The Seattle Sounders finally got some positive news after a couple of frustrating weeks, thumping the defending champion Columbus Crew 4-0 on the road behind a hat trick from Albert Rusnák and Jordan Morris’ 15th goal of the season. All four of the Sounders goals came after Crew goalkeeper Abraham Romero was red-carded, which meant defender Sean Zawadzki had to play the entire second half in goal because there were no goalkeepers on the bench.
Highlights
Stats
Columbus Crew: 0 (0.41 xG)
— MLS Statistics and Analysis 📊⚽️ (@mlsstat) September 8, 2024
vs
Seattle Sounders FC: 4 (1.88 xG)#CLBvSEA | #Crew96 | #Sounders | #MLS pic.twitter.com/aotBAZDbxD
Standings
MATCH SUMMARY
Seattle Sounders FC 4 – Columbus Crew 0
Saturday, September 7, 2024
Venue: Lower.com Field
Referee: Rosendo Mendoza
Assistants: Cory Richardson, Kevin Lock
Fourth Official: Marcos DeOliveira II
VAR: Daniel Radford
Attendance: 20,523
Weather: 65 degrees and clear
SCORING SUMMARY
SEA – Albert Rusnák 45’+6’
SEA – Jordan Morris (Paul Rothrock) 60’
SEA – Albert Rusnák (Josh Atencio, Georgi Minoungou) 67’
SEA – Albert Rusnák (Jordan Morris, Cristian Roldan) 70’
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
SEA – Pedro de la Vega (caution) 29’
CLB – Abraham Romero (ejection) 45’+3’
LINEUPS & STATS
Seattle Sounders FC – Andrew Thomas; Alex Roldan, Yeimar (Nathan 77’), Jackson Ragen, Reed Baker-Whiting (Jonathan Bell 77’); Josh Atencio (Danny Leyva 77’), Cristian Roldan, Pedro de la Vega (Georgi Minoungou 57’), Albert Rusnák, Paul Rothrock (Léo Chú 81’); Jordan Morris
Substitutes not used: Jacob Castro, Danny Musovski, Sota Kitahara, Dylan Teves
Total shots: 15
Shots on goal: 7
Fouls: 6
Offside: 2
Corner-Kicks: 3
Saves: 1
Columbus Crew – Abraham Romero; Andres Herrera, Rudy Camacho, Yevhen Cheberko, Sean Zawadzki; Darlington Nagbe, Dylan Chambost (Christian Ramirez 65’), Aziel Jackson (Derrick Jones 46’), Alexandru Matan (DeJuan Jones 75’), Max Arfsten (Yaw Yeboah 75’); Diego Rossi
Substitutes not used: Taha Habroune, Owen Presthus, Gibran Rayo
Total shots: 11
Shots on goal: 1
Fouls: 7
Offside: 2
Corner-kicks: 5
Saves: 3
Quotes
Brian Schmetzer
“They made the right call. Their defender knocked the ball in air, but if Jordan doesn’t get barreled over, he puts goal in empty net. Albert’s goal, we did tell him to frame goal. Credit to him. They were at a severe disadvantage. At halftime, I just said keep playing. Even before the red card our tactics were working. Our defending was good, compact. We had the better chances before the red card. Jordan rues the one he didn’t make. Rothrock was really good. Albert and de la Vega did what I asked. We were playing well.”
If he can imagine playing with only one goalkeeper: “I can’t. Apparently they used all their exemptions. I don’t know why they didn’t sign their second-team goalkeeper. I don’t know, not my team. It certainly affected outcome of game.”
“You play who’s in front of you. If the scoreline was 6,7, 8 that’s a scoreline. We weren’t trying to be bad sports. We were playing to win. There was an incident that affected outcome. Our players were very professional, did their jobs, kept a clean sheet, took ahold of game in second half and didn’t think we were bad sports.”
“That locker room is extremely happy. They are extremely together. That’s a happy group. Whether there’s good results, that team is committed to one another. There were certain things that were really powerful. I think we’re poised to go on a good run. I hope we can close out on a positive. A lot of things came out of tonight, I’m sure a lot of people expected this game to be a loss. For us to persevere and do our job is massive. It’s massive.”
“The coaching staff does a great job. We were prepared for the way they play, the style of play. Some of our defending, how we defended was pretty good. We limited them to some half chances. Our transition moments were good. It’s a positive result and then we have three home games to build off this result.”
“Shoot the ball they don’t have a real goalkeeper in there. We didn’t want to concede possession and shoot whenever possible.”
“We play what’s in front of us. The shots, the chances we created, the way we defended they did a professional job. Those shots were well taken, well placed. It’s not always easy when you’re up a man. I think can’t just speak to the quality of the goals, but the timing of the goals. Albert started us off with the free kick. We absolutely controlled tempo after that first goal.”
“Reed did a great job tonight. He was good before red card. Young players have higher highs and lower lows. He’s a tremendous talent, proud of him. But I was proud of everyone. Nathan has had a good couple of weeks in training.”
Albert Rusnák
“I’ll be honest I felt a little more pressure than if an actual goalkeeper was in goal. You have to score. It wasn’t fair on him to go in goal. It was the only solution they had. The thought process was get some pace on ball and aim toward post. I’m just glad it went in and we took the lead right before half. It was an important goal but the second was most important because it calmed everything down. The later goals were what they were. I thought we did really well, but even 11v11 we stuck to game plan. Took away middle of field. They are best team in MLS and they’ve been proving it with their record and everything they’ve won. Even down to 10 men you can see what they want to do.”
“First hat trick of career. I haven’t seen it back, I’ll be honest. I felt like I hit it with decent pace. We tried to come here for three points and after the LAFC and Portland losses it was important to get results. Whether it was with no goalkeeper or not, it’s about collecting points. When we play the final home game, everyone will look at standings and points not circumstances. I don’t want to take too much away from performance. The result was the most important piece because there aren’t many games left.”
“Everyone is one same page. Everyone is smart enough to look at remaining games and figure out how many more points we need. We also want to move as high up table, playing at home makes a big difference. We’d love to host as many games as possible. We’re not going to be satisfied even if we win next few.
Jordan Morris
“Like Albert said, When it was 11v11 they were playing well. We were both missing guys. They are really well coached with a lot of quality. We had the better chances, I had a big chance I missed. We can take a lot away from that, we earned the red card and managed the game well from there. We came out with right mentality and intensity. We had a really good game and take confidence from that after a tough loss. It was massive to get three points. We jumped up the table. I don’t think takes any momentum away.
On the collision: “I didn’t see him at all. I was looking at ball and their defender got a touch on it. I felt him hit me. I just don’t know what happened. He hit me in mouth, little bit of swollen lip. Avoided a concussion which was main concern.”
“These are huge games. They are all like playoff games. Everyone is fighting to get three points. That’s the mentality of the group.”
“For sure put everything on target with a field player in goal. That was a conversation. It was also just get the second goal as that would give us a cushion. If they score, they can sit nine behind ball and make it tough. We knew if we got second we could get 3-4.”
On setting a career high for all-competition goals: “I set myself goals every year of what number is want to hit. That’s what is expected of a 9. I’m happy with that but it comes down to the balls Paulie gave me. It all comes down to group and how we help each other. That’s something that’s a big honor. It’s cool to have that mark and to pass it. But my goal is to keep going and try to score more goals and help us win trophies. We have a lot to look forward to.”
