If you’re willing to look hard enough, there are positive signs hovering around the Seattle Sounders. For the second time in four games, the Sounders managed to scrape out a result after giving up the first goal. Aside from a penalty, the defense held strong. Offensively, Jordan Morris built off his previous performance and this time had an assist to show for it (and came a tight offside away from scoring).
There’s even a reality somewhere in the multiverse that the Sounders’ road 1–1 draw with the LA Galaxy on Saturday – their fourth straight – is considered a decent result.
Unfortunately, none of that really counts for much right now. The reality is the Sounders still haven’t won since May 13, a streak that has now reached an almost incomprehensible 12 league matches. The Sounders are now just one of two teams who have not won a match since the World Cup break — Real Salt Lake being the other – and are creeping precariously close to contending for the Wooden Spoon.
It’s not that those positive signs are fake, it’s that the Sounders need a win so badly that anything else is almost irrelevant.
"It’s challenging," Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said when asked how he’s balancing the messaging to players. "I’m pretty pragmatic. We didn’t shy away and pull punches. We need to be better in these areas but they showed a lot of determination to get a point.
"But we have to start collecting wins. The runway is getting shorter all the time."
The Sounders’ saving grace is that the bottom of the Western Conference playoff race remains stubbornly wide open. Even after going winless for more than four months, the Sounders still control their own playoff destiny.
Despite slipping to 14th place in the Western Conference, the Sounders are only two points behind ninth-place San Diego FC and are only seven points behind the Colorado Rapids for seventh. The Sounders have two games in hand on both teams and play the Rapids next week.
For any of that to matter, the Sounders have to actually start winning games, though.
"That’s the trick," Sounders midfielder Paul Arriola said after he scored his first MLS goal in almost exactly two years. "At some point we have to turn performances into points. We are inching closer to that and we’re putting pressure on ourselves.
"You can look at it in a positive light or negative light but it doesn’t change anything. A point is a point and we have to find ways to win games. We really have to lock in."
The Sounders’ season will effectively be decided over the course of the next four games, during which they’ll make up those games in hand. After the Rapids, they’ll play three games against three of the West's worst teams. Real Salt Lake are the only team to have claimed fewer points (3) since the World Cup break than the Sounders; Minnesota United have just one win in their past 14; and Sporting KC are on pace to have on of the worst seasons in MLS history.
Nine points from those four games has to be considered the absolute minimum the Sounders can claim and still hold any reasonable hope at making the playoffs.
To get those points, Schmetzer reminded two veterans — Cristian Roldan and Morris – that he needs them to regain their old form.
Morris, to his credit, responded with probably his best performance of the season. But the Sounders need more.
"We’ve displayed our grit, our determination — winning on the road is hard — but I had to make an example of some senior players," he said. "We have to get those guys to make some plays so we can turn draws into wins."
