Punishing Pumas once again: Sounders advance to quarters

The Seattle Sounders claimed a 4-0 win over Pumas UNAM at Lumen Field on Monday night to advance to the Leagues Cup quarterfinals. After weathering an early storm, it was the Sounders who proved too much for their opponents to handle with a first half goal from Paul Rothrock, and a trio of tallies from Albert Rusnák and Jordan Morris in the second half as they came out victorious in the 2022 CCL Final rematch.

The start of the first half was pretty ugly for the Sounders. The first 25 minutes were just about all Pumas, with the visitors registering the first three shots of the game and testing Andrew Thomas a couple of times within 10 minutes of kickoff. Pumas even appeared to have taken a lead in the 25th minute when a defensive header near the six-yard box from Nouhou failed to clear the penalty area and fell to an attacker who played a wall pass to a teammate before having a shot from the top of the box. His effort was blocked, but the deflection fell to another Pumas player who hit it back across goal for Piero Quispe to tap home. On review, Quispe was shown to be well offside and the play was called back.

Given a surprising reprieve and a boost of energy, the Sounders were able to get back into the game, and got onto the scoreboard themselves seven minutes later. João Paulo drew a foul about 40 yards from goal, setting up a free kick that he and Rusnák both stood over. They played a couple of short passes to spring Rusnák down the right wing where he sent in a cross that found Paul Rothrock near the penalty spot. Rothrock made great contact with his header, putting his shot down into the bottom corner and off the post just beyond the reach of goalkeeper Julio Gonzalez to give Seattle a 1-0 lead in the 32nd minute.

Seattle continued to push as they largely kept control for the rest of the half, but despite a couple of good chances they couldn’t add to the lead. The best chance for Seattle following the goal came on another Rusnák free kick, this time with service coming direct from the free kick to the head of Yeimar, but Gonzalez was able to get down quickly to catch the ball and keep the score as it was in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

The second half started with what looked like a potential swing in favors as a pretty simple pass from the right wing in the 52nd minute eliminated three Seattle defenders, but Jackson Ragen came sliding in to clear the ball out for a corner. Six minutes later, Morris made it 2-0 with a fantastic finish. A little bit of head tennis popped off following an Alex Roldan throw deep in the Pumas end, eventually leading to a header from Rusnák in towards Morris near the penalty spot. Morris controlled the ball with his chest and took a great left-footed shot on the half-volley that Gonzalez couldn’t stop. With a 2-0 lead the Sounders were flying and they never took their foot off the gas.

In the 70th minute a great play from Cristian Roldan and Obed Vargas saw Vargas receive a clever pass into a pocket of space from Roldan and speed into the penalty area with defender Lisandro Magallan all over him. As he entered the penalty area, Magallan brought Vargas down and the Sounders were awarded a penalty. Rusnák stepped up to the spot and sent the GK sending one way and just smashed his penalty down the middle to make it 3-0.

Pumas had one more real look in the 79th minute on a free kick from the top of the box, but a hard, low shot tested Thomas but wasn’t enough to beat him. In the 2nd minute of stoppage Cristian Roldan hit a great through ball for Morris, who had only one defender to beat. Once again it was Magallan isolated, and as Morris beat him running into the penalty area and prepared to shoot Magallan cynically took his legs out with a little sweep and step on his ankles and Seattle were awarded a second penalty. Magallan was shown a second yellow, and tempers flared after 90+ minutes of poor game management from referee Joe Dickerson. No further punishment was doled out, and once things were calmed down enough for a penalty to be taken Morris took about as good of a penalty as you can take to make it 4-0. Morris punched his shot just inside the right post, just beyond the GK’s fingertips to claim his brace and put a cherry on top of an excellent performance in the 90+5th minute.

With their 4-0 win, the Sounders advance to the Leagues Cup Quarterfinals where they’ll face the winner of LAFC vs. the San Jose Earthquakes.

Key moments

4 - The first shot of the night belongs to Pumas after a Jackson Ragen clearance falls to Rubén Duarte who has a hit from outside the area, but Andrew Thomas gets down to stop the shot, then smothers it.

8 - Another shot from distance for Pumas, this time Jose Caicedo sends in a rocket that Thomas deals with easily.

17 - Cesar Huerta works his way into the box on a clever give-and-go before setting up Guillermo Martinez for a great look from the doorstep but he skies his shot.

25 - Pumas appeared to have scored the opener after the Sounders fail to clear the area, but the goal scorer is clearly in an offside position and the goal is called off.

32 - GOAL! PAUL ROTHROCK GIVES SEATTLE THE LEAD! João Paulo draws a foul and he and Albert Rusnák work a short free kick routine to set up a cross from the right wing from Rusnák and Rothrock rises up to get a head on it and tucks the ball in off the post. 1-0 Sounders

35 - Nouhou does really well to work out of pressure and spring an attack with a pass into midfield that Cristian Roldan runs onto. Roldan plays Rothrock in on the left and Rothrock finds Rusnák for a shot, but his left-footed effort is blocked.

45+4 - Yeimar gets up and heads a Rusnák free kick, but goalkeeper Julio Gonzalez gets down and is able to catch it to deny a second Sounders goal.

52 - A simple pass and run opens up the Seattle defense, but Jackson Ragen makes a big sliding challenge to clear the ball out for a corner.

58 - GOAL! Jordan Morris makes it two! The ball bounces around after an Alex Roldan throw and Rusnák heads the ball through to Morris who chest controls the ball in a pocket of space and adds a great finish with his left foot. 2-0 Sounders

62 - Really nice work to win the ball back and then dribble his way out of pressure before uncorking a shot from way downtown from Obed Vargas, but the shot never troubles the GK.

70 - Obed Vargas makes a great run to get onto a pass from Cristian Roldan, bursting past a defender into the area and draws a foul to win a penalty.

71 - GOAL! Albert Rusnák steps up to the spot and sends the GK one way and smashes his penalty down the middle to add a third for Seattle. 3-0 Sounders

79 - Pumas have a really dangerous look as Robert Ergas sends in a free kick that swings around the wall and is headed low for goal, but Thomas dives and makes a great save to stop and collect the ball.

90+2 - Cristian Roldan springs Jordan Morris in behind the defense and Morris is brought down in the penalty area by Lisandro Magallan, who is shown a second yellow and sent off along with Seattle earning a penalty.

90+5 - GOAL! Jordan Morris takes the penalty he earned himself and hits it perfectly, tucking it into the side just outside of Gonzalez’s reach. 4-0 Sounders

Quick thoughts

P Rock is in his bag: Paul Rothrock is not Seattle’s best player. No one is really going to argue that, but at this point, as the team is constructed and health has allowed, it’s becoming increasingly hard to argue that the team’s Best XI is one that includes him. He’s far from perfect – he went 1/3 on dribbles, and 4/14 on duels – but in a sense his failures show his value almost as much as his successes. He tries shit on both sides of the ball, and when it doesn’t work he’s usually the first guy trying to win the ball back. He might not win all of his duels, but by going into those challenges he makes life harder for his opponents. On top of that, he has a way of finding himself on the score sheet. He now has 2 goals and 1 assist in Leagues Cup to go with his 2 goals and 1 assist in MLS play, and another in the U.S. Open Cup. That’s 5 goals and 2 assists in 1,109 minutes. It’s not elite, but at 0.57 goal contributions per 90 minutes with the first team, in the words of Jon Bell, P Rock is in his bag.

Albert’s Game: Albert Rusnák knows better than most that the enemy’s goal is down. After some frankly kind of silly questioning of his quality earlier in the season, once he returned to his best position and had Jordan Morris playing in front of him Rusnák has looked like an absolute monster in Seattle’s attack over the last few months. He has 4 goals and 5 assists in 842 minutes over his last 10 appearances in all competitions, and his 1-goal, 2-assist performance tonight against Pumas was certainly his best showing. Following up on the Galaxy game where he claimed 1 assist and did much of the work to set up the second goal, his service against Pumas was just as spectacular as he set up Rothrock’s goal off of a free kick and nearly got Yeimar a second goal on another free kick. His assist for Morris was a nice touch of quality and vision, and his penalty was expertly taken. If he can stay in anything like this kind of form, the Sounders are a truly formidable side.

Seattle’s no place for Pumas: Seattle is quickly becoming a very dangerous place for Pumas. It’s well outside of their territory, and it turns out they have a natural predator here that wears Rave Green. Your Seattle Sounders have now scored nine unanswered goals against Pumas, and the last two times the sides faced off the Sounders have won 3-0 and 4-0 at Lumen in knockout competitions. I’m not going to say that the Sounders own the CDMX side, but it’s pretty safe to assume that the sound of a Seattle crowd and the images of the Space Needle and Mt. Tahoma loom threateningly in the dreams of Pumas players, staff, and fans alike.

Notable quote

Player Spotlight

Jordan Morris – For much of the first half Jordan Morris struggled to get involved in the game. The Pumas CBs played him tight and physical, giving him very little room to operate in the few opportunities he had to try to make an impact. Still, he took both of his goals incredibly well and after a full 90 minutes of fighting and running, he still had enough in the tank to make the run and draw his penalty.