Heading north for a pivotal match against Cascadia rival Vancouver Whitecaps, Seattle showed up and exerted almost complete control of the game. A dynamic offense led the way, but a resolute defense made sure that Vancouver couldn’t get a foothold. The Sounders almost always pressed the tempo, finding ways through the home team’s trap and converting possession into high quality opportunities. After scoring through a set piece in the first half, surprisingly, the Sounders came out with more intensity and precision after half, adding two more goals to end it 3-0. While the Whitecaps had a few half chances to pull a goal back, this game was pretty one-sided and could have been even more of a domination score-wise had a few chances ended up in the back of the net for Seattle.
All gas: Rev it up, best team in the league since April!
Pump the brakes: Not so fast, LAFC still exists.
Goalkeeper
Stefan Frei – 8 | Community – 6.6
Stefan Frei claimed another shutout and definitely had to earn it. He did so with a massive save in the 19th minute, on a deflected shot. This attempt took a weird bounce and Frei adjusted in mid-air to parry it wide and keep the Sounders level. A second big save came in the 77th to ensure the shutout, another shot through traffic that Stef got down to deny. Frei debuted some incredible first touch wide passes in this match, continually skipping the middle to make the difficult pass to the width. This helped find a path through the press, and even kickstarted the third goal by clearing long to Jordan Morris’ flick header.
All gas: Leading the league in shutouts even while missing multiple matches: this keeper can beat anyone.
Pump the brakes: How much is Frei carried by the defense? There are some iffy moments, like Nouhou having to clear a ball off the line in the 58th minute, that would have potentially changed the entire match.
Defense
Nouhou – 8 | Community – 7.6 (off 87’ for Bell)
This was a complete performance from Nouhou. His entire match was excellent, with 85 touches, nine defensive actions including an essential goal-line intervention to ensure the shutout, and a 91 percent completion rate. Offensively, he enabled the Rock, providing space when needed, supporting with overlapping runs and connecting smartly to make the left side a creative strength. This balance was evident throughout, as Nouhou made good decisions and found moments to impact on both sides of the field, even working tight give-and-goes on the left before putting in dangerous crosses.
All gas: Nouhou is showcasing his range defensively, and when going forward, is making excellent choices in the final third.
Pump the brakes: It's still Nouhou, who has faults that in the wrong game state become a hardship for this squad.
Jackson Ragen – 7 | Community – 7.0
Another solid match from Ragen, another shutout for Seattle. These things go hand in hand lately, as Jackson leads the match centrally, with his passing being the fulcrum for the Sounders’ possession in the back. Jackson’s positioning continues to improve, and he understands how to support wide on the sides without getting sucked from the middle. An absolutely gorgeous 39th minute line-breaking pass eviscerated the Vancouver defense, kick-starting the free-flowing Seattle offense.
All gas: Ragen defends well, covers ground with his size and aerial ability, and manages a 93 percent passing rate against a press that he ripped apart.
Pump the brakes: In the 19th minute he lost a central physical battle that led directly to a Vancouver chance.
Yeimar – 7 | Community – 7.1
Yeimar had a strong game, and his 83 percent passing was especially meaningful in that outside of a 6th minute error, his incompletions came upfield. Yeimar responded well to a team that forced Seattle to play through him. There were moments when he correctly chose to push the ball long rather than take chances through the middle or pass short. In fact, outside of a 4th minute defensive dive and miss and a poor connection in the 6th minute, Yeimar played a clean and consistent match.
All gas: Another eight clearances show Yeimar clearly understands his role is not in possession as a wide center back in a three-man backline.
Pump the brakes: Having another central option babysits a lot of his passing errors.
Alex Roldan – 6 | Community – 6.2
Alex Roldan lined up at right outside back, but frequently tucked inside and helped overload the defensive center, providing an excellent combination with his brother to add central control. His 18th minute steal of a pass and instant ball forward to Georgi Minoungou on the width showed how well he understands his role when playing in the middle. Another excellent play came in the 52nd as Alex moved up with the Sounders pressure and lifted a perfect cross to the far post that nearly created a goal.
All gas: This tactical change puts multiple Seattle players in their best positions. It accentuates the good that Alex can bring with controlled play, while limiting the attacking areas where he has struggled this season.
Pump the brakes: Vancouver’s tactical setup could have overwhelmed the middle, so this counter tactic simply hid Alex from making the mistakes he's been prone to this year.
Defensive Midfield
Obed Vargas – 6 | Community – 6.1
Obed again had a slow start, but again grew into the game and controlled the middle spaces well, widening his coverage across the entire field. He ended with two shots, 92 percent passing, and four defensive actions as he continued to press forward and facilitate the gaps in the middle. His 12th minute shot was on frame and unlucky to be deflected. A highlight was some wonderful combination play after he popped up on the left in the 38th minute. With the overloaded midfield behind him, Obed has been released to combine in the wide areas and create a numbers advantage that frees up vertical spaces.
All gas: Obed has a nice nose for where to support the intricate movement of the players around him, keeping good spacing and understanding how to find moments, like his 55th minute back post run.
Pump the brakes: Vargas doesn’t add a lot defensively, and that puts pressure on others to pick up the slack …
Cristian Roldan – 7 | Community – 6.5 (off 74’ for Atencio)
Cristian moved (permanently?) to the middle of the field and is reinvented as an excellent ball hawk, possession-defining game controller centrally. His 68 touches and 84 percent passing don’t jump off the page, and Roldan isn’t a ball dominant player, instead using his movement and control to release spaces for teammates to push forward. With only a few defensive actions, his play is less enforcer and more general defensively, but the key stat for Cristian is one he absolutely dominated against Vancouver: 14 passes into the final third. Nearly every attack for Seattle originated with a vertical ball from Roldan.
All gas: With this move, Seattle effectively moves their best control from being pinched on a wing to the center, increasing the footprint of their attack and getting their best players more often involved in places to do the most good.
Pump the brakes: Some of the defensive needs of the position are not being met, and Obed and Cristian can get disturbingly disconnected, allowing big chances.
Attacking Midfield
Paul Rothrock – 8 | Community – 7.9 (off 74’ for Baker-Whiting)
Ho hum, another created goal from a penalty (a consistent offensive tool for the Rock), and a clean transition finish gave us five minutes of complete party Rockin’ dominance that put the game to rest in the 67th minute. Before and after that, Rothrock put Morris through repeatedly, added smart give-and-goes with Nouhou, and aside from the 8th minute when he was reluctant to shoot when he had an open look, Paul did his job, and he did it well.
All gas: The goal he created via PK was a masterclass in soccer awareness, a goal cooked up in the mad genius mind of Paul Rothrock. With the ball going to him and Minoungou central, he overlapped Georgi, creating space central for the ball to have the most attacking impetus, allowing a slip pass back to Rothrock who was holding space wide. This tactical awareness at full sprint speed was incredibly impressive.
Pump the brakes: The argument that he can’t be a third option is slowly being eroded, but Seattle needs this output every match — a tall ask.
Albert Rusnák – 8 (MOTM) | Community – 8.2 (MOTM)
Albert put in the quintessential Rusnákian performance, doing exactly what the team needed to flourish offensively without being overly ball dominant. He ended with a goal and two assists. His ability to seamlessly combine with each teammate around him in the way they needed to excel was nearly flawless. With Rothrock, it was putting him into goal in the 8th minute, putting a 35th minute spectacular ball behind the defender to again get Paul in space, or a 67th minute weighted pass to assist Rothrock scoring. Combining with Georgi meant a beautiful 42nd minute ball to get the winger in behind, and finding him repeatedly in space to work freely. Perhaps most importantly, Albert’s combination play with Morris was transformative, and from linking with Jordan off a free kick on the first goal to understanding where Morris would flick to on the third, these two were dialed in.
All gas: Rusnák is the perfect player to flank with goal dangerous and vertical wingers, and he has been even more unleashed with the tactical switches which find him in space to make line-splitting and game-defining connections with those weapons around him.
Pump the brakes: Albert can only facilitate what is around him and if others are not performing, he doesn’t consistently create magic alone.
Georgi Minoungou – 7 | Community – 7.3 (off 76’ for PDLV)
Minoungou again showed he belongs in the starting lineup, and his pure physical ability was repeatedly on display. Lined up wide, Georgi twisted multiple defenders into pretzels, earning space, set pieces, scoring opportunities, and yellow cards for the Whitecaps. With a nose for positioning, Georgi continually made the right backside runs, and his first MLS goal came from understanding where to be and finishing cleanly on a set piece.
All gas: Minoungou created a yellow in the 13th minute from just being better than his opponent. He scored off the ensuing set piece. He translates his effort into results.
Pump the brakes: A thigh goal from three inches out isn’t quite the perfect chance creation.
Forward
Jordan Morris – 7 | Community – 7.1 (off 76’ for Musovski)
Morris was involved in almost everything for Seattle, without scoring himself. The first goal was a layup served to Minoungou from Morris, dominating multiple defenders to win a header. The second was the full speed counter attack of Paul, Albert, Morris, and Georgi racing at the defense. The third was a wonderful flick directly from Frei, with Jordan’s expert pass putting Albert, Georgi, and Paul in a 3-v-2. Morris was a force who turned 24 touches into three key passes, two shots, and the opening assist.
All gas: Morris is doing it all, holding the ball up, carrying it into dangerous areas, running off the ball, winning headers, finishing opportunities, and being the dominant number 9 needed.
Pump the brakes: Two games without a goal; does this guy suck or something?
Substitutes
Josh Atencio – 5 | Community – 5.6 (on 74’ for C. Roldan)
Atencio came in late for Roldan with the game essentially over, and while he did his job to ensure the game state stayed the same, it wasn’t easy. Josh had at least one poor pass, and he remains disconnected with Obed when they are paired together. He did have 91 percent passing and provided some cover in the middle of the field as Vancouver was increasingly desperate.
All gas: His two passes into the final third show a clear desire and ability to get the ball forward, as Josh uses his size and dribbling ability to push vertically.
Pump the brakes: That combination in the middle was a mess, continues to be a mess, and shows no sign of improving.
Reed Baker-Whiting – 5 | Community – 5.5 (on 74’ for Rothrock)
Reed entered for Paul and again got some important minutes on the wide areas of attack. With only seven touches, he wasn’t asked, nor required, to do much. He did have an interception as he defended a few times wide.
All gas: His 100 percent passing and clean play in a Cascadia rivalry game adds miles of experience to a young player’s résumé.
Pump the brakes: He lost his only duel, was dispossessed once, and did not bring the hunger like others did.
Pedro de la Vega – 5 | Community – 5.4 (on 76’ for Minoungou)
A bit surprisingly, Pedro de la Vega made a late appearance, subbing in for Minoungou as Seattle successfully saw out the win and shutout. Active and visible, PDLV had 11 touches and a perfect 100 percent passing rate while moving fluidly around to connect.
All gas: You can see the class in his effortless touch on a weird surface, his ideas are creative and the potential is right there. (Also, he didn’t get hurt.)
Pump the brakes: This match got a little squirrely late and it’s worth wondering whether PDLV’s propensity to float central added or subtracted from the experience.
Danny Musovski – 5 | Community – 5.3 (on 76’ for Morris)
Danny Musovski not only lives, he got a few minutes in this match! Arriving to give Morris a deserved break, we got to relearn the fun impact that Musovski can add to the match. His 80th minute holdup play was outstanding, as was an impressive 91st minute run that was only ended by a yellow card-inducing foul.
All gas: Musovski adds much needed depth to the attacking core, giving a different look and play which allows Seattle to add tactical nuance depending on gamestate.
Pump the brakes: In the 84th minute with three options left, Danny went right, directly into the press, losing the ball; this kind of mistake will keep him on late-game mop-up duty.
Jonathan Bell – 5 | Community – 5.3 (on 87’ for Nouhou)
Jon Bell came in late, got seven touches, and showed that he’s not only still around, he’s a very capable player, especially in the hybrid back three that Seattle used in this match. Especially nice: a back post won header that cleared the danger in the 94th minute as he showed resolute defense in short minutes.
All gas: The left defense role as a hybrid centerback fits Jon Bell well, allowing more depth and a potential tactical move due to his offensive aerial ability.
Pump the brakes: There are likely other options to choose before Bell, who is but a depth piece.
Referee
Chris Penso – 6 | Community – 6.7
Penso had a fairly uneventful match, quite a compliment for him. Outside of a 17th minute undercut that deserved more than a talking to, the match was reffed very well, including instant yellow cards in the 39th, 47th, and the accompanying red in the 88th. This game only needed 19 fouls called and for the most part it flowed well, with advantage used to offset any cynical play.
All gas: Penso loves to make games about him when refereeing, and Seattle refused to let that happen, getting an early lead and then suffocating the match from any potential for poor calls.
Pump the brakes: This referee was going to red card someone out of the match, and Seattle was perhaps lucky that it wasn’t randomly them.
Vancouver Whitecaps MOTM
The soccer-playing-aged Berhalter got through some miles (kilometers) in this one. He had a great view of Minoungou’s opener, then tried to do goals of his own, drawing a big Frei save in the 19th minute.
All gas: You see that hit?! Kid’s got it.
Pump the brakes: He also switched flanks just in time to do penalty fouling on the Rock.
Upcoming: Third game in a week, this one at Colorado Rapids.
All gas: That game was fun; let’s have another dominant shutout win with multiple goals!
Pump the brakes: Tired legs, altitude, both teams fighting for playoff seeding, could be ugly.
