The Rapids were all over Seattle from the start of the match en route to a 5-1 win.
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. – On Saturday night Sounders FC saw its seven-match unbeaten streak come to an end with a 5-1 defeat to the Colorado Rapids, also snapping an eight-match unbeaten run against Colorado that dated back to 2010.
The Rapids scored off the opening kick and Seattle was never able to gain control of the match as the Rapids raced to a 4-0 halftime lead. Eddie Johnson pulled one goal back in the second half with his team-high ninth goal of the season, but that’s all the Sounders were able to muster and Colorado added another in stoppage time to drop Seattle to 15-9-6.
“You’ve got to be awake right from the beginning of the game. Colorado did a good job of taking advantage of that, but you can’t give up a goal in the first 30 seconds of the game,” Sounders FC Head Coach Sigi Schmid said. “At the end of the day we have to learn that that’s not good enough. You can’t walk on the field and assume that you’re going to be in the game. You have to be in the game mentally right from the beginning of the game.”
Just 14 seconds into the game, Deshorn Brown got into the box on a run up the left side on a ball from Gabriel Torres and slipped a shot under the sliding Michael Gspurning inside the far post for the 1-0 lead. The second fastest goal in league history was the eighth goal of the season for Brown.
In the 10th minute, Dillon Powers made it 2-0 on a corner kick, making an unmarked near post run and heading in a ball from Vicente Sanchez for his fifth goal of the season.
The game leveled out over the next 20 minutes, but then Brown snatched momentum back for the Rapids. On a high bouncing ball in Colorado’s attacking end, Brown got to it first and touched it past DeAndre Yedlin, putting himself one-on-one with Gspurning up the left side again, this time putting his shot inside the near post for the 3-0 lead.
Colorado had three more chances in the 39th and 41st minutes, with Gspurning blocking two shots in quick succession from Sanchez and Powers and Scott sliding in to stop a run into the box by Sanchez. On the latter play, Scott cut the ball away for a corner kick and the Rapids capitalized on the set play opportunity. Sanchez put the ball onto the edge of the six-yard box and Drew Moor got his foot to it for his third goal of the season to put the Rapids up 4-0 in the 41st minute.
By halftime, Colorado outshot Seattle 12-4 and put seven of those shots on goal.
Early in the second half, Seattle had a pair of chances on crosses from Yedlin. Pressing up the right side, Yedlin crossed the ball to Mauro Rosales for a header in the 49th minute that Rosales put just wide of the near post. Then in the 51st minute, Johnson got his head to a cross from Yedlin, but hit it right at goalkeeper Clint Irwin. The rebound fell to Johnson’s feet, but he was unable to land the putback.
“The fight was still there,” Schmid said. “Overall when you look at the flow of the game, I didn’t think we got completely outplayed, I think we got countered on, and when you give up two set-piece goals and a goal in the first 30 seconds, you know, that’s unacceptable."
In the 63rd minute, Marc Burch played a ball forward for Johnson and he raced behind the defense to get into the box and knocked a shot past Irwin to get Seattle on the board at 4-1. It was Johnson’s team-leading ninth goal of the year.
“It’s about taking your opportunities when you get them. I was a bit unlucky with the header. The keeper made a good save. But I got my second chance and I wanted to make sure I put it in the net,” Johnson said. “We put ourselves in a big hole, but we came out in the second half and we responded well. Our intensity was there and we played with nothing to lose.”
Scott was ejected in the 79th minute when he came in late on a tackle just outside the box, resulting in his second caution of the game, forcing Seattle to play the final 11 minutes with just 10 men.
In stoppage time, Torres scored his first MLS goal, ripping a shot from the right side of the box that went inside the far post for the final 5-1 tally, leaving the Sounders to look for redemption in their next match on Wednesday against Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
“There’s only one acceptable response and that’s a win,” Schmid said.
Seattle will host Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Wednesday at CenturyLink Field, then travel to JELD-WEN Field to face the Portland Timbers on Sunday, October 13. With Portland meeting Vancouver on Sunday, October 6, the meeting between Seattle and Portland next week will conclude the season’s Cascadia Cup matches. Seattle currently leads the Cascadia Cup standings at 2-1-1 (7 points), with Vancouver in second at 1-1-2 (5 points) and Portland in third at 0-1-3 (3 points).
Scoring
Sounders FC – Eddie Johnson (Marc Burch) 64.
Rapids – DeShorn Brown (Gabriel Torres) 1; Dillon Powers (Vicente Sanchez) 10; Deshorn Brown (Dillon Powers) 31; Drew Moor (Hendry Thomas, Vicente Sanchez) 41; Gabriel Torres (Martin Rivero) 91+.
Discipline
Sounders FC – Zach Scott (caution) 8; Zach Scott (caution/ejection) 79.
Rapids – None.
Lineups
Sounders FC – Michael Gspurning, DeAndre Yedlin, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (Patrick Ianni 46), Zach Scott, Marc Burch, Mauro Rosales (Dylan Remick 65), Osvaldo Alonso (Andy Rose 74), Adam Moffat, Brad Evans, Lamar Neagle, Eddie Johnson.
Rapids – Clint Irwin, Marvell Wynne, Shane O’Neill, Drew Moor, Chris Klute, Hendry Thomas, Nathan Sturgis (Atiba Harris 82), Dillon Powers (Martin Rivero 59), Vicente Sanchez, Gabriel Torres, Deshorn Brown (Nick LaBrocca 72).
