Seattle Sounders midfielder Danny Leyva recorded more assists in Sunday night’s 5-2 rout of Sporting Kansas City than he had had in his entire seven-year MLS career combined.
Getting a rare start at the No. 10 position in Head Coach Brian Schmetzer’s heavily rotated lineup, Leyva was tremendous on the ball all evening, spraying passes left and right and combining with his fellow attackers to wreak havoc on SKC’s back line. The result was three assists, more than he had previously accrued (two) in 94 career MLS matches.
“The coaching staff gave me the confidence to start in that position,” said Leyva. “That position always carries a lot of weight because your task is to create and try and make the game for the rest of the team.”
Playing in a central attacking role is not something Leyva has done a ton of at the professional level, but he had plenty of experience in that position coming through the Sounders Academy ranks. He originally started as a playmaking midfielder before dropping a line deeper into the double-pivot.
“I felt comfortable there,” Leyva said. “I really enjoyed the game, being able to be in the pockets, receiving there, trying link-up play, especially in the left channel with Georgi [Minoungou].”
Kalani Kossa-Rienzi, who scored the match’s opening goal, echoed Leyva’s sentiments and heaped praise on his teammate.
“The way Danny moves and the vision that he’s got, it’s huge,” said Kossa-Rienzi. “The way we play, it doesn’t really matter if you’re in that [No.] 8 or 10 position, we all rotate. He played really well tonight…I don’t think it really matters if he’s playing deeper or further up the field, he’ll make stuff happen regardless.”
Leyva played a beautiful diagonal ball to Reed Baker-Whiting that led to Danny Musovski’s first of his three goals on the evening before Leyva found Musovski directly from a corner kick five minutes later.
“We have so many dangerous guys on our team and they put in such good service,” said Musovski. “For me as a striker, they make my job very easy…the service has been great.”
Leyva then clipped a ball into space for Minoungou to run into where he set up Snyder Brunell’s dagger. Leyva was also fouled in the box and drew the penalty that Musovski converted to complete his hat trick, an honorary assist with which Schmetzer credited Leyva.
“The first five to 10 minutes was really crucial to give me the confidence to start taking a little bit more risk finding the final balls and a little more risky passes that sometimes don’t come off,” said Leyva. “But you have to look for them in that position to create things and make things happen. I felt more and more confidence throughout the game.”
Leyva and the Sounders did their jobs this weekend and now turn their attention to a massive Leagues Cup Semifinals clash at the LA Galaxy on Wednesday (7:45 p.m. PT; Watch on Univision or MLS Season Pass on Apple TV). Leyva and several other of Sunday’s starters who don’t normally command a lot of minutes are hoping to keep that momentum going and build on this performance the next opportunity their number is called.
“It’s a good moment for all the young guys,” Leyva said, “but we have to not get too high off this moment and continue to work, continue to improve.”
