SEATTLE — At long last in 2017, the Seattle Sounders caught a break.
After 75 percent possession, double-digit shot attempts and a few massive saves from Nick Rimando, the Sounders finally found the breakthrough against Real Salt Lake on Saturday when Harry Shipp’s shot from the top of the 18-yard-box took a deflection and found the back of the net in the 42nd minute. It was all Seattle would need to hold on for a 1-0 win, its first in its last five matches.
“That first 45 minutes was pretty darn good,” said Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer. “We get a deflection goal, it’s pretty ironic…It was massive because then we could play from 1-0 instead of 0-0 at home or 0-1 down.”
The Sounders came out firing from the get-go. After losing three consecutive matches, including a 4-1 defeat at the Chicago Fire last Saturday and a 3-0 loss at Sporting Kansas City midweek, Seattle was determined to pick up a massive three points at home and put an end to its recent lull.
“Maybe we were a bit angry with the way we’ve been always coming up a little bit short in the last couple games,” said goalkeeper Stefan Frei. “We were angry going forward and taking it to a team that’s usually pretty good. Taking it to them really playing at home and dictating the pace and almost forcing that goal.”
Osvaldo Alonso (right quad tightness), Clint Dempsey (rest) and Joevin Jones (suspension) all returned to the lineup on Saturday and dictated the tempo. The team played with a bullish sense of urgency that was instantly evident.
“We were fired up for many different reasons,” said midfielder Cristian Roldan. “The results we had in the past week didn’t go our way, we were a little bit upset about that. We felt a couple things weren’t going away, some things that we can’t control. We wanted to put ourselves in good positions to succeed.”
The Sounders have now won seven straight home matches against Real Salt Lake and are unbeaten in their last eight. They have not lost to RSL at CenturyLink Field since 2012.
Veteran defender Brad Evans made his first start since Aug. 28, 2016 after multiple battles with injuries, and his leadership on the back line helped the Sounders earn their first clean sheet since April 23. He went 66 minutes in his return to the Starting XI and was a constant presence in the attack.
Frei mentioned how high Evans’ soccer IQ is and how his return lifted the team to a crucial three points. The Sounders were strong in possession and attacking down the right through Evans, rather than overloading their usually preferred left, which allowed for versatility in the final third and prevented RSL from cheating to one side.
“We need to start picking up points at home if we’re going to get shellacked away from home,” said Evans. “This has got to place where [a win] is going to be a guarantee.”
Prior to finding the game-winner, the Sounders had outshot RSL 10-1, but, in what had become all-too-familiar a script this season, dominated without finding the back of the net. Shipp’s goal was cathartic. It validated and rewarded Seattle’s strong play while also reinforcing Schmetzer’s communication to the team, one which had been rather frustrated by its inability to matriculate good performances into points.
“What we try and message to the team is that they’re a good team,” said Schmetzer. “They’re a very good team, and they need to believe that they’re a good team. What you saw today hopefully is that 1-0 performance may not seem like a massive step, but I think deep down inside, they’re going to say ‘phew, we got this. Let’s try and build on this.’”
The Sounders will host bitter Cascadia rival the Portland Timbers next Saturday and are hoping they can carry this positive momentum moving forward.
“I think we’ve dominated most games and gone into tough environments and dominated games then lost 2 or 3 zero,” said Frei. “It’s a good foundation to have but we have to turn it into goals and points and today we did that. It’s a good start.”
