SEATTLE — Despite earning a point in a scoreless draw against Columbus Crew SC on Saturday afternoon, the Seattle Sounders’ locker room was visibly distraught. The Sounders were frustrated in their inability to gain three points at home especially after being up a man for 75 minutes.
Crew SC’s Pedro Santos was sent off in the 15th minute following Video Review for a high cleat on Alex Roldan, and for the remainder of the match, Columbus bunkered and played compact, at times playing with just 10-12 yards of space from the back line to Gyasi Zardes at forward. Despite the man advantage, Seattle couldn’t find a breakthrough.
“We’re disappointed in the result, it’s not good enough,” said Head Coach Brian Schmetzer. “I’ll make sure that we watch this tape and work on attacking movements to try and break that final line and be a little more creative. We moved the ball too slow. The few times they moved the ball into our end of the field and we won possession of the ball, we need to sprint. We need to get down the field before they get a chance to get bunkered in.”
Forward Will Bruin agreed, adding: “We were too predictable. We didn’t even try to play through the final third. I think everybody in the stadium knew we were going to try and push it wide and try to cross it. You’ve got to find other ways to create chances. We just haven’t been able to do it. We’ve got to be willing to take chances. We’ve got to get some creativity, some flair...We need to find a solution to this.”
Ozzie Alonso passes against Crew SC on Saturday | Lindsey Wasson
Columbus deserves some credit for their performance too. Head Coach Gregg Berhalter made a defensive substitution in the 31st minute when he brought on defender Alex Crognale to replace winger Cristian Martinez. Berhalter knew exactly how he wanted to see the game out and his team executed it to perfection.
“Going down to 10 men, [Crew SC] knew exactly what they were going to do,” said midfielder Cristian Roldan. “They hit us on the counter, three, four times. We were fortunate to not go down two, three to zero. They were extremely well-organized, they were very good. Berhalter does an extremely good job with positioning and spacing and at the end of the day, discipline.”
The Sounders continue a tough stretch this week when they visit Toronto FC on Wednesday in a rematch of the last two MLS Cups before traveling to Providence Park on Sunday to play archrival Portland. Seattle is hoping to use this match as an example to move forward and improve.
“We’ll train that to make sure that we create more good opportunities,” said Schmetzer. “Some of the movements off the ball, we’ll address and get better.”
