Rotated and rolling again: Sounders slam Sporting KC

SEATTLE – The Seattle Sounders heavily rotated their lineup against Sporting Kansas City with a Leagues Cup semifinal on the road against LA Galaxy looming later in the week. With an XI featuring Danny Leyva at the 10, Snyder Brunell starting alongside Cristian Roldan in the double-pivot, and a fullback pairing of Cody Baker on the left and Reed Baker-Whiting on the right, the Sounders piled on the goals to the tune of a 5-2 win. Danny Musovski started up top and recorded his first MLS hat trick, while Snyder Brunell and Kalani Kossa-Rienzi pitched in with goals as well.

Seattle were on top of SKC early, with the first chance of the game coming within the first minute when Georgi Minoungou was played down the left wing on a throw-in, but his ball across the box was just out of the reach of Musovski. Musovski didn’t wait long to create a chance himself, picking off a pass in the back in the 8th minute, but his touch to round goalkeeper John Pulskamp closed his angle and his shot went wide.

Then in the 11th minute Minoungou played an excellent ball through the area to Kossa-Rienzi who took an initial shot that was blocked by a defender, but KKR was first to his own rebound and hammered a follow-up into the back of the net on a fadeaway finish to open the scoring.

Seattle kept pushing to add to their early lead, but in the 36th minute it was SKC who scored the game’s second goal. Unfamiliarity across the back line played a major factor as Reed Baker-Whiting got caught inside doubling up on a player with a CB, making him late to close Tim Leibold on the wing and prevent a cross, while Mason Toye was able to cruise into the box unmarked to finish and equalize.

With the score level as the first half ticked into stoppage time, Danny Musovski left his first mark on the match. Danny Leyva clipped a pass out to Reed Baker-Whiting on the right wing and RBW hit a dart of a cross towards the six-yard box and Musovski took to the air and put a laser header into the back of the net to give Seattle a 2-1 lead in the first minute of stoppage time that they’d take into halftime.

The Sounders started the second half with the bit between their teeth, and in the 50th minute Leyva and Musovski combined on a corner to make it a 3-1 lead. Leyva sent in an out-swinging corner from the right side that curled in perfectly for Musovski to head home once again.

Kansas City had an answer shortly after Seattle’s third goal, when Daniel Salloi received the ball off of an early cross from the left side and took a touch to try to control the ball but had it come off of Cody Baker, who was tracking his run, and beyond Stefan Frei in the 53rd minute to make it 3-2. Fortunately, Seattle were able to expand the lead again in the 61st minute. Leyva was once again involved, playing the ball from the center out to Minoungou on the left, and Minoungou drove to the end line before cutting it back for Snyder Brunell who provided a simple finish for Seattle’s 4th goal of the night and his 2nd goal in his 2nd MLS appearance.

4-2 wasn’t enough for the Sounders, who continued to push for more. In the 73rd minute Leyva was able to take a touch in the box to keep the ball away from a defender and draw a penalty as the defender attempted to tackle him. Musovski stepped up to the spot and completed his hat trick in the 75th minute, calmly putting his penalty low and in the corner out of the reach of Pulskamp. Seattle still wasn’t quite finished looking for more, as Osaze De Rosario had a pair of great looks that he couldn’t get on frame, but the 5-2 scoreline proved to be the final result.

The Sounders now turn their focus to their Leagues Cup semifinal meeting with the LA Galaxy on Wednesday, August 27.

Lineups

It’s the Youth Game in the stands and on the field today as the Sounders make eight changes from their starting lineup against Puebla. Georgi Minoungou and Kalani Kossa-Rienzi start on the wings in place of Pedro de la Vega and Paul Rothrock, with Danny Leyva starting at the 10 as Jesús Ferreira goes to the bench. Snyder Brunell enters the XI, giving Obed Vargas a break, Cody Baker and Reed Baker-Whiting replace Nouhou and Alex Roldan at fullback, and Jon Bell comes in for Jackson Ragen. Lastly Stefan Frei starts in goal, and Andrew Thomas heads to the bench following his shootout heroics midweek.

Key moments

1 - Chance! Minoungou flies down the left wing and plays a ball across the box that is just out of reach for Musovski on the doorstep.

8 - MISS! Musovski picks off a pass in the back and takes a touch to evade Pulskamp, but pulls himself too wide and hits a shot into the side netting.

11 - GOAL! Kossa-Rienzi receives a ball from Minoungou and has a shot blocked inside the area, but gets his own rebound and blasts it into the back of the net! 1-0, Sounders

16 - Shot! Some slick passing from Seattle sets Roldan up for a clean look from outside the box, but it’s easily caught by Pulskamp.

23 - Shot! Leyva clips a ball over the top to the right wing for Baker-Whiting, who finds Kossa-Rienzi in the box. KKR takes a touch to set up a shot, but it’s blocked.

33 - Shot! Joveljic gets around Bell and runs in at goal, but his shot is dealt with by Frei.

36 - Goal, SKC. Baker-Whiting gets drawn inside and can’t close down the cross from Leibold. Toye makes a central run unmarked and finishes to equalize. 1-1

44 - Chance! Baker plays a smart ball into space on the left for Leyva who drives towards goal but opts to shoot rather than find one of his runners and Pulskamp easily makes the save.

45+1 - GOAL! Leyva sprays the ball out to Baker-Whiting on the right and RBW sends in a perfect cross for Musovski, whose bullet header beats Pulskamp! 2-1, Sounders

HT - Subs. Jackson Ragen and Alex Roldan replace Yeimar and Cristian Roldan for the Sounders.

50 - GOAL! DANNY TO DANNY! Leyva sends in an out-swinging cross, and Musovski smashes it down and into the far side netting! 3-1, Sounders

53 - Goal, SKC. A ball from deep on the left finds Salloi running at goal; Salloi takes a touch that hits off Baker and into the back of the net. 3-2, Sounders

61 - GOAL! Leyva chips a ball over the back line for Minoungou who takes it to the end line before finding Brunell with the cutback pass and Brunell calmly puts it away! 4-2, Sounders

66 - Subs. Jacob Bartlett, Ian James and Shapi Suleymanov enter the game in place of Jake Davis, Jansen Miller and Daniel Salloi for SKC.

70 - Shot. Salloi goes up for a header against Bell and puts his shot just wide while leaving Bell on the ground for a few seconds until play resumes.

73 - Penalty! Leyva receives a pass just inside the box from Minoungou, takes a touch to avoid a defender and gets cleaned out to earn a PK for Seattle.

75 - GOAL! Musovski takes the penalty and nonchalantly sends it into the corner past Pulskamp for his hat trick! 5-2, Sounders

76 - Subs. Stephen Afrifa and Logan Ndenbe come on for Seattle, replacing Tim Leibold and Mason Toye.

78 - Sub. Seattle bring on Paul Rothrock in place of Reed Baker-Whiting.

83 - Subs. Seattle’s final changes come as Snyder Brunell and Danny Musovski exit the game, replaced by Osaze De Rosario and Jesús Ferreira.

88 - Chance! Seattle play a short corner, work the ball around and Rothrock gets played into space before hitting a low cross that De Rosario gets under and skies a shot from close range.

90+5 - Miss! De Rosario does great work to hold the ball up, work his way around a defender and get a shot off, but his shot is scuffed and goes just wide.

Quick thoughts

Making noise in the dog house: Danny Musovski started this game due to his Leagues Cup suspension following his red card against Puebla, which will keep him out of the rest of that tournament. Brian Schmetzer said that Musovski is still in his dog house due to that red card, but his hat trick performance still earned praise. It was the 10th Sounders hat trick in their MLS era, and Musovski was the eighth player to register a hat trick, but that only tells a small part of the story. Musovski has 13 league goals – four away from the club’s MLS record – and 15 goals in all competitions – again 4 away from the club’s all-comps single season record. He’s recorded those 13 league goals in 1,332 MLS minutes, good for a rate of 0.88 goals per 90 minutes. Add his two primary assists and he’s got 1.01 goals+assists per 90 minutes. He’s not just playing well, he’s playing like a dog who finally got off his chain.

The 2nd 10: Albert Rusnák is Seattle’s first-choice No. 10 for good reason, but when he’s unavailable the choice hasn’t been quite as clear. Jesús Ferreira has been the main option in recent weeks, but with Danny Leyva’s performances in that spot as a substitute the primary backup to Rusnák has been more of an open question. Leyva’s performance tonight lends his case even greater credence. He may only have been credited with a single primary assist, but he had a hand in just about everything Seattle did in attack as he racked up a pair of secondary assists and his distribution was key to creating numerous other opportunities, and he won the penalty. More than just his distribution (51/64 passing, 2 chances created) he was a major part of Seattle controlling the midfield, winning 9/15 ground duels and 1/2 aerial duels. Whether it’s as a 10 or part of the double-pivot, Leyva’s making a great argument that he should be on the field more.

Finding another gear: Seattle’s attack struggled in the two games prior, being shutout twice by two teams whose primary focus was to slow the Sounders down against Puebla and Minnesota United. They’d been riding an eight-game streak of scoring 2+ goals each game across all competitions, scoring 26 goals in that span. This game, another win at home, was a return to that goalscoring form with a roar. They’d been finding ways to shift through the gears against quality competition, and against SKC they were able to do it again as they repeatedly shut down the visitor’s responses and close out the game with goals. To do it with a heavily rotated lineup should only provide a boost for the side as they prepare to face the Galaxy.

Notable quote

Brian Schmetzer on the team’s depth: “This has to be one of the deepest squads that we’ve had at this franchise since I’ve been here. ... we’ve got depth, but ... that team knows how to play. Those players that don’t get consistent minutes understand what we want to accomplish."

Player spotlight

Snyder Brunell made his first MLS start and his second appearance in the league, and scored his second league goal. Beyond the goal, he had the best pass completion rate in the game (95%, completing 40/42), went 2/4 on dribbles, 2/2 on long balls, and won 8/13 duels.