Never let it be said there’s no MLS drama in March.
The Sounders looked ready to settle for their second consecutive 2-1 road loss on Saturday as the game plunged into the twilight of stoppage time. Montreal pressed Seattle’s ability to transition into its defensive positioning in the first half, took a 2-0 lead into the break and again forced the Sounders into a come-from-behind situation. For the second consecutive week, Seattle trailed by two goals after 45 minutes.
This time, though, they left with something.
Will Bruin’s incredible 94th minute poacher’s effort from close range gave the Sounders a dramatic 2-2 draw and the ability to leave a hostile Olympic Stadium road environment with a point in tow. It was an enormous boost after last weekend’s loss to Houston, and it’ll add a bit more punch to Seattle’s home opener this weekend (March 19; 4 p.m. PT; FS1; KIRO Radio 97.3 FM, El Rey 1360am).
Let’s take a look under the hood at three things we learned on Saturday.
This is why the Sounders chased Will Bruin
One of the reasons the Sounders needed Bruin to be Bruin so badly was because they lacked a true off-the-bench poacher. That’s essentially what they hoped Nelson Valdez would be after Jordan Morris emerged as a starter in 2016, but Valdez was too inconsistent save for a flurry of goals late in the season. They needed a true change-of-pace forward with the ability to press center backs and knock in awkward balls in the six-yard box.
And it just so happens that’s Bruin’s specialty.
Bruin’s role was uncertain in the preseason, but it appears we have our answer. In late-game situations, he can provide a secondary striker partnership with Morris at the expense of some width. That piles numbers into the box, and when crosses or batted balls into the box come bounding in, Bruin’s so consistently in position to finish. It’s why he has so many tallies in his career. He’s so good at finding space.
And so it went on Saturday. Bruin was only on the field for five minutes after subbing on for center back Roman Torres in a play for goals. Nine minutes later, with the game seconds from its conclusion, Bruin struck. Just like the Sounders hoped he would this offseason.
The Sounders need to work on transition
Montreal’s game plan wasn’t exactly a surprise. They look to turn possession over quickly with the fleet of three central midfielders and fan quick-fire chances to their wingers and lone forward. This puts a ton of stress on teams’ central guys, which on Saturday meant Osvaldo Alonso and Cristian Roldan. And they got caught out in both occasions on the inability to switch from the possession phase to the defending phase.
This is what’s called the transition, and the Sounders were often too slow to click into it. Of course, when Ignacio Piatti’s the one pulling the strings, that’s easier said than done. Montreal goes from defending to attacking with the immediacy of a lightning flash.
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Montreal’s first goal, scored by Matteo Mancosu, was generated by Piatti off an absolutely brilliantly weighted ball. The Sounders’ midfield was slow to rotate over to Piatti to cut off his space in the central-left channel - San Jose did this masterfully last weekend - and he had the time to pick out a well-timed pass that set up Mancosu to round Stefan Frei and finish easily. The second was again Piatti, although he took it himself this time. He drove forward on a 50-yard run and essentially tied Torres and Chad Marshall into a pretzel in the middle of the field. With the two central defenders left without midfield cover with the team pushing high for an equalizer, Piatti stepped across both and finished past Frei to the near post.
And just like that, it was 2-0.
This will most likely be a bone of contention in practice, transitioning into and out of phases and using those moments to switch mentally from attacking to defending. If that happens with more sharpness, neither of those goals comes nearly as easily.
Seattle is having trouble starting games
In reality, each MLS season is more like a number of micro-seasons crammed into one calendar year. It’d be foolhardy to read too deeply into any one issue being apocalyptic at this point in the season, and this one certainly isn’t. Sounders fans should know as well as anyone that MLS Cups aren’t built at this time of year. But you can certainly pour a nice foundation, and the Sounders are struggling in that category right now.
For the second consecutive week, the Sounders were relatively flat in the first half, and they’ve now been outscored 4-0 in the first 45 minutes of their first two games combined. That puts an incredible amount of pressure on the team to pour numbers forward, and, of course, creates gaps in behind. Not great when you’re on the road.
But the Sounders weren’t exactly given a gift by the scheduling gods for the start of their 2016 title defense. They were forced on the road for each of their first two and pushed into wildly variable environments. Last weekend they had Houston on natural grass. This week it was a thousand miles north indoors on a pitch hard as concrete. So it goes sometimes.
The good news is Seattle more or less equalized out its first half woes on Saturday and returned home from a two-game road swing with one point. That isn’t ideal, but it’s hardly sky-is-falling territory. Nothing this time of year is. But the Sounders will want to inject their first halves with a bit more urgency going forward to ensure it doesn’t become a nasty habit that lingers far longer than it should.
