Sitting in front of reporters following their shootout loss to Minnesota United on Monday, neither Albert Rusnák nor Jackson Ragen seemed too worked up about the result.
Disappointing as the result was — the Sounders now trail going into the second match in a best-of-3 series for the first time ever — they took some solace in knowing that they created plenty of quality chances and did a good job of limiting Minnesota United’s scoring opportunities.
“The game went exactly how we prepared for it and what we trained,” Rusnák said. “This is playoffs, and away from home we created enough chances to score at least a goal. One goal could be enough, in games like tonight, to win it. We have a home game coming up, we’ll prepare for it and watch film and try to improve and win the next game.”
Asked what they learned after falling to Minnesota for the third consecutive time this year, Ragen offered a similarly even-keeled response.
“I don’t know that we learned anything we didn’t already know,” he said. “It’s just about execution. It’s such a results-oriented business but you have to be happy with the process. I’m happy with the way the team played. If it goes to 120 minutes instead of penalties, I think we could have won.”
While it’s tempting to chalk up this kind of talk to “cope”, there’s some sound reasoning behind it.
Yes, the score ended 0-0 after regulation, but that doesn’t mean the first 90 minutes were entirely even.
That the Sounders had 69% of possession should almost be expected — no team in MLS history has played against the ball as willingly as Minnesota United — but what they did with that possession was encouraging. The Sounders fired off 14 shots, 13 of which came from inside the penalty area, generated 2.4 xG and were credited with four “big chances.” Danny Musovski had two particularly glorious opportunities, both off feeds from Jordan Morris. The first set him up on the doorstep, but United goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair was able to get his knee down just in time. The second was a point-blank header off a hard cross that he fizzed high while looking at an open net. Those two chances were worth a combined 1.37 xG.
Defensively, the Sounders held Minnesota to just 1.07 xG and two big chances. Their best look came when Bongokuhle Hlongwane broke in on goal, but shot wide after getting a light shove from Ragen.
Overwhelmingly, those are numbers that tend to lead to much better results.
In their 47 previous games across all competitions this year, the Sounders had only failed to win one game in which they had such a wide margin in xGD — a 1-1 tie with the San Jose Earthquakes — and had never failed to score in a match where they posted at least 1.5 xG. In the 10 other matches where they created exactly four “big chances”, the Sounders averaged 2.5 actual goals per game and had only failed to score one other time.
Coincidence or not, that other time was the previous meeting with Minnesota United, which does create at least some cause for concern. Is there something that Minnesota United is doing that makes it particularly hard for the Sounders to capitalize on their statistical dominance?
Rusnák didn’t seem inclined to believe that.
“Shooting the ball in the back of the next was the only thing missing,” Rusnák quipped when asked if the Sounders needed to do anything different. “I thought we had three really good chances and away from home that’s pretty good.”
Of course, the Sounders still had a chance to win this game in kicks from the spot. They had been on a four-match winning streak in shootouts, dating back to last year when they won two shootouts in the first round of the playoffs.
In last year’s playoffs, the Sounders converted all 12 of their attempts. This time, they went just 2 for 5. The normally reliable Alex Roldan had his saved, while Cristian Roldan and Danny Leyva each hit the woodwork.
While there was certainly some room for second-guessing the shootout lineup — and there’s a reasonable argument that Andrew Thomas should be in goal if there’s another — Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer wasn’t particularly inclined to second-guess that either. Of the five players he selected, only Cristian Roldan has a shaky resume from the spot (he’s now 2 for 6 in his career).
“Penalties are funny,” Schmetzer said. “Last year, we were lights out in our penalty kick shooting. We have practiced for the last two weeks. It was really surprising to me guys are normally lights out just missed.
“Maybe tonight just wasn’t going to be our night.”
The Sounders now face a literal must-win game on Monday. If they play a similar game to how they played in Game 1, there’s plenty of reason to think they can force Game 3.
The Sounders seem to feel as though they have the game plan to do that.
“There’s not much to be corrected to be honest,” Rusnák said. “We’ll watch film and sometimes how you feel isn’t right but we created chances. We knew they’d defend with 11 for 90 minutes. But that’s what we spent doing all week, trying to find solutions and trying to find more chances. We did that. Whether that’s the end product, we’ll correct that and be better next game.”
