced to help defend more on the left, Rothrock wasn’t as effective as usual against Colorado. 

Albert Rusnák – 8 (MOTM) | Community – 7.8 (MOTM)

Rusnák was awesome against Colorado. He had four shots, three key passes, and added five defensive recoveries. He did miss a big chance, but nearly everything else he did was magic, especially while Seattle was running downhill in the first half. Usually subbed out, Albert was running harder than anyone else late, so he may not be as available this weekend, although if he can play the 8, it’s probably worth a look. 

High Tide: Once again, it was Rusnák doing the offensive creation and doing it well. He found Alex in the 7th minute for a chance. His audacious finish in the 43rd minute came from great awareness and the technical ability to finish through traffic in the open net. And he finished his customary “SnakShot” from the top of the box in the 47th minute. 

Low Water Mark: Putting Seattle up 3-0 should have ended the game, and yet the misses in the 6th and 42nd minutes meant apparently Rusnák needed to score more for Seattle to win. 

Jesús Ferreira – 6 | Community – 6.2 (off 79’ for PDLV)

Ferreira is settling into his role as a playmaker, similar to Rusnák in the opposite channel. Against Colorado, Jesús moved around a lot to find the ball and create, doing so exceptionally well while Seattle dominated. He had three shots on target, added five defensive recoveries, and outside of a breakaway chance that was saved, he likely solidified his hold on the wide right position. 

High Tide: Jesús settled into his right channel and connected and distributed well. His 32nd minute understanding of Albert’s movement was beautiful. 

Low Water Mark: Vargas expertly found Ferreira’s direct run, and Jesús should have finished his 1-v-1 attempt in the 20th minute. A good save and open rebound missed meant Seattle wouldn’t score. 

Forward

Danny Musovski – 5 | Community – 4.7 (off 65’ for Morris)

Danny started this match and didn’t make anyone forget Jordan Morris. He was effective at movement, but there were moments when he could have done more. He ended with three shots on 17 touches and squandered his one big moment. 

High Tide: He was credited with an assist on the second Rusnák goal, which is a generous interpretation of “give it to Bert and get out of the way.” 

Low Water Mark: With everyone around him making stuff happen, Moose was quiet. He had a big chance after Jesús’ breakaway was blocked in the 20th minute, and he flubbed the rebound on an open net. These are finishes he was making earlier this year. 

Substitutes

Kim Kee-hee – 4 | Community – 5.0 (on 46’ for Yeimar)

KKH was a halftime switch for Yeimar and was part of the Sounders Swoon. His 89 percent passing was solid, but only four defensive actions versus nearly one-way traffic against Seattle down his central channel is a big red flag. 

High Tide: Kee-hee had a chance in stoppage time to rescue the match and barely missed. 

Low Water Mark: In the last 90 minutes Kim has played, Seattle has conceded five goals. Yes, everyone was tired but both penalties came down his side, and something isn’t going right when he’s on the field.

Jordan Morris – 5 | Community – 5.5 (on 65’ for Musovski)

Jordan likely wasn’t scheduled to enter the match when Seattle was up 3-0, but after being forced in to chase the match he was just … there. Sounders were too gassed to find him and Morris ran to spaces alone. He only had seven touches in an inconsequential outing.

High Tide: Morris came on and immediately made near-post runs and tried to stretch the field. 

Low Water Mark: With a clearly tired midfield, the distribution to Morris was almost nonexistent. It didn’t help that when he had a breakout, the referee blew the whistle for an injury. 

Ryan Kent – 5 | Community – 4.7 (on 79’ for Rothrock)

Kent came in and looked completely unsure of his role. At times he deferred to Reed Baker-Whiting, who was inexplicably high on the left, other times he attempted to dribble his man and fumbled it away. There was no coherent connection with teammates. 

High Tide: A few nice, direct dribbles showed the skill is there, if it could be cultivated a little. 

Low Water Mark: Maybe subbing guys in for 12 minutes in a deplorable game state isn’t the way to get the best out of Kent. Perhaps he was being saved for the weekend. 

Pedro de la Vega – 5 | Community – 5.1 (on 79’ for Ferreira)

Pedro got 11 minutes plus stoppage time and looked great for that short stint. He won all four of his duels, dribbled aggressively, and brought needed energy as Seattle hung on. 

High Tide: Pedro forced a yellow card after a spirited dribble through multiple people on a counter attack, and he consistently surged into the attacking third with little support. 

Low Water Mark: His 86th minute move was great. His immediate pass directly to a Rapids player was not. 

Reed Baker-Whiting – 5 | Community – 4.7 (on 79’ for Bell)

Reed came in very late and lost both his duels. It was unclear what his role was: was he supposed to defend the result or attack for more? He looked unsure where to go on a few occasions. A ball magnet, Reed had 21 touches in a few minutes. 

High Tide: His 17/17 passing was clean and helped to hold on.

Low Water Mark: Begging anyone not named Alex to come in and play outside back without struggling on defense and giving up penalties or red cards. Bueller? 

Referee

Lorenzo Hernandez – 3 | Community – 2.5

It took Hernandez about a half to get into his groove. The first half wasn’t great, with many missed calls and much rough play allowed, but it was consistent. As the second half wore on, there was an immediate change with many more whistles and big calls. With less than 20 minutes to go, Hernandez found his groove, relishing the chance to hold his proud yellow cards high. He showed eight in total. Congrats, my dude. 

High Tide: A cleanly played and refereed first half had only five total fouls called. 

Low Water Mark: What even was that second half? This ref was on camera more than any actual player. Eight cards after the 70th minute? For perspective, that ratio over the full match would have been about 40 yellow cards. What a joke. Luckily Obed was too tired to wave his arms around, or he would have been randomly sent off. 

Colorado Rapids MOTM

As per usual, Djordje was at the center of most of the good soccer things for the Rapids. He scored their first from the penalty spot, then assisted Darren Yapi with a cushioned lay-off on the match-tie-er. Good for him or whatever.

Upcoming: Is San Jose good? Who knows! Is Seattle?