Crushing the Crew: Sounders halt losing streak

The Seattle Sounders bounced back following back-to-back 1-0 losses against LAFC and the Portland Timbers by thumping a depleted Columbus Crew side to the tune of 4-0 on Saturday. A career-first hat trick for Albert Rusnák and a goal from Jordan Morris paced the Sounders to an emphatic road win. Notably, all four goals came after the Crew goalkeeper was red-carded and a field player had to finish out the game in goal.

The game was pretty even throughout most of the first half. Columbus held a 66% to 34% possession advantage and outshot Seattle 6-3, but a pair of good looks for the Sounders following the half-hour mark proved to be harbingers of a changing current in the game. In the 33rd minute Cristian Roldan released Paul Rothrock in behind the Crew defense on the right side, and Rothrock played a square ball between the back line and goalkeeper Abraham Romero for Jordan Morris, but Morris’ first-time effort from the penalty spot went wide. Five minutes later it was Rothrock on the ball once again, this time cutting in from the left and firing a curling shot from the top of the box that forced Romero into an acrobatic save. Then in stoppage time the game shifted to Seattle’s favor for good.

Romero was shown a red card in the 3rd minute of first-half stoppage time when he came flying out of his box and collided with Morris a good 10 yards outside of the box despite one of his defenders seemingly having the play contained. Following a check to be sure none of Morris or the two Crew players involved had been seriously injured, Romero was sent off. Center back Sean Zawadski stepped in to play GK with no true backup on the bench. His first bit of action was to try to defend an Albert Rusnák free kick, and was left with no real chance. Rusnák hit his shot low and away from Romero, smashing the ball into the back corner of the net to give Seattle a man advantage and a 1-0 lead in the 7th minute of stoppage time to head into halftime.

Seattle looked to press their advantage in the second half, and in the 60th minute Morris was able to double Seattle’s lead. It was something of a mirror of the Sounders’ 33rd minute chance as Rothrock hit a low cross from the left behind the Crew backline for Morris to poke home from close range near the back post, and with 30 minutes to go Seattle had a 2-0 lead.

Then in the 67th minute Josh Atencio got on the ball at the right corner of the Crew area, dribbled inside and slid the ball over to Rusnák waiting centrally at the top of the box. Rusnák took a few touches to control the ball and open up a bit of space, then easily slotted his shot inside the post beyond the reach of Zawadski to make it 3-0. It was only another 3 minutes before he completed his hat trick in the 70th. This time it was Morris’s turn to play provider as he hit a perfect pass to split the defense and set Rusnák up for a first-time finish to truly put the game to bed.

The Sounders had a handful of other looks at goal, including Zawadski coming up with a couple of solid plays to deny clear chances, but 4-0 was how the game finished. The Sounders will now turn around and Sporting Kansas City at home on Sunday, September 15 as they look to build some momentum down the stretch.

Key moments

9 - Shot! Aziel Jackson cuts to leave a sliding Jackson Ragen behind before getting a shot off from the top of the box, but Yeimar is able to get a touch on it to deflect it out for a corner.

33 - Big chance! The Sounders work through pressure around midfield before Cristian Roldan springs Paul Rothrock into space on the right. Rothrock plays a square ball for Jordan Morris who gets a first-time shot off, but it goes wide of goal.

38 - Shot! Rothrock cuts inside from the left and hits a curler from the top of the box that forces a great diving save from Abraham Romero to keep the score 0-0.

45+3 - Red card! Abraham Romero is shown a red card for a foul outside the box on Jordan Morris. Columbus will play down a man with a field player in goal.

45+7 - GOAL! On the ensuing free kick from 25 yards out Albert Rusnák smashes it into the back corner of the net to give Seattle the lead! 1-0, Sounders.

60 - GOAL! Jordan Morris makes up for his earlier miss, finishing a tap-in at the doorstep off of a pass from Rothrock after Morris provided some hold-up play and put Rothrock in behind. 2-0, Sounders.

67 - GOAL! Josh Atencio dribbles inside from the right and lays the ball of to Rusnák who takes a few touches to set up his shot and slots it inside the near post beyond the outstretched Sean Zawadski. 3-0 Sounders

70 - GOAL! Albert Rusnák makes it a hat trick, putting away a first-time finish on a great pass from Morris! 4-0, Sounders.

Quick thoughts

Take the opportunities you’re given: You’ll see plenty made of the fact that the Crew were so heavily depleted that they didn’t even have a backup GK on the bench behind Romero. Sure, that makes it less of a giant slaying than it would have been against a full-strength Crew side, but part of the Crew’s strength this season has been their depth and you don’t get to decide when you play teams or who they have available. You just have to make the most of any opportunities that you’re given, and that’s exactly what the Sounders did. Following a pair of very frustrating results, the Sounders bounced back by getting a GK sent off and then pounding the back of the net with a field player between the posts. Now they have to carry the feeling from this game into the next game and beyond.

Hat tricks against Columbus are Sounders heritage: As noted by Jeremiah Oshan, Albert Rusnák’s first career MLS hat trick is the third hat trick by a Sounders player against the Crew, the most against any MLS team for the Sounders. He joins Blaise Nkufo and Lamar Neagle in a growing tradition of dunking on the Men at Work. It’s a weird little tidbit, but that doesn’t make it any less fun. Rusnák is now on 8 goals and 12 assists, only two goal contributions behind his best mark in MLS from 2021 when he had 11 and 11 with Real Salt Lake. Yes, this came against a weakened side, but it’s great to see him making good on the promise that made him such a great free-agency acquisition ahead of 2022.

Better context: Yes, the Crew were definitely missing plenty of players, but let’s try to put this game into better context. They started the game with 7 of their top-11 active players in terms of minutes played. That includes the three CBs with the most minutes played, Darlington Nagbe, and Diego Rossi who has 10 goals and 11 assists in MLS this season and leads the team in minutes and appearances. This wasn’t a bunch of scrubs, and they struggled to create real danger before the red card – they took 6 shots, but only 1 was from inside the penalty area – and once they went down to 10 men they never looked like they were in the game. This is a good win, regardless of what anyone tells you.

Notable quote

Player spotlight

Josh Atencio – A word for Atencio, who was poised to take a key role in Seattle’s midfield but has been supplanted by Obed Vargas. He marked his first assist of the season in this one, completed 38/41 passes, and was 3/3 on tackles.