Dynamo vs. Sounders: Highlights, stats and quotes

The Seattle Sounders played one of their worst halves of the season, falling behind 2-0, but then came roaring back to earn a 2-2 tie against the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday. Paul Rothrock and Jackson Ragen scored the goals, meaning the Sounders’ last five goals have been scored by Seattle natives.

Highlights

Stats

MATCH SUMMARY 

Seattle Sounders FC 2 – Houston Dynamo FC 2

Wednesday, June 19, 2024

Venue: Shell Energy Stadium

Referee: Drew Fischer

Assistants: Lyes Arfa, Walt Heatherly

Fourth Official: Gerald Flores

VAR: Kevin Terry Jr.

Attendance: 15,096

Weather: 83 degrees and light rain 

SCORING SUMMARY

HOU – Latif Blessing (Amine Bassi) 30’

HOU – Latif Blessing (Ibrahim Aliyu) 40’

SEA – Paul Rothrock 57’

SEA – Jackson Ragen (Albert Rusnák) 63’ 

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY 

HOU – Ibrahim Aliyu (caution) 6’

HOU – Brooklyn Raines (caution) 89’

HOU – Daniel Steres (caution) 90’+3’

SEA – Raúl Ruidíaz (caution) 90’+4’

LINEUPS & STATS 

Seattle Sounders FC – Stefan Frei; Cristian Roldan, Yeimar (Nouhou 46’), Jackson Ragen, Jonathan Bell (Nathan 79’); Obed Vargas, Josh Atencio (Danny Musovski 60’), Paul Rothrock, Albert Rusnák, Reed Baker-Whiting (João Paulo 88’); Jordan Morris (Raúl Ruidíaz 60’)

Substitutes not used: Andrew Thomas, Cody Baker, Danny Leyva, Léo Chú 

Total shots: 9

Shots on goal: 5

Fouls: 11

Offside: 0

Corner-Kicks: 2

Saves: 3

Houston Dynamo FC – Steve Clark; Franco Escobar (Daniel Steres 79’), Griffin Dorsey (Tate Schmitt 90’), Erik Sviatchenko, Micael dos Santos (Ethan Bartlow 80’); Artur, Latif Blessing (Sebastian Ferreira 69’), Hector Herrera, Ibrahim Aliyu; Amine Bassi (Brooklyn Raines 80’), Sebastian Kowalczyk

Substitutes not used: Brad Smith, Andrew Tarbell, Gabe Segal, Jan Gregus

Total shots: 18

Shots on goal: 5

Fouls: 12

Offside: 1

Corner-kicks: 5

Saves: 3 

Quotes

Brian Schmetzer

On the first and second half performances: “According to some that was the worst half we played in a long time. I’m not sure I can disagree. … They rotate six guys in that part of the field and have aggressive center backs didn’t work in the first half. I wouldn’t say the tactics weren’t correct. What I’d tell you is the giveaways … I feel bad for Obed — he’s been one of our best players – he shouldn’t give that away. We gifted them two goals. Whatever happened with tactics, were they right or wrong? The body language wasn’t right. We had super positive body language against Minnesota. When we gave away the ball, everyone was pointing fingers. That’s not how good teams play. We weren’t cohesive in the first half.”

“Fast forward, Nouhou sparked team. The team came with a better attitude. Rothrock scored a timely goal. Raul and Musovski playing as two forwards. Nathan coming back. Subs made an impact. So congrats to them. I thought Jon Bell had a good game. Reed a little longer too. Those guys put it in and they were good.”

On why Yeimar was removed at halftime: “It wasn’t because he had one bad pass. I never sub for one bad mistake. No one had good body language but someone was coming out at halftime. That was my choice.”

On Albert Rusnák’s improved production: “His service, even on his corner kick delivers has gotten better. We’ve had more focus. Andy Rose does a great job. That was a timely goal. Deft touch by Jackson Ragen.”

On Reed-Baker Whiting playing as a wing back: “He’s played that for us. He can play multiple positions. He had a good game.”

On the comeback result: “It’s massive. The turnaround is a testament. That’s a good team, they just need to believe it. That’s part of the culture. They never quit. A lot of teams would have lost 3-0 and wouldn’t care. They came out and changed things for the better. The team has been playing better. I think we could have won it. I was hoping Raúl could bang one in. For them to come back and play in the second half as well as they did it will help with Dallas. They had a big win tonight too.”

Jackson Ragen

On the result: “To get a result when you didn’t put the best 90-minute performance together, that’s what a great team does. I don’t think we were terrible in the first half. The goals come from unforced errors. We probably go in 0-0. I don’t think we had the worst first half but we definitely turned it around in the second.

“Coming back from 2-0 feels positive but I think we still could have won. Playing on the road is still hard. We’ll take a point and still be happy with it and move.”

On his goal: “Albert put in a perfect ball, I was just trying to get anything on it. I didn’t see where it ended up until people started celebrating.”

“Scoring is something I really want to add to my game. I should be scoring a couple of goals a year. Hopefully, this will give me some confidence on set pieces. I think I can be an aerial threat.”

Paul Rothrock

On in the result feels lucky: “I don’t feel lucky. Our first 20 minutes weren’t too bad. It’s a positive result for the team for how we bounce back. We showed a lot of grit, a lot of character. That’s hard to do in this weather, coming off a game this weekend. I don’t think it was lucky at all. We came together as a group. We had large spells of possession in the end. If anything it was a well-deserved result on the road.”

On his recent scoring form: “I’m just trying to take things game by game. Nothing is going to be given to me and each game is a new game. That feeling of scoring goals and winning games, I’m chasing that and trying to have fun in these moments. I’ve dreamed of this stuff since I was a little kid. I’m just trying to take opportunities when I can. I’m an opportunistic guy, just waiting on the back post. I was waiting on the edge.”

On the postgame discussion: “The message to the group was a tale of two halves and the effect our body language can have with each other and in the game. I think the halftime talk really helped us. We came out firing in the second half and were able to get that goal. We have another one on Saturday so we can’t get too high. Let’s see if we can pull out seven points in a three-game week.”

On halftime discussion: “We still felt like we were in the game. We were all pretty tired. But we found a second gear. Credit to Schmetzer, the halftime speech did get us motivated but the players came together too. We came out more aggressive, we changed our shape which helped things. Went back to 4231. We knew we just needed one.”

On his goal: “To be honest, I didn’t even see Jordan. My eyes were on goal. I was thinking a couple of moments about the previous game, I showed the ball too much to the defender. Wanted to stay on ball. Jordan showed well, played it to Josh and then played it to me. As soon as I took that touch I wanted to shoot. My first shot wasn’t great but it came back to me. I didn’t even see it go into net.”