Most of the Sounders FC locker room would admit to an avowed sense of tunnel vision. The moments when players sweep their field of vision across anything other than what’s directly in front of them are precious few. There’s one step, and another step, and on they march toward the horizon line.
That focus is being tested this week. The immediate concern lies in the Bay Area, where Sounders FC travels to face the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday. Seattle may have hopped above the red dividing line separating those in and out of the playoffs in the Western Conference, but the margin for error is still thinner than a razor. San Jose is in seventh place, peering into the playoffs from the outside, but only barely. In a sign of how tight things are in the West down the home stretch, Seattle could conceivably drop from fourth to a tie for sixth with San Jose with a loss this weekend.
But that’s soccer business. Sounders FC heaved a collective sigh of relief when Head Coach Sigi Schmid returned to training on Thursday after being out over the weekend with an unspecified health issue. That forced him out of Seattle’s 2-1 win over Toronto FC and handed temporary control of the sideline to longtime Assistant Coach Brian Schmetzer. Schmid allayed any immediate fears about his health to reporters this week, noting he won’t travel to San Jose but should be back on the sideline in time for the match against the Vancouver Whitecaps on September 19. Schmetzer will assume coaching duties yet again this weekend.
With the entire organization rallied to Schmid’s side, the team now dives headlong into yet another must win game. Those are getting familiar these days.
“Sigi has a good connection with [assistants] Ante [Razov] and Schmetzer, so they’re fully involved, on game day as well,” rightback Tyrone Mears said. “It’s not going to be a massive difference for the players. I think the only thing that’s distracting is that we hope he’s going to recover well and he’s going to get back soon, rather than the football side of it.”
Schmetzer has long been an enormous part of the nerve center behind Schmid’s sideline operation. As a cerebral technician with a laser-guided soccer mind, he had the better part of a week to survey training and appraise the team’s mood as it heads into a critical stretch that will define its playoff fate. And what he found gave him hope fueled by two consecutive league wins that pumped oxygen into the team’s growing fire.
“The overall morale is great,” Schmetzer said. “What we’re attempting to do is making sure that as the team progresses in the last six games of the year plus the playoffs, however the dust settles, that they understand that all of the work they did from preseason, they’re the ones that’ve done the hard work. So they’re the ones that should reward themselves for the work. And let’s not miss this opportunity to stay really focused and tight and together because they’re the ones that work hard.”
Getting a result against San Jose would be an enormous step in that direction. Seattle doesn’t necessarily need a win to feel comfortable leaving Avaya Stadium, considering a draw would keep the status quo and guarantee Seattle’s playoff position for another week, while simultaneously keep the Earthquakes from picking up full points in a home environment that’s sure to be hyped. But three points? That’d flip Seattle’s focus from simple playoff survival to seed hunting.
Those three points will be hard-earned, if they come. San Jose was all but left for dead when it went seven games winless over a six-week period through July and August. Mired toward the bottom of the West, the Earthquakes shockingly sprung to life with four consecutive wins - including a mighty impressive 1-0 Cali Clasico victory over the LA Galaxy on August 28 - before snapping that streak with a loss to the Philadelphia Union last weekend.
The one constant has been the defense. San Jose’s surrendered just two goals in the last month, and its total aversion to short passes and possession under Head Coach Dominic Kinnear allowed them to go long and sneak booted long balls in to Chris Wondolowski (who’s scored 13 goals in 2,058 minutes) and the resurgent Quincy Amarikwa, who’s second on the team with four scores.
In a tactical sense, this game is oil versus water. Sounders FC completes the most short passes per game in MLS with 402. San Jose is dead last with 295. Seattle is fourth in MLS in possession with an average share of 52.4 percent. San Jose? Eighteenth with 46.8. And only two teams complete a lower percentage of its passes per game than San Jose’s 75 percent. The ‘Bash Brothers’ days of Alan Gordon and Steven Lenhart are in the past, buried alongside San Jose’s 2012 Supporter’s Shield title, but the playing style hasn’t changed all that much.
From that aspect, Seattle shouldn’t have a heap of trouble pouring on possession. In fact, that’s never been much of an issue this season, even during the difficult winless streak in the summer. Without Clint Dempsey and Obafemi Martins earlier this season, the bigger problem was turning that time on ball into substantive chances in and around the box. Now that Martins is back, Nelson Valdez is off and running and Dempsey started for the first time in nearly three months against Toronto FC last weekend, the team has looked as coherent as ever going forward the last few weeks.
Here’s the statistical entirety of Dempsey’s day against TFC in an attacking sense. He only missed three passes, generated a key pass that didn’t lead to a goal and an assist that did. He also - crucially - put all three of his shots on target. One went in. It was the winner.
That kind of chance creation was lacking with Dempsey on the shelf with national team duty and then a lingering injury he couldn’t seem to shake. With a more robust complement of attacking players at their disposal, Sounders FC is hoping to take another step closer to the top of the Western Conference this weekend.
“San Jose are a good team,” Mears said. “They’re very strong, good defensively, and it’s a team that can hurt you. We’ve got to be aware that it’s an important game. They’re close to us. Every point counts now. Do we go there being smart, more defensive and hoping to counter attack? Do we go full out attacking with Clint, Oba and Nelson? There’s a lot of decisions for Schmetzer and Ante to figure out. Whatever they go with, we’ll be ready.”
