The Seattle Sounders’ regular season opener against the Houston Dynamo at BVAA Compass Stadium on Saturday got off to about as inauspicious a start as possible for the defending MLS Cup champions.
The Dynamo, led by a new-look attacking corps featuring a rejuvenated Erick “Cubo” Torres and Honduran wingers Romell Quioto and Alberth Ellis, jumped on the Sounders from the opening whistle, forcing goalkeeper Stefan Frei into a couple of early diving saves.
By the time the first half was over, Torres had blasted home a free kick goal and Quioto added a strike of his own just before halftime to put Seattle in a 2-0 hole. The Sounders would ultimately find themselves unable to overcome that first-half barrage, despite a goal from forward Clint Dempsey in the 58th minute that brought the match to the 2-1 scoreline that would hold as the final.
All told, it wasn’t an ideal way to start the season, but Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer said he feels as though the first half struggles of Saturday’s match can also be used as a teaching tool as his club gets its season underway.
“I think we learned a valuable lesson tonight,” Schmetzer said. “The first half, Houston came out, they were obviously fired up to play. Home match, playing against the champs and they got two goals.
“That’s what we learned tonight: Teams are going to come out and if we’re not sharp from the minute the referee blows the whistle, that type of performance is going to happen.”
The Sounders also leave Houston feeling as though they finally hit their stride in the second half. Seattle outshot the Dynamo 12-2 over those second 45 minutes, spearheaded by Dempsey’s goal and a strong showing from left back Joevin Jones.
“The second half was a different story,” said Schmetzer. “I talked to [the team] at halftime, we made some adjustments and scored one goal, we just couldn’t find a second one.
“We just had better possession of the ball in their half of the field. That team played with three guys that stayed high. We were able to just pin them back in the second half and create multiple chances. That was basically it. It was one correction: A little more patience.”
Dempsey echoed that assessment, saying that his team’s showing in the second half leaves reason for optimism ahead of Seattle’s next matchup with the Montreal Impact on March 11.
“I thought they came out with a lot of energy, they looked dangerous, they were causing problems for us,” Dempsey said. “I thought we were also a little bit rusty. Some of our passes were going astray, we weren’t keeping possession as well. We weren’t getting in a good rhythm.
“I thought the guys responded in the second half, coming out fighting and showing character and trying to get something from the game,” he continued. “It looked like we were going to get a point at the end of the day, but we just came up a little bit short.”
