SEATTLE – Through the season’s first two months, the Seattle Sounders have shown they can get results. Although they were eliminated in the Concacaf Champions Cup quarterfinals, they went 3–1–0 in that competition and outscored their opponents 8–4.
In league play, they’ve been even better. At 6–1–1, they have now equaled the most points they’ve ever had through eight games (something they previously did in 2012) and have allowed just four goals in the process.
Yet, there’s also an almost unshakable sense that they still haven’t really gotten out of third gear.
Maybe that’s because of the CCC elimination. Or maybe it’s that, for as well as the Sounders have started, they’re still fifth in the Supporters’ Shield standings and fourth in the Western Conference. It could also be that the underlying numbers aren’t exactly loving the way the Sounders are playing.
Whatever it is, even the Sounders were caught a bit off-guard when they were informed of their club record-tying start.
“I didn’t know that,” Sounders attacker Jordan Morris said postgame when asked about the stat. “It’s early in the season, but a big goal of ours was to be competing for the Supporters’ Shield. To start with all those road games, it’s important for these home games to keep paying that start off.”
The win over FC Dallas was somewhat emblematic of way the Sounders have been playing so far.
Through the first 15 minutes or so, they were struggling to find any rhythm as Dallas’ press kept them reasonably pinned back. But for all the frustration of not being able to create much in the attack, the Sounders also had only given up a couple of shots and only one of those even forced Andrew Thomas to make a save.
It was a similar start to last week, when St. Louis City’s press had also forced the Sounders into some adjustment period.
Once again, the Sounders pounced as soon as they had a chance. On what seemed to be more of a clearance than a pass, Jackson Ragen played Jordan Morris into space on the right wing in the 15th minute. Morris cut it back to the trailing Jesús Ferreira, whose shot from inside the penalty area deflected off a defender and into the goal.
About 15 minutes later, they expanded their lead. This time, Hassani Dotson broke the first line of defense with a pass to Snyder Brunell, who hit a perfectly weighted ball to play Morris in behind. Morris’ first touch seemed to be a little heavy, but it set him up for a gorgeous outside-the-boot finish inside the far post. Just like that, the Sounders went from back on their heels to leading 2–0.
Although Dallas was able to pull one back before halftime on a corner kick – making it 3 of 8 goals across all competitions that the Sounders have conceded on a set piece – and even though Ferreira failed to convert a penalty that would have restored some breathing room, the result never seemed to truly be in question. From their goal on, Dallas only had three more shots from inside the penalty area and none of them caused Thomas much concern.
It has been like that for most of the season. The Sounders weather some sort of storm early in the match, eventually take the lead and then do a quality job of seeing out the result. Notably, that’s something they struggled with at times last year, even though the stats liked the way they were playing a bit more than now. By Expected Points – a stat that weighs expected Goals and expected Goals Allowed against the game-state – the Sounders are over-performing more than any other team.
At the same time, they have now run their home unbeaten streak to 20 games, are 23–5–9 across all competitions since the Club World Cup, and have already claimed 19 points in league play while continuing to juggle lineups. No result in MLS should be taken for granted, and the Sounders are making the most of their opportunities right now.
“Last year we let some points slip late in games and it cost us,” Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said. “Closing out the game was okay. It wasn’t easy, but we were able to close it out.
“At the end of the day, the guys did what they needed to do to secure the three points. I’m very proud of them.”
